| Smoke-Dried
Tomatoes
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Originally
posted: 07/01/2002
Last updated:
01/08/2008 |
I was watching "Food Finds" on Food Network and saw a man named Larry
at a place called Boggy Creek
Farm drying Roma tomatoes in a smokehouse. It takes three to five
days for Larry to dry tomatoes this way, and he sells them in 2 ounce bags for $7.50
each.
I don't have a smokehouse, nor do I have
the patience to spend five days drying tomatoes, but I figured
I could do something similar with the WSM.
You can use smoke-dried tomatoes as you would sun-dried tomatoes. Add them to pizza, pasta, casseroles, stews, sauces, soups, salads,
dips, stuffing, antipastos, scrambled eggs, cornbread...the possibilities are
endless!
Smoke-dried tomatoes can be
packed into sterilized glass jars with or without sprigs of fresh herbs, covered
with extra-virgin olive oil, and stored in the refrigerator. The olive oil
becomes infused with the smoky tomato flavor and is just delicious.
As
always...click on any of the pictures to
view a larger image.
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Selecting And Prepping
The Tomatoes Select a
plum or paste tomato variety that has a high ratio of
flesh to juice. I like Roma tomatoes, which are easy to find at the
grocery store or farmer's market. Choose firm, ripe tomatoes with no
blemishes.
Rinse the tomatoes under
cold running water and pat dry (Picture 1).
Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise
(Picture 2).
Spray the cooking grate
with non-stick spray. Arrange the tomatoes
cut-side up on the grate so they are not
touching to allow smoke to circulate around them. |
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Increasing
Capacity
You can easily get 40
tomato halves on a single cooking grate. To increase capacity, place
additional racks over the top and bottom cooking grates.
In these pictures, I've
arranged tomato halves on three racks. In Picture 1, tomatoes
are arranged on the bottom cooking grate. Three foil-wrapped Pyrex
dessert cups are placed at the edge of the grate to support
the 16" pizza screen shown in Picture 2. Pizza screens are available in
various sizes at restaurant supply stores for just a few dollars.
In Picture 3, tomatoes
are arranged on the top grate. If I had wanted, I could
have placed a 14" pizza screen over the top grate, using the same method
as on the bottom.
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Drying Guidelines
The ideal temperature for
drying tomatoes is 135°F, but my experience is that any temperature in
the range of 135-160°F will work. Temps lower than these can lead to
spoilage; temps higher than these can result in cooked or burned tomatoes.
It takes 10-24 hours to dry
tomatoes, depending on a variety of factors:
- Whether you dry
the tomatoes entirely in the WSM or just apply smoke using the WSM
and finish the drying in an electric oven or food dehydrator.
- The number of
tomatoes being dried.
- The variety, size,
shape, and water content of the tomatoes.
- Weather
conditions: temperature, sun, wind, and humidity.
The tomatoes are done when
they are dark red, shriveled and leathery, but still pliable, kind of like
a giant raisin. They should not be brittle, nor should they be wet. A good
test for doneness: no tomato pulp should stick to your finger when you
touch the center of the dried tomato. |
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Type & Amount Of Smoke
Wood
Oak or pecan are great
choices for smoke-dried tomatoes. The trick is to not over smoke them to
the point they become inedible...which I have done on one occasion.
If using the electric hot
plate method described below, choose five small dry wood chunks,
approximately 2" x 1-1/2" x 1/2" each, and burn each piece individually,
one after the other.
If using the Minion Method
described below, mix a big handful of dry wood chips into the
unlit briquettes.
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Using An Electric Hot
Plate
This is the fastest, easiest, and most effective way to
smoke-dry tomatoes in the WSM.
Place an electric hot plate
and an 8" cast iron skillet on the charcoal grate. Set the hot plate to
"High" (Picture 1).
Put one small chunk of smoke wood in the skillet
and place a perforated disposable pie tin over the skillet as a lid
(Picture 2). The
pie tin keeps drips out of the skillet and keeps the wood from bursting into flames.
