Posted on: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
TASTE
SUPER BOWL SMOKING AT NEW HOPE
Where there's smoke there's good eats
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
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Expert smoker David Izumi, left, gets more meat from Brent Davidson to place in the smokers at a class at Hope Chapel Kane'ohe.
Photos by GREGORY YAMAMOTO | The Honolulu Advertiser
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FOOD EDITOR'S REPORT
I took a well-marbled chuck steak, cream cheese and medium cheddar to David Izumi's smoking class, and learned a lot. Lesson 1: Know your ingredients. I cut the steak in half and seasoned half of it with just Hawaiian salt and pepper, and the other with a commercial beef rub that I'd never before tasted. Simple turned out to be much better. Both my husband and I didn't care for the rub at all. Lesson 2: Smoked cheese is a little bit of heaven. I made macaroni and cheese with smoked cheddar and smoked cream cheese in a white sauce, plus bits of fried Portuguese sausage and sauteed onions, and my husband made the happy noise! — Wanda Adams
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SUPER BOWL XLIII TAILGATE PARTY
Presented by: Men of 4DTUDE of Hope Chapel Kane'ohe, 45-815 Po'okela (off Kea'ahala, the main road into Windward Community College) Free and public: Super Bowl on big-screen TV, door prizes, trivia contest, skills competition Information: 235-5314 Bring: A potluck dish, your own nonalcoholic drinks Men of 4DTUDE will be serving smoked items — meats, fish and more. Approximately 11 a.m. Sunday, after the 10 a.m. service
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Kiawe wood (also known as mesquite) is a local favorite for smoking meats.
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Super Bowl XLIII is Sunday and the men of Hope Chapel Kane'ohe who are helping with a potluck public Super Bowl Tailgate Party at the church are going far beyond the usual chips-and-guacamole menu.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 20 or so of the church's male members, as well as some spouses and staff, spent the afternoon learning about the art of smoking food — steaks, ribs, game, fish, poultry, even cheese and nuts — from church member David Izumi. Izumi is a teacher of mechanical engineering by trade but he also has attended culinary school and taught smoke basics in Windward Community College's continuing education program.
He hauled three immense smokers over to the church the day before the class, and he and some stalwarts spent the night in the tented courtyard, tending the smokers so the longer-cooking items — brisket and boar — would have time to cook through before a potluck supper after the tutorial.
Students brought everything from sides of salmon to a whole turkey to go into the smokers. And while their meats and fish bathed in the haze, Izumi showed the students ways to use more esoteric goodies — spreading creamy smoked cheddar on crackers, making a crab dip with smoked cream cheese and even serving up smoked hard-boiled eggs (plain or in egg salad).
The goal of this event, and the one coming up where smoked items will be shared, was not only to learn smoking basics but to promote fellowship between church members and especially male newcomers. One man, Bernard Fick, who recently retired from the Navy and lives nearby, has been to the church only three times. "I love smoked meat and fish, and I never knew how to make it," he said, but the more important reason for coming was "to bond with others and get to know people."
Izumi, a cheerful sort who has been a member of Hope Chapel for 20 years, was a wealth of knowledge while acknowledging that every smoker has their own philosophy and preferences, and he's far from knowing it all.
"I hope you are here to work," he said, "because the only way you are going to know is to do it."
The main thing, he said, is to know your smoker, its tendencies and features. There is an almost infinite variety of smokers, from jerry-rigged home systems to four-figure investments. (above)
Among his key points:
Begin with charcoal briquets and burn them until they ash over, then add chips, chunks or even hunks of wood.
In Hawai'i, of course, the favorite wood — because it's widely available and often free — is kiawe (known elsewhere as mesquite). Other popular woods are 'ohi'a (especially on the Big Island, where it's much more plentiful than kiawe) and guava. Lime or lemon or apple, hickory, alder, maple and even oak are good, but these aren't readily available here. Ironwood works but can impart a bitter flavor. Mango should be avoided because it can spark allergies in some people, and cedar may have been treated with poisonous chemicals (except for food-safe cedar planks sold in kitchen-supply stores and gourmet shops).
The smaller the piece of wood, the more it will smoke, but it won't last very long and will need to be replaced.
Never use liquid fire-starter to kindle briquets. Its ingredients and flavors can get into the food. Instead, use a propane torch.
Meat should be smoked unwrapped or it will steam. Fish, which can fall apart, may be smoked atop a length of heavy-duty foil. Delicate foods such as cheeses are smoked on foil as well.
While Izumi uses rack smokers, Hawai'i-style is to smoke on rods from which narrow strips of meat are hung by means of S-shaped hooks.
The goal is to expose the most surface to smoke — whole chickens may be split, roasts butterflied or thickly sliced. Mash cheese into a half-inch thick block, or slice it.
Season meats and fish before smoking. At the minimum, Izumi uses Hawaiian salt, pepper and garlic powder. For his kiawe-grilled brisket, he made a rub of chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, Hawaiian salt and pepper. Commercial rubs are fine, but experiment first to see if you like the flavor. And meat may be marinated before it's smoked, but it should be wiped dry so it doesn't steam instead of smoking.
Seasoning is a matter of personal preference. "If you don't know what you like, just grab it, chew on it or taste it and see if you like it. Then try to learn a little bit about what it will go best with," he suggested.
Always use Hawaiian, kosher or sea salt; iodized table salt won't cure the food properly.
Proper smoking temperature is about 200 degrees, no higher than 225. You should be able to rest your hand on the outside of the smoker without burning yourself. Izumi can tell just by touching the smoker if the temperature is falling or rising.
To tell when meat is done, it's safest to use an instant-read thermometer, especially with poultry, which should cook to 150 degrees and then finish in a low oven. But like most chefs, Izumi can tell just by pressing the meat, feeling the amount of "give." "In a smoker, it's really, really, really hard to overcook a big piece of meat. You'll get hungry long before that," he said, jokingly.
Brisket, which takes 12 to 16 hours, is the hardest cut of meat to smoke-cook properly. "If you can do that, you can do anything," he said. Chickens take 2 to 4 hours, depending on size and smoker. Eggs and cream cheese take just 10 to 15 minutes; other cheeses, 15 to 30 minutes.
Never leave the smoker for long. "Low and slow, that's what smoking is," he said. If you walk off, you may miss a flare-up that will singe the food or cause it to cook too fast. "You don't want it to flame. You want it to smolder," he said of the wood.
There is hot smoking, which is what the men were learning, and cold smoking. In cold smoking, the food is offset from the source of smoke and the temperature is kept at about 100 degrees. Cold-smoking is often used with salmon and other fish, or with delicate foods such as cheeses.
Sweet and smoke often go together. Izumi often pours pancake syrup over smoked meats when they emerge from the smoker, and also uses pancake syrup and brown sugar when he prepares pecans.
"People have their own opinions about smoking," he concluded. "When I went to Texas, there were guys saying, 'You gotta put sauce on it,' and guys saying, 'No, you just put rub.' It's what you like. There are no smoke police."
Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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