We had some lovely home-smoked trout left over from Reiver's birthday and he suggested that it might go well in a soup.

I've made fish chowder plenty of times before, but never with smoked fish. So I went looking for something that was tailored to smoked fish specifically. I found this one on the Food & Wine website. I will admit that I tweaked it slightly, but only slightly. I omitted the water called for. Used a regular commercial chicken broth (rather than low-sodium), but then omitted the salt. Halved the thyme. And, after tasting it at the end of cooking, decided to add in some corn and grated carrot as it seemed like it needed some more veg to balance it out and I usually put those in my chowders anyway.

Photo goes here.

Smoked Trout Chowder

Slightly adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 3-6 green onions, greens and whites kept separate and chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 450g potatoes, cut into 1cm dice
• 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• 2 fillets smoked trout, skin removed and flesh flaked

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.
2. Add the celery, white parts of the green onions, and garlic and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
3. Add the potatoes, wine, chicken stock, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper.
4. Increase heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and cook until potatoes are just tender (~15 minutes).
5. Stir in the corn and carrots.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the cream.
7. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in the trout.
8. Serve with crusty bread.

Smoked Chicken

Hey! I made something that didn't come out of a Cook's Country magazine! This one's from the Internet. Specifically, I spent a while browsing the Amazing Ribs site and decided to try the smoked chicken recipe posted there.

Sweet Georgia's Brown Smoked Chicken
From AmazingRibs.com
1 chicken (mine was ~1.2kg and came already spatchcocked and injected with brine)
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt per lb. of meat (only if bird is not pre-seasoned/brined)
4-5 Tbsp. Meathead's Memphis Dust

1. If chicken is fully in tact, either spatchcock it or cut it in half with kitchen shears.
2. If chicken has not already been brined or seasoned, rub with salt (dry brine).
3. Dust chicken on all sides with spice mix.
4. Preheat grill, adding desired wood chips/chunks. (I used a divided smoker box full of whiskey barrel chips. Half dry, half wet.)
5. Adjust burners to achieve a temperature of ~325F and indirect heat.
6. Cook chicken, skin side up, over indirect heat for ~2 hours with legs pointing toward the hotter side of the grill.
7. If desired flip skin side down over direct heat for a few minutes to crisp the skin just before serving.
8. Chicken can be cut into parts or pulled for sandwiches.

This chicken smelled heavenly while cooking and tasted even better! We served it with creole potato salad, oil and vinegar coleslaw, grilled corn on the cob, and some old-fashioned lemonade for a complete summer barbecue meal. Phenomenal!

Meathead's Memphis Dust
6 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/4 c. sweet Hungarian paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. ginger powder
2 Tbsp. peppercorns
2 Tbsp. dehydrated onion
1 1/2 tsp. rosemary

1. Grind peppercorns, onion, and rosemary into a fairly uniform looking powder.
2. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well-combined, breaking up any chunks of sugar or other clumps that form.