Could you smoke a sauce?
I want to add smoke flavour to a somewhat runny pepper sauce. I thought of letting it simmer on the barbeque and also have some wood chips in water to provide lots of smoke. Keep the lid of the pot off and just put the lid of the weber on.
Can you actually impart smoke flavours to a liquid like this or would it be better just to roast the peppers before you make the sauce?
(4)4 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
What you're describing isn't all that different from how they make various products like Liquid Smoke (make smoke along with steam, then condense that steam). You will need to make sure that some actual condensation occurs (for example, by having a lid for the smokey vapor to condense onto).
However, it may be simpler to add a liquid smoke-type product directly; at least the main brands are actually smoke distillates (and not artificial flavorings or similar) and thus should be effectively identical to this process, but quicker.
This will definitely work, but I would recommend stirring it every once in a while as it will mostly be affecting only the surface. A shallow vessel with a larger surface area will also impart more smokiness faster.
I've definitely done this with ketchup before, with a couple key tweaks:
Spreading the sauce onto a rimmed baking sheet. This is to maximize surface area for smoking.
I used a Traeger pellet-smoker, so I'm not sure how a Weber might work.
I'm not sure how effective this'll be in your case, but the general principle is sound (and delicious).
Example recipe using the same process
Better or worse is a judgement call. Smoking the peppers then making the sauce v. smoking the sauce will produce different results, but both will impart smokiness. So, you can, in fact, impart smoke flavor in a liquid by using a smoker. For example, I've smoked water, then used it to cook eggs.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2026 All Rights reserved.