Hickory Nut Steak

[indyfrisco]

I read on one of my smoking forums I visit about hickory nuts. Someone suggested picking them up green as soon as they fall and just store them in a bucket to let them dry. Once dried out, you can basically use them for smoking. So last night, I made a steak. Here's what I did:

Chutney marinade:

1/2 small red onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 T ground black pepper
2 T sea salt
1 T cayenne pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients except oil in food processer and pulse until chopped fine. Slowly pour the oil in while pulsing to finish marinade.

Now all you "only way to cook a steak is to S&P and grill it" asswipes can have your say then shut the fuck up. I took a 1.5" thick ribeye and coated it with this marinade and put it in the fridge over lunch. Last night, after my son's t-ball game, grill on. I filled up the Weber charcoal chimney with the dried out hickory nuts and lit the newspaper. Didn't take long to get a nice fire going. Tossed that pile of hickory nuts into my steak grill and threw the steak on. 5 minutes per side and it was perfect. The marinade and the smokey hickory nuts made for an awesome steak. I'll probably do another this weekend as the steak I bought was a two-pack. I'll post pics next time. Only bad thing is I used up all the hickory nuts I had saved. I'll gather more this year in the Fall as that tip was a damn good one.

[Truman]

Perfectly reasonable preparation by me. Ain’t exactly what I’d categorize as a marinade, but maybe you Lone Star- types define the term differently. Add some fresh squeezed lime to most of the ingredients in that mix to skirt steak, and you have this tasty li’l dish we like to call fa-ji-tas in these parts.

What I don’t cotton to is a perfectly good steak ruined by the likes of white sauces or demi glaces, or even worse, “steak” sauce, barbecue sauce, or even ketchup . If anyone has to smother a steak in that shit, then your chef is a friggin' idiot.

The nuts are a novelty, Indy. Know you’re not a big fan of hickory, but even money sez you’ll get similar results from a couple of soaked handfuls of these:



FWIW, we’re in the habit of using black walnut hulls on various meats each spring, after they’ve had a full winter to dry out. Mostly the same result as using the actual wood – since nuts beget trees (cue Dins). Might want to give it a whirl. By the same token - I’ll give your recipe one as well. Thanks for posting it.

[indyfrisco]

Yeah, the hickory nuts didn't taste any different than the hickory wood I usually use. Just seemed a bit easier to mess with. And I've come around on the hickory vs. mesquite debate we had mainly due to supply and demand round these parts as you know.

So, here's the chutney I used as marinade. Sorry for the shitty cell phone pics.



Thick layer on steak and placed it face down in the vacuum cannister. Here's the bottom



Another extra thick layer on top of the steak. Place the additional steak on top and put a thick layer on top. Top view:



Side view showing stacked steaks



And the vacuum unit to "seal the deal". Normally, 20 minutes fter the vacuum, the flavor of the chutney is fully soaked into the meat, but I still like to let it in the fridge overnight.



More pics to come tonight (well, i'll take them tonight. may not post them until next week). Will take them with a better camera. And I'll be using charcoal with some Jack Daniels whiskey barrel wood chips with a little mesquite and hickory mixed in.

[smackaholic]

at least you didn't grind it up into a hamburger.

nice job. i will try smoking a grilled steak one of these days.

[PSUFAN]

A nut-smoking thread?

I tell ya, this forum...