Flavored Fire: Get the most out of smoking fish & meats
When developing flavour for our smoked dishes we can play around with seasonings, marination and brines, but the creativity doesn’t have to stop when you leave the kitchen, we have another element we can have some fun with - smoke! Rassa chef Alison loves using turf, a fuel which is dying out for environmental reasons but which has a strong cultural significance in Ireland’s rural countryside where homes would be fuelled by the local bogs. The turf adds a rich, earthy tone to the smoke and her final hake dish but when it comes to getting creative with your own smoking, you can have a think about what represents your local landscape, traditions and seasons.
When playing around with flavouring your fire, you can choose to emphasise existing ingredients and aromatics in your dish, pulling flavours from your seasoning, marination, brine or the meat/fish itself or you can use the smoke as a way of complementing and creating balance to the final taste of the dish.
Herbs & Spices
Herbs and spices are a great starting point when building the aromatics of your smoke. When picking which ones you go for, it’s best to go for hardy varieties which can withstand the heat and longer cook times. Great woody herbs to use are rosemary and thyme, which are at there most flavoursome picked fresh but otherwise if you do use dried herbs, just make sure to soak them in water first to avoid them pulverising in the flames. If you’re thinking of going down the spice route, cinnamon sticks, whole nutmeg and cloves work really well in the coals.
