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Smoking with tea


iainpb

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I've just bought a cold smoker (a ProQ cold smoker http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005OHSKAQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

I once tried tea smoked duck and fancied trying to reproduce it. Has anyone tried filling one of these with tea? Do you think filling one of these with tea would work, or i would just end up with a small tea fire?

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I have not used a cold smoker, nor have I smoked tea. I always wanted to though. I've seen instances of people smoking duck, etc., and what I saw involved tea plus other aromatics, like (IIRC) star anise, jasmine rice, and some other stuff. Fine Cooking mag I know did some articles on this. My recollection is that it was a good article, recommending various types of tea, etc.

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what result do you want to get and how are you going to treat your duck after cold smoke? are you curing before? I do coldsmoke duckbreast, after abt 5 days curing, they go into the smoke and then I airdry them. is this what you want?.

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I wasn't planning to cure it, I was intending to cold smoke it then leave it a day to rest before hot cooking, probably oven cooking. Curing is something i plan to get into at some point.

I think mixing it with wood is probably the best way for the first attempt to ensure it doesn't just turn into a fire and to reduce the amount of tea I need. I guess the only thing to do is to give it a go and see what happens!

That video gives some nice tips and i quite fancy mixing in some star anise and orange peel with the smoking mix.

Thanks for the replies!

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  • 1 year later...

[Moderator note: This post and the subsequent five posts regarding Lapsang Souchong tea were moved here from the thread Liquid Smoke with sous vide hamburgers]

 

Ive used this tea in one of those stove top smokers :

 

http://www.amazon.com/Stovetop-Smoker-Original-Camerons-Stainless/dp/B00004SZ9D/ref=sr_1_12/177-7891443-9014607?ie=UTF8&qid=1408460765&sr=8-12&keywords=smoker+tray

 

it works fine.  unfortunately the smoker seems to have been misplaced.  it works well

Edited by ChrisTaylor
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A thing to consider with tea is that is an herb. You can use it in all the ways you'd use herbs. Strong ones, anyhow. I've ground up lapsang souchong leaves and made a rub for them with salt and pepper, melted butter and some wine, and painted on the outside of meat before roasting.

 

The aroma really sticks to the meat. It's not a generic smoky flavor ... it's that distinctive pine smoke and old saddle leather combination that reminds me of a cup of the tea. It works well with lamb or very grassy beef. It would probably be great on game.

Edited by paulraphael (log)

Notes from the underbelly

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I think I got my first tea cookbook (a small self-published one), some thirty-plus years ago, when "tea" mostly meant Liptons and the wide variety that we see today was simply not readily available.

 

There was, at the time, a small tea shop in the Glendale Galleria that carried a few varieties of loose tea, including Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan, both smoky types as well as a spiced tea something like "Constant Comment" the Bigelow brand.

 

They also sold the little tea cookbook I mentioned and it had a recipe for tea-smoked duck - (or chicken) using duck pieces, not the whole bird. 

There was also an eggy milk custard, something like a flan, that also incorporated the smoky and the spicy teas - finely ground with the sugar that went into the pan first and which became the "caramel" topping when it was turned out. 

 

Since then I have purchased several tea cookbooks, including Eat Tea, all of which have interesting recipes.

 

Online there are many tea-flavored recipes, including this site at Tea Chef there are many on this page featuring Lapsang Souchong.

 

But don't be afraid to experiment on your own, unless you are using extremely expensive ingredients, it doesn't cost all that much. 

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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