If you caught my post last week on smoking your own salt, you learned how easy it is to turn ordinary salt into an extraordinary seasoning.  But did you know that you can pull off the same trick with flour?  In this recipe, I’ve smoked Semolina flour – the most common kind used for pasta making.  The finished pasta takes on a subtly spicy smoke flavor and is a great match for Morel mushrooms. 

Makes: 2 Smoky Bowls
Total kitchen time: 2.5 hours

Shopping List:

• 1.5 Cups Semolina Flour
• 2 Cups Hickory wood chips, soaked in water for 30 minutes
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 tsp. hickory smoked salt
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. water

For the morel cream sauce:

• 1/2 cup dried Morel mushrooms
• 2 cups simmering water
• 1 tsp. butter
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp. hickory smoked salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Set up your grill or smoker for smoking.  Add the hickory chips, and set the heat to medium low.
2. Place the semolina flour in a shallow, heat-proof dish like a jelly roll or cake pan and set inside your grill or smoker, away from the heat.  Smoke for 1 hour, or until your wood chips burn themselves out.
3. To make the pasta, combine the smoked flour, eggs, salt, olive oil and  tbsp. of water in a large bowl until it forms a dough.  Knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is elastic.  Wrap the dough in a towel and let it sit 20 minutes before rolling.
4. Divide the dough into four equal parts.  Using a rolling pin or, better yet, a pasta maker, roll the dough until thin (I use setting 6 on the pasta maker).  Cut into 1/4” strips for fettuccini.  At this point, you can cook the pasta immediately, or hang it to dry for 2 hours, then store in an air-tight plastic container. 
5. Boil the pasta in a large pot of water for 4-5 minutes, or until tender

For the morel cream sauce:

1. Soak the dried morels in 2 cups of simmering water for at least 30 minutes.  Reserve the water.
2. Heat the butter over high heat in a large skillet or saucepan.  Add the morels and sauté until they are lightly browned. Add the white wine, heavy cream and about 1/4 cup of the reserved mushroom water.  Cook until the liquid has reduced by half, about 3 minutes.  Season to taste with smoked salt and pepper.

Fettuccini is, of course, just one of the many uses for smoked flour.  The same principle applies to bread, pizza dough – hell, I bet a chocolate chip cookie might even taste great with a little smoke.  Or, for that authentic campfire flavor, why not make your own smoked graham crackers?  So, Seattle, what else are you smoking?

I met Kurt Beecher (you know him as the founder of Beecher’s Cheese) one hot afternoon amid a cluster of food bloggers, all eager to storm an armored truck shaped like a giant pig, parked at the corner of 2nd and Pike.  Maximus Minimus, the much anticipated pulled-pork sandwich truck, had opened the day before to mild fanfare, but it was about to be put through its paces and make some unpaid bloggers very happy in the process.

We met at Beecher’s in Pike Place late in the afternoon for a whirlwind tour of the factory.  In reality, we walked into the cheese making room in groups of five, stood in one spot and listened to the cheese maker give a well-rehearsed spiel about curds and whey.  I’m convinced this “tour” was a thinly veiled excuse to get us in hairnets again, but the air conditioned room was a nice respite from the melting heat outside.  Plus, a few cold, moist curd samples made an excellent hold-over snack.

After learning all there is to know about cheese making in 3.5 minutes, we gathered around Kurt as he unromantically recanted how Seattle’s best-known cheese came to be.  Kurt is an unassuming, unpretentious and energetic guy – like a soccer dad, or a wilderness park guide – and you wouldn’t know he was an artisanal food mogul just by looking at him (read: no whisk tattoos or chef’s jacket).  But he has built perhaps the most recognized and respected brands in Seattle, and Maximus Minimus, his brainchild born from a popular staff meal at Bennett’s, was poised to be a very clever piece of horizontal integration. 

The concept is simple: a big, iron-clad truck shaped like a pig that serves 2 varieties of everything – maximus for spicy and minimus for sweet.  Throw in some cold drinks, coleslaw, chips, and a vegetarian option so the carrot-huggers don’t file an injunction against public pork vending, and you’ve got great street food.

Kurt scurried us two blocks up to the unmistakable truck which sat heavily on the pavement.  By the time I arrived, the line of bloggers was already 20-deep, but moving steadily.  Over the din of the truck’s galley kitchen I could overhear two employees taking orders at the front of the line, describing and patiently re-describing the choice between maximus-spicy and minimus-sweet to the giddy pseudo-journalists who were all lucky enough to be getting served after business hours. 

When I got to the front, I opted for the minimus since I’m not much of a heat guy.  While I waited eagerly for my cardboard tray of food to emerge from the truck’s small window, I observed passers-by, one after another, stop and ask what the truck was.  I assume the were led to this corner by the caramel smell of braised pork wafting down the city blocks.  But when they arrived, they weren’t quite sure what to make of the big metal hog that looked like it came from another planet… or Freemont.  In stunned bewilderment they gathered, standing slack-jawed for a moment, then continuing on, feigning that this was really something they see every day. 

