I am going to experiment with putting 1 puck of Hickory on a batch of freshly snapped green beans, and then:
1. Half of them I will saute with some olive oil / garlic.
2. The other half will go in the steamer. I think the steam will probably wash away the smoke, but my 3 and 5 year old will like these better anyway.
I like idea #1...and #2 is good for the kids...would like to hear how they come out FL?
I just put them in - I took a "before" pic - will post with the "after" shortly.
I got the idea from a side dish at the Outback - they called it "french style" green beans. I swore I tasted smoke in the beans. They were so good, I finished them before I dug into the 20oz Porterhouse that was next to them.... and for me, a card-carrying member of the carnivore society, to do that, they had to be pretty good.
I once heard that vegetarian means "lousy hunter" :D
I like smokey flavored green beans as well. Old Hickory Smoked Salt can give a nice little smoke flavor. Smoked bacon is my favorite additive in addition to some crunchy french fried oninons. This works on plain and creamy (mushroom soup) green beans.
The beans were a hit - they disappeared too fast to get pictures!
The half that went in the steamer had a smoke taste, not too overpowering at all. one of my little ones scarfed then all, the other said that they tasted different...
The saute batch, well, lets chalk that one up to me learning how long green beans need to cook. They took alot longer than I thought, and by that time the onions, garlic and shallots were black specks. tasty black specks. So, for the next time, I will try:
1. 1 puck of smoke
2. Steam about 10 minutes
3. Saute with olive oil, onions, garlic, shallots - just to finish them.