How to Smoke Nuts: The Topic

[Chris Amirault]

I've been trying to figure out how to produce consistent smoked almonds starting from skin-on raw. My results have been hit or miss, and I've not developed a consistent system yet. I'd appreciate any tips or ideas, especially about these questions:

• What are effective ways to salt and/or sugar the nuts slightly? I've tried brines (some success) and applying well-pestled salt and sugar at the end (less so).
  What's the proper time to roast them: before or after smoking? What temp do you roast them at, and for how long
  While on the subject of heat: hot smoke or cold smoke? Temp? Duration?
  

I'm sure I'll have more questions as the topic grows -- and as my favorite cocktail nosh supply runs low...!

[klkruger]

Brine:

8 C Water

1 3/4 C Kosher Salt

Stir to disolve salt. Fill brine container with raw whole almonds (or pecans, whatever)

Soak nuts in brine for 2 hours.

Drain, spread out nuts on mesh screens and allow to air dry thoroughly ... takes about a day.

Coat nuts in oil lightly. Arrange nuts in a single layer on wire mesh screens. (Frying pan screens are good--remove the plastic on the handles and bend the handles up; or use perfed pizza pans.)

Smoke at 200F or less for about 6 hours. Use 1 - 2 handfulls of chips per hour or keep 1 - 2 chunks smoking at any time in the smoker as a starting point. Keep notes and you can use more next time if you want them stronger.

If you wish, toss some in hot sauce after oiling but before smoking.

[klkruger]

Note too, Chris, that you can sweeten the brine if you wish.

Edited May 29, 2008 by klkruger (log)

[Dave the Cook]

I would start with the Bradley smoker recipe (here). It calls for a much denser brine than klkruger's -- almost 2:1 by volume -- and a whole day of soaking, then three hours in the smoke at 200F. (They tell you to stir the nuts every ten minutes, which seems too often to be productive.)

The recipe also includes an interesting glaze of egg white, sugar and spices. I would never have thought of egg whites, but it might just be brilliant.

(May I point out that this isn't a brine in the sense of a brine for meat or fish? I can't imagine it has any effect other than seasoning.)

[klkruger]

It only seasons.

I've done the egg white thing for spiced nuts and it works well. I don't care for it with smoked. I can't imagine a stronger brine for a longer time-but that's me. Have you tried it?

[Dave the Cook]

I haven't tried it. My guess is that there's a limit to how much salt nuts are going to absorb, regardless of salt quantity or time -- there's just not much water in them to replace.

All I've done with nuts is to cold-smoke some raw almonds with a hodgepodge of other stuff: cheese, salt, pepper, sugar and maybe some garlic. I wasn't too impressed, but I plan on trying it again.

[klkruger]

I haven't tried it. My guess is that there's a limit to how much salt nuts are going to absorb, regardless of salt quantity or time -- there's just not much water in them to replace.

True.

I did experiment a bit with salt concentration and time but, frankly, I do not remember what I did. (Notes at home; I'm on the road.) I do recall smoke times and temps though and decided that 200, tops, or lower, is best and that somewhere around 6 hours works well. 4-5 hours didn't have enough smoke flavor and 7-8 was too much and the color too dark by then.

[Chris Amirault]

So is the smoke at 200F the only roasting of the raw almonds you've done?

[klkruger]

Yes. I only roast them when I want roasted nuts. For smoking I do not roast, preferring to keep the temps low so that I can go for longer, allowing the smoke to gently build and the nuts to slowly cook.