When my food emerged, it looked great.  In fact, it looked just as I expected, with the exception of the cheese.  Given that this was a Beecher’s venture, I assumed that my soft pork sandwich would be oozing with gooey cheese, like an Arby’s melt but made from actual animals instead of recycled volleyballs.  The only hint of cheese was a small sprinkling of white flakes, unmelted by the heat of the pork, and unnoticeable in any given bite.  Still, the sandwich was good – not orgasmic, tongue-tingling, I’ll-switch-religions-for-this good, but pretty solid.  The chips and slaw were a nice touch as well, though the two-handed tray made eating and drinking on the street a little cumbersome. 

The drinks were self-serve from two discreet taps sticking out the side of the truck.  I didn’t get to try the ginger lemonade, but the hibiscus nectar was unbelievable.  It had a strong, rich, floral flavor which I anticipated the moment I saw the iridescent magenta tea start pouring into my cup.  Had I been without a straw, I’m pretty sure it would have left a KoolAid-esque mustache above my upper lip.  The nectar was a great compliment to the salty tang of the sandwich, and would likely be just the right soothing antidote to the piquant maximus.  I guess I’ll have to go back for more.

Even though I won’t be making Maximus Minimus my new official barbecue Mecca, I’m still very glad for its arrival.  With the weight of the world on everyone’s shoulders these days, it’s nice to find a little levity during lunch hour.  And anyone who serves barbecued pork out of a hogified AirStream clearly cannot take himself that seriously.  I hope that street food, and indeed the trailer concept, continues to take hold in Seattle.  In high school, the closest thing we had to a cafeteria was the roach coach parked on the sidewalk during recess and lunch to peddle quesadillas and Horchata (I grew up in LA).  You knew it arrived by the distant sound of La Cucaracha and the smell of leftover animal bits being mangled into a burrito.  Even so, there is a special place in my heart reserved for 4-wheeled food.  May I cast my vote now for a bubble tea, salumi and wood-fired pizza van somewhere on the Microsoft campus?  Go trucks, go!

Full disclosure: I got free food, but that doesn’t pay for my opinion.

Total kitchen time: 30 minutes prep, 4 hours, plus 15 minutes cooking time
Makes: 3 racks

Shopping list:

• 3 racks baby back ribs (short ribs)
• 8 tbsp. + 2 tsp. crushed garlic
• 4 cups prepared Turmeric-Curry Dry Rub
• 1 cup ketchup
• 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• 1/4 tsp. liquid smoke (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. lime juice
• a lot of heavy-duty aluminum foil

1. Can be done 1 day ahead, refrigerate until ready to cook.  Work one slab of ribs at a time.  Lay out two large pieces of foil, on top of one another, big enough to cover the slab.  Pat the slab dry on both sides with paper towels, and lay bone-side up in the middle of the foil.
2. Spread 1 tbsp. of crushed garlic across the surface of the ribs (bone side up).  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the prepared dry rub over the bone side of the ribs and push the rub into the skin.  Flip the ribs over (skin side up) and repeat – 1 tbsp. of garlic, then 1/2 cup dry rub pressed into the skin.  You should have 1 cup of dry rub remaining, for the barbecue sauce.
3. Lay the ribs bone-side down and seal tightly with the aluminum foil. Working with the long side first, bring the opposite edges together and fold over to form a crease.  Fold over a second time to double the crease, being sure to keep the foil tight to the meat.  fold the short ends up towards the skin side and seal tightly. 
4. Preheat your oven to 200°F and set the top rack in the middle position.  Place a rimmed baking sheet or a large piece of foil in the bottom of your oven to catch any juice that drips off during cooking. 
5. Arrange the ribs, bone side down, on the rack of your oven, being sure to leave plenty of space between the slabs.  Use two oven racks if necessary, and swap the upper and lower racks halfway into baking. 
6. Bake for 4 hours.  Remove from the oven and let rest at least 30 minutes.  The resting is critical.  Your foil packages will be full of sweet, delicious pork juice (yumm) and if you unwrap the ribs and start cutting into them, you’ll end up with a tough, dry waste of your time.
7. After the ribs have rested, unwrap them, brush the meaty sides with barbecue sauce (recipe follows) and place meat-side down on a hot grill for 10 minutes, or until nicely charred.  Cut and serve!

Barbecue Sauce

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the garlic until it is fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Add the ketchup, dry rub and remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 10 minutes.  Adjust to taste with balsamic vinegar or honey.

This recipe produces great ribs, but you can use the same technique for chicken just as well.  Be aware, though, that the high sugar content of the dry rub means that food will burn quickly over direct heat.  This is great for char marks on the grill, but would be bad news for, say, a strip steak in a skillet.