Something to try: Smoked butter

gdenby

Hi, folks. Here's something I came across, and am going to try and figure out how to make.

I went to a fairly fancy dinner on Sunday, with courses put together by 4 different chefs. one of whom was Pat Niebling. He cook's at Three Floyds brewpub, and his food is as good as the brews.

He made some lamb, which was served with a miso-anchovy cream sauce and !!smoked butter!! Completely amazing flavor. After the dinner, he mentioned that he had smoked the butter for 12 hours, didn't say how (drat) and then combined it with maltodextrin powder. The result was served as little mounds of what looked like super small curd cottage cheese w. a faint butter yellow. I'm supposing however he smoked the butter, it was a puddle that needed the maltodextrin powder to hold it together.

The lamb was spectacular by itself. I guess it was  basted w. the cream, and cooked till that turned a black crust. My daughter, who hates lamb, said it was the 1st time she had ever enjoyed lamb. With dabs of the butter, it was out of sight.

So I'm going to see what I might be able to do. Maybe put a stick of frozen butter on a plate in the Egg, and let it cook at as low a temp as I can manage till it turns to a puddle.

He also made biegnets stuffed w. collard greens and feta, and sprinkled w. sesame. Served hot from the frier. Incredibly rich and tasty.

SirSquatch

I cold smoke butter using an A-Maze-N smoker with cherry pellets, but it requires the temps to be low. We are just getting into the season to be able to cold smoke, so I'm going to need to smoke a bunch and freeze it. 

gdenby

SirSquatch said:

I cold smoke butter using an A-Maze-N smoker with cherry pellets, but it requires the temps to be low. We are just getting into the season to be able to cold smoke, so I'm going to need to smoke a bunch and freeze it. 

It looks like the A-Mazen-N just goes on the grill next to the food. Is this right?

SirSquatch

gdenby said:

SirSquatch said:

I cold smoke butter using an A-Maze-N smoker with cherry pellets, but it requires the temps to be low. We are just getting into the season to be able to cold smoke, so I'm going to need to smoke a bunch and freeze it. 

It looks like the A-Mazen-N just goes on the grill next to the food. Is this right?

I actually clean out the egg and put it at the very bottom (on top of the ash grate), then put the platesetter in to deflect direct smoke and put the butter (or whatever I'm cold smoking) on the grate or something to hold it. 

gdenby

@SirSquatch, does the butter melt? Does it need to be in a little pan? I tried smoking some cheddar a couple of years ago, and that melted some around 160F dome.

SirSquatch

gdenby said:

@SirSquatch, does the butter melt? Does it need to be in a little pan? I tried smoking some cheddar a couple of years ago, and that melted some around 160F dome.

Nope, I only start cold smoking once it's below 40 outside. The A-Maz-n smoker puts out very little heat, but it still  has to be kept cool enough to not melt anything. 

OhioEgger

Thanks for the reminder. I was just thinking the other day that we're getting close to the time of year when cold smoking becomes possible. I've always done cheese, but butter is intriguing!

HeavyG

gdenby said:

@SirSquatch, does the butter melt? Does it need to be in a little pan? I tried smoking some cheddar a couple of years ago, and that melted some around 160F dome.

I don't cold smoke in my kamados - they hold heat to well.

I use my Weber Smokey Mountain with my Amazen pellet tray at the very bottom of the ash bowl.

Cold smoking works well in that once the temps are below 60-70 degrees.

I've never cold smoked butter but now I'm going to have to give that a try. The lows in my area are going to be in the 40's (F) this week so maybe I'll do a couple sticks of butter overnight  one day this week.

blind99

12 hours seems like a really long time.  But man that meal sounds awesome!

once it's cold outside, cold smoking with the egg is easy.  Get a box and put your food in it.  Start the egg with a little bit of charcoal and throw your smoking wood on it.  you don't need a big fire, just enough to get the smoking wood going.  connect the egg to your box with a dryer vent hose and you're good to go.  (Make sure there are enough holes in the box that the flow through it is good.)

gdenby

Looked at the forecast. Probl'y going to need to wait for another 2 weeks to get into the low 40s. Sat. & Sun. early morning may be down around freezing. Might do a trial run then.