Walking home last night, the neighborhood was thick with the smells of barbecue. Oh, how we love that smoky smell. And we love tasting it in our food even more!
Barbecue wood chips, liquid smoke, bits of smoked bacon--whether we're grilling or not, we have lots of tricks to infuse our favorite dishes with a subtle smokiness.
But have you ever considered tea?
Lapsang souchong is a tea from the Fukien province in China. Traditionally, the leaves are dried over pinewood fires, giving the tea an incredibly powerful smoke flavor. Open up a bag of this stuff, and you're immediately transported to a summer barbecue!
This tea is perfect for whenever you want to add a hint of smoke to a dish. It makes a great rub for meat or ground into burgers.
Off the grill, we often add a few teaspoons to soups, braises, and dips like hummus and baba ghanoush.
We also reach for this tea when we're cooking vegetarian and want the savory and umami qualities of meat without, obviously, using meat!
To use lapsang souchong, we find it easiest and most effective to grind up a half cup or so into a fine powder with our spice grinder. We store it in a recycled spice jar and use a teaspoon or two at a time. This powder keeps for about three months.
Lapsang souchong tea is now widely available in the US market. We buy ours from Tealuxe in Boston, and it's also available online at places like Upton Tea, Peet's Coffee and Tea, and Stash Tea. If it comes in bags, just snip open the bags and empty the loose leaves into your grinder.
Related: Earl Grey Tea Cookies
(Image Credit: David Monniaux via Wikipedia)
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I love lapsang souchong tea. It will always remind me of a certain time and place in college when I had my first cup of it. It doesn't remind me of barbecues, though; it always makes me think of fragrant leather.
view phoneill's profile
I too discovered this tea in college and became fascinated with it for its culinary possibilities.
I like the idea of a game bird lacquered with a glaze made from this tea.
Or "marbelized" hard boiled eggs that have sat in this tea.
Or using it to smoke black cod.
I had dinner for the first time at a new restaurant called "graham elliot" on Friday and they had a kobe beef tartare with a scoop of smoked ice cream on top of it. I could see infusing an ice cream base with this tea to get a smoky ice cream.
I get that leather essence too phoneill. I also think of leather when I smell fresh dried saffron.
view art's profile
you can order lapsang souchong from Teaism in DC--great tea, fresh and well selected. they mention cooking,
www dot teaism dot com/TeaShop/ProductDetails4-11.html
lapsang souchong just as tea, on a cold winter afternoon, transports like a good novel.
view avianmission's profile