She still dehydrates red chiles in the traditional manner of placing them on the room of her shop so they will dry quickly in New Mexico’s warm sun.
Smoked Pumpkin Soup with Bacon
If you’re looking to explore the savory side of smoked pumpkin instead of the sweet (like we did with the smoked pumpkin pie), soup is a great start, especially as fall kicks into full gear.
Maple Smoked Pumpkin Pie
Building on my happiness with smoked pumpkin, I got a little more ambitious a few years ago: smoked pumpkin pie with maple syrup.
Burning Sensation: Crab Cakes With An Attitude
Crab cakes – a variation on New England’s fish cakes made with cod or pollock – are popular along the coast of the Mid-Atlantic States, the Gulf Coast, the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, where the crabbing industry flourishes. Along the East Coast, blue crab is traditional while on the left coast Dungeness crab is commonly used. (A lot of crab is now imported from the Far East and Venezuela. Try to find local crab whenever possible. True Maryland crab will be labeled with MD and three digits to identify the harvester.)
Gourdenstein: How to Make Smoked Pumpkin
I’ve smoked Gourdzilla, normal-sized carving pumpkins, and, of course, sugar pumpkins. Which, by the way, work the best of the three. Sugar pumpkins are the ones used for pumpkin pie, have plenty of seeds in them, and they smoke a lot more thoroughly due to their small size. Every Halloween I try something new with the finished pumpkin. The results have generally been good and I’ll share the old and new concoctions each week leading up to Halloween.
Cool Coasters From PopsQtool
I’ve written about the multi-function six-in-one grilling tool from PopsQtool. For $50 you get everything you need…a spatula, fork, knife, grate cleaner, tong and bottle opener. I have one and use it all the time. But what’s really neat is the company also makes laser cut coasters that can be adorned with your BBQ team logo or whatever you’d like on them (aside from sports team logos).
Can Beer Make You Smarter?
Apparently, beer is great for writer’s block if you’re a young mouse. At least, according to a recent scientific study, anyway.