Smoked Dates?

[Habanero Smoker]

Has anyone every smoked dried dates <i><font color="red">(Oh lord! With this title and subject, one can only expect a classic Chez response).</font id="red"></i>

If so, what type of wood did you use, how much smoke did you apply and how long did you apply the smoke for. I was watching the Saturday Early Show and they had a recipe for Cocktail Dates - dried dates stuffed with parmigiano-reggiano cheese, wrapped with bacon, and cooked in a oven until the bacon was crisp. Everyone in the studio was raving about them. I plan to make these and smoke them in my BS, and possibly serve them on Christmas. I am going to pick up the ingredients today, and planning a trial run this Friday. If anyone has any information, I would appreciate it.

A search on line only came up with one reference of smoked dates. At one time dates were smoked as a preservative prior to exporting them. There was no information on how they were smoked.

[BigSmoker]

Hab,
They sound good to me[:D].  I would probally use apple wood.  Good luck and post up the results.  One idea is replace bacon with proscuitto(sp?).

Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

[Habanero Smoker]

Jeff,
I was thinking the same, using Apple, though the thought of using maple did occur to me. I picked up the ingredients today and got maple flavored bacon, rather than hickory - I didn't want to take a chance on so much smoke flavor over powering the dates and cheese. For my first try, and since this is fruit, I think I will keep it down to 40 minutes of smoke. Do you or anyone have any further suggestions?

I may be able to get them in the smoker tomorrow. I'll keep you posted

[BigSmoker]

Habs,
Maple would work fine.  Post some pics if you can as I'm thinking about trying these as soon as you tell me they were good[:D].

Jeff
www.bbqshopping.com
Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

[Chez Bubba]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Habanero Smoker</i>
<br /><i><font color="red">(Oh lord! With this title and subject, one can only expect a classic Chez response).</font id="red"></i>
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
HB,

I knew exactly what you were talking about and although the idea intrigues me, I'm not much of a fruits/sweets guy. I do agree with Jeff that prosciutto would work better than bacon because it will have less moisture to render in order to seem cooked. At the lower smoker temp, bacon takes a long time to be "done" & I would think by the time the bacon is done, the dates would be overdone.

That being said, I have never smoked dates. The opposite however.....[:D][:D][:D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

[Habanero Smoker]

Jeff;

I did the dates today. I wasn't sure how high of a temperature I could get the BS up to, so I decided to cold smoke them for one hour applying 40 minutes of Apple smoke. Then I divided the batch into two, oven roasted one batch, and hot smoked the other batch.

The flavors are very complex, and I am not sure how I feel about them. Often when I don't like what I make, others do. So I am going to take a sample of both batches to my unofficial testers (my brother and his wife) and get their opinion. Also after something has aged one or two days in the refrigerator, the flavor develops better.

At this time I prefer the batch the ones cooked in the BS. After cold smoking, I was able to get the BS up to 250 degrees F, I wanted to cook them at 300. After about 1 1/2 hours, they were done. I did take pictures, and I can send full instructions, but I want to wait until I get the opinion of my brother. When I first prepared them, I thought that the smoke would have little effect on the flavor, since the entire date was covered with bacon, except for the edges. But there is definitely a distinct difference between the batch that was cook in the BS as opposed to the batch cooked in the oven; even though both were smoked for 40 minutes.

[MallardWacker]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Habanero Smoker</i>
<br />The flavors are very complex, and I am not sure how I feel about them. Often when I don't like what I make, others do. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I have said that about a few dates also, specially the early years.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[gotbbq]

Hey-

I also made the dates.  I thought they were good.  On my second tray I added some heat (spice) to the outside.  I used a mix of tularosa chilies (ground) with ancho.  The Tularosa has heat but dissapears really quickly, almost like wasabi.  The ancho is more like a dried raisin.  The sweet of the dates with the heat  and smoke of the chiles was really great.  Tommorrow i'm repeating on dried figs, a great compliment to assorted cheeses.

gotbbq

[Habanero Smoker]

I thought I would bump this up. (Again another post I forgot to follow up on earlier).

The hardest part about making these is that you can never make enough to satisfy yourself, let alone a group. The first time I made these I wasn't to keen on them, but now I love them. Medjool dates are the best dates to use, but I'm finding it hard to find them on the east coast. I use to fully make then in the smoker, but finishing then up in the oven works better. You can prepare these up to 2 days ahead of time, before you are ready to smoke/cook them.

You can make these without the smoker by using smoked bacon, or other smoked meats or stuff with smoked almonds. But I like maple cured bacon, and prefer to control my own smoke.

