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Smoked Almonds

Anyone have a good tip or trick to get spices to stick to smoked almonds? Every recipe I’ve seen says to soak them in water, which I’ve done a number of times with only marginal results. 

Comments

  • MO_Eggin
    MO_Eggin Posts: 282
    My current method is to toss raw almonds with Frank's hot sauce and salt, then spread the nuts in roughly a single layer on a pizza screen, then apply desired seasoning.  I smoke the almonds either cold amaze-n pellet smoker) for a few hours or low and slow (try to keep it under 250) for about an hour; in either case I then roast the nuts in the oven at 200 for a few hours to crisp them up.  I found that trying to crisp in the egg is too finicky, and results in too many overdone / burnt nuts.

    At one point I tried using egg whites as the spice binder, but find the hot sauce approach easier and adds some flavor.  Also, for years I soaked the almonds in water first, but determined it really wasn't necessary.

    Good luck.
    LBGE - St. Louis, MO; MM & LBGE - around 8100' somewhere in the CO Front Range
  • mEGG_My_Day
    mEGG_My_Day Posts: 1,653
    edited May 2018
    Butter is your friend!!

    These are not almonds, but the same method should work.  I did these this weekend.  Smoke the nuts without any seasoning any way you like.  I usually just toast them at 300 for about 15 minutes on a pizza screen with peach or apple wood.

    For about 1.5 pounds of nuts (the pics below are pecans and peanuts) use the following:

    combine:

    2 Tbls chopped fresh rosemary 
    1/2 tsp cayenne
    2 tsp dark sugar
    2 tsp kosher salt (assuming you start with unsalted nuts).

    Then combine the dry ingredients with 1 tbls of melted butter.  It makes a paste.

    In a large bowl, toss the smoked nuts, while still warm with the paste till coated well.

    I assume the butter combined with any seasoning to make a paste will work fine.  

    These are really good - not my recipe and I can't remember where it came from.



    Memphis, TN 

    LBGE, 2 SBGE, Hasty-Bake Gourmet
  • CornfedMA
    CornfedMA Posts: 491
    This look awesome, but the butter thing won’t fly with the wife. She likes having the almonds around as a healthy snack. Thinking I may try the hot sauce or just grinding the rub/spices to a finer powder to increase the amount that sticks. 
  • Hungry Joe
    Hungry Joe Posts: 1,566
    I bought a cheap coffee grinder and grind my spices into a fine powder for seasoning almonds when I smoke them. It does help them to stick a little better.
  • Durangler
    Durangler Posts: 1,122
    Toss almonds with a tablespoon of olive oil per pound of nuts, sprinkle seasoning, lay out and smoke.

    XL BGE, 22" Weber Red Head, Fiesta Gasser .... Peoria,AZ
  • CarolinaCrazy
    CarolinaCrazy Posts: 585
    CornfedMA said:
    This look awesome, but the butter thing won’t fly with the wife. She likes having the almonds around as a healthy snack. Thinking I may try the hot sauce or just grinding the rub/spices to a finer powder to increase the amount that sticks. 

    I've had good luck with butter as a coating for nuts - sweet with some brown sugar and cocoa powder, or savory with garlic powder and paprika & salt. 

    If you are eating a handful of nuts, the fat from butter will be a small fraction of the fat consumed. A 1/4 cup of almonds is going to have 18g of fat vs maybe a 1-2 g from the butter.

     If you want a 'healthier' fat, you could try olive oil.

    1 LBGE in Chapel Hill, NC
  • Budgeezer
    Budgeezer Posts: 669
    We make these for every party we have, our guest love them.  We grind the spices in an old coffee grinder.

    Spicy Smoked Almonds - from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn

    1lb raw almonds
    2 tbsp vegetable oil
    1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
    1/2 tsp garlic pepper
    1 tbsp finely ground kosher salt or fine sea salt
    2 tsp chile powder
    1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

    the recipe reads:
    lay the almonds on rack & cold smoke for 2 to 3 hours
    preheat oven to 375
    combine oil and spices in a bowl & toss with almonds to coat , spread on baking sheet and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring several times , remove from oven -taste, add more salt if needed
    can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks


    Edina, MN

  • mEGG_My_Day
    mEGG_My_Day Posts: 1,653
    Budgeezer said:
    We make these for every party we have, our guest love them.  We grind the spices in an old coffee grinder.

    Spicy Smoked Almonds - from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn

    1lb raw almonds
    2 tbsp vegetable oil
    1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
    1/2 tsp garlic pepper
    1 tbsp finely ground kosher salt or fine sea salt
    2 tsp chile powder
    1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

    the recipe reads:
    lay the almonds on rack & cold smoke for 2 to 3 hours
    preheat oven to 375
    combine oil and spices in a bowl & toss with almonds to coat , spread on baking sheet and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring several times , remove from oven -taste, add more salt if needed
    can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks


    This looks tasty - I may have to borrow this method.  (They never last two days, let alone two weeks in my house, so that isn't an issue :).)

    To OP - If butter is a problem, you could try substituting vegetable oil or olive oil as several others have used above.
    Memphis, TN 

    LBGE, 2 SBGE, Hasty-Bake Gourmet
  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262

    @Budgeezer  Thanks for posting this.  I have this book, but had not read it yet.  I will be trying these.  I wonder why they can only be stored for 2 weeks?

    Phoenix 
  • tarheelmatt
    tarheelmatt Posts: 9,867
    Those nuts look good! 
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