There are people in our household (maybe yours, too?) who love anything smoked. When you want that flavor but don’t want to start a fire, try these three products that deliver plenty of smoke.
Smoked Honey from Classic City Bee Company
The jar of Classic City Bee Company’s smoked honey says, “Where there’s smoke, there’s honey.” Doyle Johnson is referring to the smoke beekeepers use when they’re working with their bee hives. The smoke calms the bees who allow the beekeeper to go about her or his work without too much risk of stings. Johnson and his dad Scott founded Athens, Georgia-based Classic City Bee Company as a result of their lifelong interest in bees and the lessons to be learned from the community that lives in a beehive. Their smoked honey was this year’s winner in the “honey” category of the Flavor of Georgia competition. They suggest using it to bring the flavor of the grill to dishes you cook indoors and they’ve posted recipes for Smoked Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts and Smoked Honey Balsamic Peach Pork Chops on their website. We liked ours brushed on tuna steaks and stirred into a honey-mustard glaze for salmon.
$10 per 11-ounce jar. Available and online at classiccitybee.com/.
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Hickory Smoked Black Pepper from Holy Smoke
Last winter we wrote about Holy Smoke's cold-pressed olive oil, cold-smoked with hickory. It's so good, it's now available on the shelves of every Whole Foods in the nation. We predict their hickory-smoked black peppercorns will soon share the same fate. Kyle Payne and Max Blackman of Johns Island, South Carolina, are the geniuses behind Holy Smoke products including smoked honey, sea salt and Bloody Mary mix. Their peppercorns come in a handy grinder, making it easy to add smoky richness to all kinds of proteins or salad dressings. Check out the recipe for Green Goddess Dressing they've posted on their website. We're thinking smoky potato salad and a sprinkle on top of our next batch of deviled eggs. Oh, wait. Meatloaf with smoked black peppercorns, pork tacos with smoked black peppercorns, grilled corn with smoked black peppercorns, a Caprese salad with smoked black peppercorns ....
$9 per 1.7-ounce grinder. Available at holysmokeoliveoil.com/.
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Smoked Trout from Dancin’ Salmon
Dan Siegler named his Sandy Springs-based company “Dancin’ Salmon” but he hooked us with his smoked trout. A perfectly slow-cooked trout fillet, oak and hickory smoked in his Big Green Egg, it had exactly the right amount of salt, exactly the right amount of smoke, to be a perfect accompaniment to a big summer salad. Probably most of Siegler’s customers eat it like they would smoked salmon, broken into chunks and topping a bagel and cream cheese. That would be delicious, too. And yes, Siegler does offer smoked salmon, brined with brown sugar and salt and cooked in the same way. You might be lucky and find he’s got a few Asian salmon cakes available as well, chunks of fresh salmon seasoned with Asian seasonings like toasted sesame seed oil and ginger and mixed with green onion. Those were absolutely delicious. Meet Siegler in his booth at a local farmers market and he’ll offer you a generous taste so you can decide just which smoked fish you need to take home.
$12 per 8-ounce package of smoked trout, $19.99 per 1-pound package of smoked salmon. Available at the Acworth, Avondale Estates, Decatur, Lilburn, Peachtree Center, Ponce City Market and The Battery farmers markets or online at dancinsalmon.com/.
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