Smoked Dates with Bacon and Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese

Ingredients
1/4 pound Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 box pitted dates; about 30 (use Medjool if possible, they are larger and better for stuffing and smoking)
10-15 slices of bacon (unsmoked good quality)
wooden picks

Directions:
Preheat smoke generator, and unplug the heating element and leave vent wide open. Since the dates are only going to be smoked only 20 minutes you will not have to use the cold smoke setup; if you don't want to. Remove the "V" pan for better smoke circulation; (just don't forget to put it back in when finished).

Cut cheese 1/4" thick x 1/4" wide x 1" long, (keep your knife handy because you may need to do further trimming. Make a slit length ways into the dates so they can be opened up (when your knife gets sticky, rinse it off, it will cut better clean). Once opened check to make sure there are not parts of the pit left. Stuff each date with one piece of cheese.

Next cut bacon into pieces 3 inch long (I like to use 2" pieces and carefully stretch them). Don't use the wide fatty ends of the bacon; save them for other dishes; such as baked beans. If you want to trim the bacon more, trim the bacon to 1 inch wide (which may be necessary for smaller dates).

Place the prepared bacon on a cutting board, place a stuff date on top of the bacon then wrap the bacon around the date, securing it with a toothpick. Make sure the toothpick goes through the part of the bacon that will hold. If you put the toothpick in a weak area, the bacon will pull away from the toothpick during cooking.

Arrange on a wire rack of your smoker so that there is at least 1/4 inch space between dates. Before placing dates in the smoker, open the door and leave it open until all the built up heat has escaped.  Load dates, close vent to 1/4 opening, and apply smoke for 20 minutes of smoke (I used apple).

Remove from smoker, and arranged dates on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you can line with aluminum foil but the bottom tends to overcook).

Place in the middle position of the oven and bake in a preheated 450 degree F oven until the bacon is golden and crisp (I generally don't let them get to crisp), about 15 minutes. Even with a convection oven, at the half way point you should rotate the pan from front to back, and start checking on the dates at the 12 minute mark. Transfer to paper towels to drain; let cool slightly before serving.

Dates can be served immediately after cooling, or at room temperature.

Variations: You can use a number of meats, cheese and fruits as a stuffing.
Instead of cheese try smoked almonds.
Also you should try smoking the date, then stuffing them with a sweet or herbal cream cheese mixture, peanut butter with chopped pistachios, or almond past. Serve unwrapped or wrapped with prosciutto, no further cooking required.

For uncooked dates, I split them spread them open; place cut side down and smoke for 20 minutes. They will last indefinitely in a sealable plastic bag and placed in the refrigerator.

[La Quinta]

So Habs...when you are referring to "uncooked" dates...you mean not dried (I assume). Just out of curiosity which did you like better? Dried dates or fresh? Where I live...I believe... we are the largest US producer/grower of dates...my point being we have boatloads of fresh dates here (plus I know a couple of date farmers...so I can get a box free!!!) I'd like to try this...thanks for the post...

[Habanero Smoker]

You are also the largest producers of Medjool dates. From what I understand, the reason for them not being available as they use to be is because most are being exported to Morocco where this variety originated. It seems that the Moroccan trees are being attack by either a virus of some type of insect.

As I said, you don't have to bother with the smoker if you use smoked bacon. Use thin slice bacon of good quality. I generally only cook them until they are golden brown, beyond that you may loose too much cheese.

What I mean by uncooked, are dried dates that will be stuffed and not placed in the oven to finished; therefore you can cold smoke them ahead of time. So for example an uncooked stuffed date would be one that is stuffed with a cream cheese stuffing (either sweet or herbal), and serve as is.

A favorite cream cheese stuffing I use is:

4 oz cream cheese; soften
2 Tbsp of maple syrup (adjust sweetness to your liking)
2 Tbsp of shredded coconut (sweeten or unsweetened)
2 Tbsp finely chopped pistachios
juice for 1/2 of lime
cap full of rum; preferably Capt. Morgan
Will fill about 20-25 dates.

Mix thoroughly, stuff dates and serve either chilled or at room temperature. Optional: wrap with prosciutto, or thinly sliced deli ham.

[La Quinta]

Thanks for the cream cheese recipe...I'll try it...:)

As for the dates...kinda sad here...a lot of the growers are moving their trees to Mexico because it's gotten too pricey to grow and ship from California. I guess date trees are hearty enough to be transplanted...just a little tid-bit of totally useless information!!!

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the cream cheese recipe...I'll try it...:)

As for the dates...kinda sad here...a lot of the growers are moving their trees to Mexico because it's gotten too pricey to grow and ship from California. I guess date trees are hearty enough to be transplanted...just a little tid-bit of totally useless information!!!

I found the information interesting.

I did another batch (60) of Bacon and Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese dates yesterday, but this time I only had a chance to use only the oven and smoked bacon. I couldn't find Medjool dates, but found a variety that was fairly large. They also came out good.

[La Quinta]

Ok...so good to know you can just do them in the oven as well...Thanks Habs...