I enjoy using Tea Smoked Salts as finishing salts where a pinch can really bring together the flavor and aromatic components of your dish. They also work beautifully to rim a wide range of cocktails.
Use a good quality large crystal salt as your base. The larger the crystal size, the easier it is to smoke quickly and efficiently. Small size crystals will compact in the smoking tray allowing only the very top layer to be smoked. If you prefer smaller crystals, then you will want to partially smoke your salt, stir it well, smoke again, and repeat as needed.
Tea Smoked Salt
You can create a wide range of flavors and aromatics by varying the tea selected and the secondary ingredients in your smoking mixture. Please note that the steps described below would allow you to smoke any small items such as shrimp or scallops as well as a shallow tray of salt crystals.
Yield: 1 cup
Cost: $10
Equipment
- 1 Hotel pan
- 1 Metal rack
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
- 1 Pack of wood chips Alderwood works great, but you can use which ever type of wood chips you prefer.
Materials
- 1 cup sea salt Coarse crystals work best
- 1 pack smoking blend See Smoking With Tea Leaves article
Instructions
- Prepare your chosen smoker with your smoking blend. In this case, a stovetop smoker is being used, lined with foil for ease of cleanup, with a blend of Alderwood, uncooked white rice, low grown Ceylon tea leaves, brown sugar and a touch of ground ginger. If you are using a hotel pan stretched across two burners, arrange two piles of the smoking blend so that each is over a burner.
- A rack is placed over the smoking blend. It should be tall enough to not touch the tea blend. In the case of the hotel pan/smoker, a perforated pan works nicely. Then placed on that rack is a shallow pan of salt, leaving adequate space on the sides for the smoke to circulate. Here foil is used to make a quick and easy disposable pan. Keep the thickness of salt shallow to aid in the smoke reaching the majority of the crystals.
- Making sure first that your exhaust fan is running, turn the burners to high, and watch for the tea leaves to begin to smolder and release aromatic smoke.
- You can then cover your smoker, wok or hotelpan with a lid or sheet pan to contain the smoke, and turn the flame down to low to maintain the smoldering. Note that when using a hotel pan or wok, the foil used for ease of cleanup should dangle over the edges aiding in getting a good seal with the lid or sheet pan. The lid can be lined with foil as well for an enhanced seal.
- You will get about 15 or 20 minutes of 'clean' smoke from each batch. At the end of this time, turn the burners off and leave the salt (or other item being smoked) to sit for an additional 10 minutes to absorb the smoke.
- Open the lid away from you, and examine the salt (or other product that you are smoking) to see if you have the level of smoking that you desire. If you desire more smoking, stir the salt, remove the pan and replace the smoking blend with a fresh batch and repeat the process. If you are smoking a smaller crystal salt, you will almost definitely need another round of smoking after you stir.
- Once the desired level of smoke is achieved, allow to fully cool and use as is, or dust with finely ground spices for additional layers of flavor. This salt was finished with a hint of ground ginger.
- Tea smoked salt makes a wonderful rim for your cocktails. Consider it for your next margaritas. Shown here it is used with a Bloody Mary variation that includes a hint of Lapsong Souchong in the blend.
