Smoked Pumpkin Anywhere

by **chickensexer** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:20 pm

Hello Dear All,

I want to make smoked pumpkin soup. I abdolutely need it. The problem is that home smoked pumpkin requires a grill and apple wood chips, and I don't have either. So, the question is:

1. Does anyone know of a pumpkin smoking method in a regular oven?
Or
2. Can smoked pumpkin be bought? Where exactly to look for it?
Or
3. Are there any other smoked veggies anywhere in (specialty) grocery stores around here?

Internet search for "savustettu kurpitsa" didn't return relevant results..

Gosh how I need this soup!!

**Sponsor:**

by **tuulen** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:31 am

chickensexer wrote:1. Does anyone know of a pumpkin smoking method in a regular oven?

To be honest, I have never heard of smoked pumpkin, nor of smoked pumpkin soup, but let me mention a few things about smoking foods. There are two kinds of smoking, one being "hot" smoking which is done on a charcoal-fired grill, where wood chips (of various kinds) that have been soaked in water are placed on top of the charcoal fire, to then flavor the food being grilled, and the other being "cold" smoking, which obviously is done at much cooler temperatures, which probably is what you are looking for, which dates back to the times when smoking was used as a method of preserving foods, and which is done in a small outbuilding, about the size of a typical "outhouse", having a small wood-burning stove located outside of the smokehouse and connected to the smokehouse by a length of stovepipe, where foods are either hung or placed on racks in the smokehouse. HOWEVER, both of those methods produce smoke, obviously, the kind of voluminous smoke that definitely will trigger any smoke alarms inside a building, such as in your kitchen. So, plan on smoking outdoors, exclusively.

by **chickensexer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:56 am

Actually, the way pumpkins are normally smoked is exactly the "hot" mehtod you described. I'm aware of how smoking is done, did it myself many times with various foods (mostly fish though). That's why I eliminated real smoking for myself because nowadays I don't have facilities for doing it outdoors.

I myself don't know whether smoked pumpkin is sold anywhere but I know for fact that at least smoked paprika can be bought, I just don't know whether it's available anywhere in Finland, too.

On the other hand, savustettu paprika mauste is reportedly available in spices section in some stores in Finland. I might go with that as a way of cheating the soup into smoky flavor. But I'm not sure yet whether it's available in my local Prisma or I'll have to go to Stockmann for that. Which doesn't sound like an attractive option having the price of nearly 5 eur for a small sachet and being a far fetched cheating option.

That's why I'm still hopefull to discover some other cheats.

by **interleukin** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:18 am

This may not work, but could you use some of that "liquid smoke" sauce? I use it for lots of foods, to get a kind of fake smoky flavour. It´s ridiculously potent, one drop is like being transported into a badly ventilated tiny hut with an open fire (potent, but great!).

by **chickensexer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 11:57 am

interleukin wrote:This may not work, but could you use some of that "liquid smoke" sauce? I use it for lots of foods, to get a kind of fake smoky flavour. It´s ridiculously potent, one drop is like being transported into a badly ventilated tiny hut with an open fire (potent, but great!).

Hm... I've heard of it but never tired or even sniffed.

What is it called in Finnish and in which section would it be in a supermarket, in ethnic foods or in sauces?

by **Upphew** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:00 pm

interleukin wrote:This may not work, but could you use some of that "liquid smoke" sauce? I use it for lots of foods, to get a kind of fake smoky flavour. It´s ridiculously potent, one drop is like being transported into a badly ventilated tiny hut with an open fire (potent, but great!).

poppamies.fi has those, so maybe the local Citymarket has it as CM seem to have couple of shelves dedicated to their wares... and yeah, you can easily ruin the food by using it too much (which isn't much), been there, done that.

by **Pursuivant** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:16 pm

You can also buy one of those "savustuspussi" which are designed for smoke-flavor done in the oven. Maybe that would do the trick?

In any case, we demand recipe for smoked pumpkin soup now

by **chickensexer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:35 pm

Savustuspussi? I've heard of those but I thought it was just a vessel and not a flavour-giver. How is flavour "packed" in there?? That might be the best option...

As for the recipe - it's just like a regular pumpkin soup, except for the pumpkin being smoked.

(Plus a tad of cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg, which I don't use in my regular veggie cream-soups).

by **chickensexer** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:38 pm

Ah, one more thing. Since I processed my last pumpkin recently I'd heave to go with cheats until I'll get a new one. So maybe that liquid smoke thingie. How much of it is too much for let's say a 3 quart batch of the soup?

by **Upphew** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:52 pm

chickensexer wrote:Savustuspussi? I've heard of those but I thought it was just a vessel and not a flavour-giver. How is flavour "packed" in there?? That might be the best option...

http://www.savu.fi/suomeksi/Savustuspus ... yttoohjeet

chickensexer wrote:How much of it is too much for let's say a 3 quart batch of the soup?

Which quart?

Seriously... I've used max 50ml from my bottle in marinades and I'd guess that it was half of that what I used in the first batch that got way too much smoke to my taste. The meat was maybe 800g chunk sliced to be dried. And I like Laphroaig and Ardbeg.

by **chickensexer** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:56 am

Purchased smoked paprika powder at my Prisma ta 3.50. Smells right and primises to be a perfect cheat for my already processed pumpkin.

For the future thos smoker bags sound like the best option. Snooped around a bit and it turns out those bags have woodchips and all that stuff "built-in" already, which is quite brilliant. And it's a Finnish invention, too!

Thank you all for the information.