Oh bivalves, how I love you! At least several times a year I proclaim my feelings in a public forum, today is no different. However, I am including accolades for the Smoking Gun, portable food smoker by PolyScience. Scouts honor they aren’t paying me anything for this post, this was actually a Christmas gift to the hubs after we saw a chef use it at a local gastropub. I picked one up at Amazon but looks like Williams and Sonoma among others have it available too. It is easy to use and really, you could probably smoke just about anything. We cold smoked (meaning that it isn’t cooking it) fresh oysters and some Hainanese chicken the MIL brought over. Next in line for smoking: cheese (homemade mozzarella!), sashimi, pork loin, pasta, honey (why not?), vodka, beer, chowder, potatoes, sugar and eggs……. We will also play around with different smoking mediums, such as loose leaf teas, spices and herbs. The Smoking Gun comes with a few varieties of wood chips included. It is safe to use inside and doesn’t get hot per se.
How to prepare cigar cold smoked raw oysters
Ingredients & Supplies
- Fresh live oysters, small to medium in size
- Smoking Gun
- Shucker, gloves, towel
- Cigar, only need about ½ inch or so, good use for
- Plate and bowl or Pyrex dish with lid
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Additional flavoring or sauces to try:
- Lemon zest and wedges
- Ginger soy and rice wine vinegar (one of our favorites!)
- Tabasco
- Bourbon (just a splash)
Instructions
- Shuck your oysters. Easier said than done the first few times. Here’s a how to straight from Washington State, or you can invite a friend over that you know can shuck with the best of ’em. Be sure to save the bring (salty liquid inside). Place them on a plate
- Prep any additional sauces or toppings, such as tabasco, lemon zest or a ginger soy dipping sauce (grated ginger and about 2:1, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar). Do a few oysters with nothing but their tasty brine.
- Decide what you flavor you want to smoke with oysters with. We wanted to try cigar/tobacco, which I highlight recommend. Cut off about ½ inch of the cigar with a sharp knife. Set up your Smoking Gun and put a pinch of tobacco leaves in.
- Put some of your shucked oysters on the plate under the bowl. Be sure that the bowl lays pretty flat on the plate, as you don’t want smoke to sneak out. Turn on the Smoking Gun, place the tube/hose under the bowl, fill it with smoke, remove tube and let the oysters “clam bake” (hee hee) under the bowl filled with smoke for a few minutes. Maybe read the instructions for the Smoking Gun first. J
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You could also use a baking dish with a lid to smoke the food inside. Worked pretty good too.
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Here’s how we smoked the chicken too…..
What ideas do you have the Smoking Gun? Love to hear them!
Some other resources:
Odds & Hens : Ramblings. Creations. 
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