Spring in Laramie, Wyoming is fickle at best ~ and by the second snow in June it can seem downright elusive. This year, our first in Laramie, winter has seemed particularly dogged in it's cling to our thin air, but in the last 10 days, daytime warmth and the sudden greening of the plains seems to be announcing that summer has at last arrived.
This year we marked Summer twice. Our first attempt, a "Summer Barbecue" over Memorial day weekend was well attended and ended a great success, never mind the wintry chill and icy rain with which it was accompanied. Ultimately the event was hardly the warm outdoor picnic we had all hoped for.
No, it was going to be yet another 10 days, before we would really mark Summer properly. Naomi and I gathered some good friends, crossed our fingers and, took the folks at CajunGrocer.com up on an awesome offer, 10 pounds of live Crawfish shipped overnight and delivered to our doorstep.
 |
|
Spicy boiled crawfish, smoked sausage and steaming corn, I can't think of a better way of welcoming summer.
|
America Discovers Curry Laksa
|
Curry Laksa is perhaps one of the most incredible soups that I have ever had. Laksa though now available world over is originally of Peranakan or Nonya origin. Nonya cuisine combines Chinese, Malay and other influences to create a truly unique, and wonderful mosaic of flavors, and it is my opinion that Nonya cuisine's incredible potential can be fully realized in a bowl of fragrant curry laksa. The result of a masterful blending of Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with the aromatic and sometimes fierce spices of the Malay community, Nonya recipes are tangy, aromatic, spicy and herbal. Key ingredients in Nonya cooking include coconut milk, galangal (a rhizome similar to ginger), candlenuts which are used as both a flavoring and thickening agent (and it might be noted poisonous uncooked), laksa leaf, a dried fermented shrimp cake called belacan, tamarind juice, turmeric, lemongrass, ginger bud, jicama, kaffir lime leaf, rice noodles (rice stick) and cincaluk - a pungently flavored, sour and salty shrimp-based condiment that that is typically mixed with lime juice, chiles and shallots and eaten with rice.
Peranakan or Nonya cuisine, and curry laksa haven't really be discovered in United States until recently. Laksa has begun to sporadically appear on The Food Network, the Travel Channel and other foodie programs and networks. Laksa made it's most recent appearance on last nights episode (episode 11) of Top Chef on Bravo, with a shrimp laksa made by one of the contestants. Bourdain, after announcing that he "took his laksa seriously" judged the entry to be too smoky for his taste. Interestingly, it might be noted that Bourdain presumably had his first laksa two seasons back on his traveling foodie show "No Reservations". I discovered laksa on a trip to visit family in Australia several years ago, where the soup has become as familiar part of the Australian diet, as Vietnamese Pho has in big city America. After my initial introduction I returned with with several recipes for the soup - most notably a recipe from "Spice" by Christine Mansfield, the chef and founder of Paramount restaurant in Sydney. The recipe below is closely based on the Paramount recipe, changed mostly to accommodate for difficulty in finding Nonya ingredients in American groceries. The last time I made up a batch of the paste I ended up driving for 6 hours to an Asian super center in Denver for several of the ingredients.
Laksa defines two different types of noodle soup dishes: curry laksa and assam laksa. Curry laksa refers to noodles served in coconut curry soup, while assam laksa refers to noodles served in sour fish soup, and nearly endless variations exist under the two core types. My preference is the curry variation, the Assam variations that I have had are very similar to Thai Tom Yum, though a bit less spicy, and while the soup is great it isn't as rich and fully satisfying as the curry version. Wikipedia lists three main variants of Curry Laksa:
|
Experiments Smoking Salt: Part II
 |
|
Fresh from the smoker, my latest batch of mesquite smoked salt crystals. The color of good smoked salt should be as rich as the aroma and flavor it provides, ranging from a light amber to a dark pitch, almost black color.
|
Almost two years ago I wrote up an article on a series of experiments I was doing smoking salt. At the time I promised a follow up article posting my results in a "couple of weeks". Clearly it has taken me longer to get here than a couple of weeks, but I didn't want to post on the subject again until I sorted out some of the details and techniques and had a chance to do some research.
The art of salt smoking has prompted more inquiries than any other subject I have posted on Chilefire.com - I have received emails from both professionals interested in marketing their own smoked salt and amateur home smokers interested in making up a batch after having tasted the unique salt, all looking for a web resource on the topic. So, after experimenting for over a year and making up a few batches of really great salts, as well as a few total failures I thought it worth starting up the Salt Smoking Discussion Forum
What I Have Learned - The Basics:
There are six basic recommendations I have for the first time salt smoker outlined below. if you follow these basics you should have decent luck making up some great salts.
1. Use Long Smoke Times
Smoking salt take time, salt doesn't absorb the smoke - or cook and react in the warm environment the same way meats will. Salt absorbs flavor as the smokes resins coats the grains, and this take some time. In my experience, depending on the coarseness of the grain, salt needs at least 4 hours in the smoker, but my best salts spend 24 hours smoking.
2. Use Cool to Medium Heat, and Always Cool Your Salt in the Smoker
Heat is tricky, I have made great salts at regular barbecuing temperatures around 225°but have had better luck when the temperature is even lower. Some folks I have talked to swear by cold smoking, but in my experience anywhere from cold smoked at 85° to regular BBQ temps at 225° work well. If however you get a spike in your temperature to grilling temps - for any length of time you're gonna have to start over - the higher heats will burn off the smoky resins and leave you with salt that pretty much tastes like salt. In short - tend your fire. Finally leave your salt in the smoker until the smoker goes cold. I have 't the slightest idea why this makes a difference, but it does. Salt cooled in the smoker has a better aroma and a smoother smoke flavor, sure it takes longer - but has that ever stopped you before?
3. Soak Your Wood
This is the only time you will ever hear me suggest soaking your wood before you smoke with it. Every time I hear someone on TV or the Web say to soak our wood chips before you put them on your fire it makes me cringe - soaked wood makes nasty, bitter meat in my opinion. However when you're smoking salt - and only when you're smoking salt - it seems to work pretty well. Moisture plays a role in Salt smoking and while I have had some luck with using a pan of boiling water in the coals, my best luck has been when I soaked my wood. With salt it doesn't make for a bitter taste.
4. Use Coarser Salts
Coarser grain salts smoke better. The smoke can move through the grains more easily and the smoke seems to stick to the grains better. I mostly use a grain size I can put in my salt grinder, it seems to work best.
 |
|
My first smoked salt, a hickory smoked Maldon salt I cold smoked in my old Bradley Electric. The salt lacked the taste and color I was looking for. Time, humidity and temperature all play a role in making good smoked salt.
|
5. Resist the Urge - Smoking Salt when Your Smoking Other Foods is Not a Good Idea
Fastest way to mess up your smoked salt? Smoke it with a pork butt, a slab of ribs, or god forbid a fillet of salmon. Don't do it! Salt takes up the flavor of cooking meat faster than it does the smoke - and the effect is not good. If you are thinking "oohhh! bacon salt!" this isn't the way to do it, trust me. Yuck.
6. Store Your Product in an Air Tight Container
Finally, when your done, seal the salt in an airtight container. The smoky flavor you have carefully layered into your salt is sensitive to oxygen and looses it's tang, smoke flavor and aroma as the essential oils oxidize and evaporate.. Seal it up tight as soon as it leaves the smoker. I use big mason jars that folks use for canning.
You can find the complete" How-To" I have put together on the Salt Smoking Discussion - including pictures of the rig I am using and the processes that I have used to make my best salts. And if you have smoked salt - please consider joining the group and sharing your experiences, recipes, tips and tricks.