Put the middle cooking section
in place and run the electrical cord out the access door opening. Fasten the door
upside down so the cord exits at the bottom of the opening (Picture 3).
Remove the water pan from
the cooker.
Place the tomatoes in the
cooker. Set all vents, top and
bottom, to 100% open. Plug in the hot plate and
within a few minutes you'll have smoke and 150-160°F temperatures in the cooker.
When smoke stops flowing
from the top vent, carefully add another small chunk of smoke wood to the
skillet. Five small chunks of smoke wood, burned one at a time, are all
that's needed.
After applying the last
of the smoke wood, keep running the hot plate until the tomatoes are
dried. If the cooker runs much
over 160°F, adjust the hot plate to a lower setting.
In these pictures, I dried
72 tomato halves in about 14-1/2 hours. |
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Using The Minion
Method
You can use the
Minion Method to achieve the 150-160°F
temperatures necessary to smoke-dry tomatoes in the WSM.
Fill the charcoal chamber to the top with unlit
briquettes. Mix in a big handful of dry oak or pecan smoke wood chips.
Light 8-10 briquettes in a chimney starter and place them on top of the
unlit coals (Picture 1).
Put the middle cooking
section in place and remove the water pan.
Place the tomatoes in the
cooker. Set the top vent at 50% open. Close two of the bottom vents
completely and set the remaining bottom vent to 20% open. This is one of
the few times when you want to partially close the WSM top vent, as this
helps to keep the cooker temperature low.
Monitor the cooker until
the temp stabilizes at 150°F. Check the temperature
frequently and adjust the bottom vents to maintain 150-160°F. You'll get
18-24 hours of
low heat using this method.
In these pictures, I
dried 24 tomato halves in about 26-1/2 hours.
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Remove Tomatoes As They
Dry Each tomato is unique in size and moisture content
and will dry at it's own pace. Also, some parts of the cooker are hotter
than others, so some pieces will dry faster.
In this
picture, you can see there's one little tomato in the center that's done, while the
others around it still have a way to go.
After 8-10 hours,
start checking the tomatoes. Remove any pieces that meet
the doneness test described in the "Drying Guidelines" section
of
this article. Check and remove
pieces
every 60-90 minutes thereafter.
As you remove tomatoes, rearrange the remaining
pieces on the grate. If you notice
"hot spots" where tomatoes dry quickly, move remaining
ones into those spots for faster drying.
My experience is that
tomatoes at the center of the bottom grate are the first ones to dry. Move
tomatoes from the top grate to the bottom grate as space becomes
available. |
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Using A Food
Dehydrator Or Electric Oven
Another way to smoke-dry
tomatoes is to use the electric hot plate method described above to apply
the smoke flavor, then transfer the tomatoes to a food dehydrator or
electric oven for drying. A gas oven is not a good choice because the
combustion of natural gas produces a moist heat that greatly increases the
drying time.
A food dehydrator is your
best choice, with the entire process taking about 16 hours from start to
finish.
If using an electric
oven, set it to the
lowest possible setting and prop open the oven
door to allow moisture to escape. Since many ovens only go down to
170-180°F, propping open the door is essential.
Either way, after 8-10
hours, start checking the tomatoes every 60-90 minutes and remove those that meet the test
for doneness. |
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Storing Smoke-Dried Tomatoes
Properly dried tomatoes can be
stored for 6-12 months in airtight containers or Ziploc bags in the
refrigerator. They may also be frozen for up to 18 months before flavor begins
to diminish. Pack the tomatoes tightly into containers to eliminate excess air.
If using Ziploc bags, squeeze out as much air as possible before closing.
If you have a
Foodsaver vacuum sealer, vacuum pack the tomatoes in a canning jar or Foodsaver
canister. I use this method and put the sealed canister in the refrigerator,
where the tomatoes last for about 12 months.
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