Barbeque hall of famer and PBS TV host Steven Raichlen authored a new cook book, "Project Smoke."
Raichlen, who revolutionized the art of smoking food and adapting it to modern tastes, joined Melissa Ross on Thursday’s episode of First Coast Connect to discuss the book and share insight on his love for smoking foods.
Project Smoke delivers both a complete step-by-step handbook to mastering cooking techniques, including how to add smoke flavor if you don’t own a smoker, and also includes a collection of 100 recipes for smoking every food imaginable.
“I like to call smoke the umami of BBQ, “ Raichlen said, “What it does is whatever food you apply it to, it retains that original flavor but transforms it.”
When Raichlen started writing the cookbook he built his own wooden smokehouse in the backyard of his home in Massachusetts. This fueled his love for the art of smoking even more, and he began to experiment with different ingredients.
“One day I thought, 'Let’s try every condiment and base ingredient I can think of; let’s smoke it, and then let’s see what happens.' ” He said. This led to a unique array of smoking ingredients, including lemons, mayonnaise and even desserts.
“One of the things I loved about writing this book was all BBQ is smoked, but not all smoked food is BBQ. So there are a lot of new avenues of inquiry for me.” Raichlen said.
WJCT’s Create TVwill be airing season two of Project Smoke, which launches Memorial Day weekend. The show will focus on different aspects of smoking foods such as "Smoke in a hurry," which shows viewers how to smoke foods in five minutes, and "Rise and Smoke," which gives viewers a chance to transform their normal breakfast ingredients into fully packed smoked flavors.