There’s a non-meat product in my smoker !!!

SmokedPineapple001.jpg
Pretty, huh?
I know I’m behind the times, people have been tossing nearly every food product on the grill or in the smoker since the beginning. Yeah well, not me. I know this might sound a little odd, but I enjoy the contrast of the heavily smoked meat product, then the lesser beings (peasant food) to be cooked elsewhere, by others. Understand?
Luckily, Sunday morning found me at the local whatever mart shopping for the coming week’s food. Wanted to grab a few racks of ribs so Zoomie could get her fill. I ain’t payin’ no 18 dollars for a damned slab of pork spares, so it was the country style for me. Almost 8 dollars for a huge mound of fleshy goodness, I picked the one with more fat in it.
I’m not sure what happened or why. But I wanted to go back to the lousy produce section and find me some citrus or a pineapple to toss in the smoker as well. As you can see, the p-apple made it in!
I sat and pondered the unfriendly feeling thing for a while. How to slice? Extra virgin? Salt? Chile pepper? Thin slices and get juice everywhere? Peel? Cut it’s head off? I just love cutting the heads off of things. I opted for the simple approach, cut in half lengthwise and use some kosher salt on the inside. I knew the smoky goodness would not penetrate through the thick halves, but didn’t want to deal with all these fussy little slices falling all over the place.
SmokedPineapple002.jpg
It was pretty fricken good, for a fruit. Warm, smoky on the outside, tender on the inside. The heat had broken down something molecular on the inside and tenderized the little dear. Slurp! Guess what? It was excellent cold the next day too. Slurrrphah !!!
Biggles
ps – I don’t know how long it was in there, maybe a few hours or more, not less.

16 thoughts on “There’s a non-meat product in my smoker !!!

  1. Oh Yeah! Grilled pineapple is the greatest! I haven’t tasted any lately and the last time I was so entertained, was when I was in Hawaii at a luau!
    You did good Biggs! Can imagine how perfect that fruit was with those ribs!

  2. Hey BB,
    Oh man, the pork was REALLY good. Just used salt and smoke and heat. Juisee.
    Lydia,
    I remembered about the ancho, but some dang reason totally forgot about the lime! Idjet.
    xo, Biggles

  3. Sirs,
    Bravo for keeping up with trends. I’m afraid I’ll remain behind the times……..

  4. Kudos on your versatility. I love grilled pineapple slices, and do it now and again, usually with chicken.
    Never thought to smoke one though… makes me wonder what else you could do a light smoke on… peaches immediately comes to mind, since they’re awesome on the grill too.

  5. This beckons childhood memories of a restaurant in El Paso…I remember stopping there for pineapple-marinated ribs every time we drove through…haven’t thought of it in years, but I can still conjure up the savoury taste! Thanks, Biggles! Next time, put them both on the same side of the grill!

  6. Okay, I get the grilled pineapple lovers. But how did SMOKED pineapple taste? I think of the classic tropical pig and pineapple and try to add the — smoke. It must have been wonderful. Would you use the same wood next time? I think you’re on to something, fer shure.

  7. What a magnificent pine-apple!
    ….I would next be tempted to make a rum soaked,smoked pine-apple up side down cake with home made burnt sugar buttermilk ice cream!
    what are you shootin with sir? It’s a golly/jolly eyeful!
    mac

  8. Oh Kudzu. Read the last paragraph, it’s all right there, sorta. I’ll be doing it again, for sure.
    Mac,
    Thank you! And, that cake would be made in a camp dutch oven, correct? You’re right though, it would make a PERFECT cake action.
    Shooting with an old Nikon D200, 60mm f2.8 micro with an SB-800 shoe mounted flash. But to be honest, I can get such images with far lesser rigs. I have a few on my wall from an old Coolpix 950 (2 megapixels), it don’t matter.
    xo, Biggles

  9. This looks awesome. I am hoping to get a smoker for Christmas (not a fancy one like you, an electric one to satisfy my lazy inner child), so I definitely need to try this one out. Smoked pineapple and pork pizza!!!

  10. Hey Leena!
    Ya know, you should do really well with the electric smoker. You won’t have to concentrate on keeping a fire going and pay more attention to your food. Something to keep in mind is to play with the burn of the smoking chips or whatever you choose to use. Give the chips more air and they’ll tend to burn, releasing one flavor of smoke. Less air and you’ll get a more refined smoke, it’s fun!
    Biggles

  11. Oh, that looks like a very good idea. Well played.
    Have you ever tried smoking flour? I read somewhere that Thai cooks often smoke flour to use in their desserts for an extra dimension of flavor. Sounds intriguing, no?

  12. Hey P&P,
    It’s good to see you! I haven’t tried smoking flour and I’ve never heard of it. That don’t mean much, but I would imagine it isn’t an easy trial. I’ve tried smoking salt along with a few friends. Getting it to take the smoke is tough and it has to be a cold smoke over 24 hours, you wouldn’t want to toast the flour. I wouldn’t think.
    Biggles