Good job this isn’t a scientific endeavour. Two tests in and I’ve used a different wood. Rather than the usual oak and apple blend we use for our standard product range, this time it was recommended to try using whiskey barrel oak. Good job I had a pack lying around, eh?!
What We Smoked
How deep did we want to go? You have soft brown sugar, golden caster sugar, muscovado and all the rest. Let’s keep things simple and choose two common varieties.
White Granulated Sugar
Why: it’s the standard. Everyone knows what it is, what it looks like and what it tastes like.
Demerara Sugar
Why: it has more flavour than refined white sugar, thanks to the treacle/molasses content, but it’s not a stretch to expect to find some in the average home kitchen.
The Test
Two bowls of sugar. One smoking cabinet, 12 hours.
Can’t say the demerara looked any different at the end of the process but the white granulated sugar had taken on a delightful, light golden hue. Both smelled and tasted proper smoky.
On its own, smoked sugar is not unpleasant. I’m not in a hurry to sprinkle it over my cornflakes, but it was an interesting experience.
So how to use these two not-insubstantial tubs of smoked sugar now in my possession?
I browsed some cook books and did some searches online (how rubbish is Google now, eh? Are you aware of the term ‘enshittification’? You should look it up- coined by Corey Doctorow. Hang about, I’m getting sidetracked…) and settled on two different uses- the topping on a creme brulee and replacing your standard sugar in a baking recipe, in this case Anzac biscuits, which use both types of sugar.
Having access to a cash and carry, I picked up a catering mix of creme brulee, flipped open my recipe journal to my anzac biscuit recipe (when I got home) and cracked on…
So does it smoke good?
Let’s review the creme brulee first. The torched sugar crust definitely had a smokiness going on. It was sweet, caramelly- obviously- with just enough from the whisky barrel smoke coming through to make you pause and process for a few seconds.
It wasn’t overpowering. It was subtle but noticeable enough to be different from the usual. Not bad. Not bad at all.
I cocked up with the biscuits. What I should have done was bake a batch using regular sugar so we could side-by-side compare.
I didn’t do that, so I’m not 100%, but I don’t think I could taste any smoke in the finished product. They were delicious, but not smoky. I even brought some into the office at my day job and the ladies there couldn’t identify any smoke either. Oh well.
Would you do it again?
Maybe? I’ve read that the sugar works well in an Old Fashioned (cocktail) so perhaps that will need testing too. I’ve got a fair amount of each left.
A smoked sugar simple syrup…? Hmmm…
You know what definitely does smoke good? Almonds and cashews.
What are we watching? Catching up with the final series of The Boys.
What are we listening to? Lies in Nostalgia by Built to Fade
