Tea smoking now used to add subtle flavors to meats
Chinese method began as a way to cook, cure
Tea smoking, a cooking technique used in China, bears no resemblance to smoking meats and fish in the Western world. For one thing, no wood chips are used; for another, the result is a very subtle hint of smoke from aromatic tea leaves, rather than the heavy deep smoke flavor of Western jerkies, smoked fish, sausages or barbecue meats.
Tea smoking in China began as a way to cook and cure meats to prolong their availability; over time it grew in popularity and was refined. The traditional and still popular protein of choice in Chinese cuisine is the tea-smoked duck. It's labor-intensive, with four steps: marination, steaming, smoking and then deep frying. For that reason, this dish is most often prepared in restaurants.
Having said that, I recently noticed a bookmarked recipe for “Tea Smoked Duck” in the Chinese cookbook “Chef Chu's Distinctive Cuisine of China” that my mother had handed down to me decades ago. She even made a notation to use “lychee tea” instead of “black tea.” I decided that I'd explore tea-smoking, but rather than a fatty duck I decided to make seafood the protein.
I found that fish and seafood accept the smoke readily. In the case of teasmoking duck, the duck is smoked only twice, for two minutes at a time, with the cooking flame turned off for five minutes in between, the lid on at all times. I used a well-loved Japanese style cast-iron pot to tea-smoke; you can use a regular cast iron pot on a heat source; a wok; or, if you prefer, you can set tea smoking ingredients in a foil pan over the hot coals side of your barbecue pit; then set your fish and shrimp in another pan directly next to it, on the slightly cooler side of the grill.
If you would like to infuse your seafood with a deeper smoked flavor, make a large foil dome over both the smoking pan and the seafood pan. Otherwise, keep your grill cover on throughout the smoking, and reduce the cooking time of each seafood by a minute.
The traditional duck recipe called for marinating the whole duck in fermented Chinese wine, Sichuan pepper and aromatics like camphor leaves, ginger and garlic. For the salmon and shrimp I used a marinade of ginger, soy sauce, sugar and orange zest. Again, less is more in the marinade as you want the tea smoke to be evident.
The duck was traditionally smoked in twigs and leaves of the Camphor plant; today many restaurants use a variety of other black teas, including Darjeeling, Ceylon, Keemun, Yunnan or Nilgiri. For my fish and seafood, I decided that my mother's notation meant she must have preferred lychee tea, which has a sweet fragrant note, so I used that. If you don't have that handy, one of the above fragrant black teas will do nicely.
In selecting the seafood, the best cut would be the center cut of the salmon. Be sure to have the fish properly scaled, rinsed and dried. For the shrimp, go for the largest size available, slit their backs and devein them without removing the shell.
Finally, as a way to add more flavor to the meal, I chose to steep my white rice in lychee tea by using the tea to replace an equal portion of the cooking liquid for the rice cooker. The dish is styled here with sauteed zucchini and mushrooms; and a quick-pickled red cabbage with fresh mandarin wedges.
Tea Smoked Seafood For the marinade and seafood
2 tablespoons ginger juice or 2 teaspoons ginger powder
⁄2 cup soy sauce 1
2 tablespoons brown sugar
zest of 1 orange
11⁄2 pounds center cut fillet of salmon
1 pound large shrimp, deveined with shell on
three sprigs tarragon
small bunch of green onions or chives, cut into 5 inch pieces
tin foil
1⁄4 cup brown sugar
⁄4 cup rice 1
1⁄4 cup lychee or other black tea
In a bowl mix together the ginger juice or powder, soy sauce, sugar and orange till the sugar is dissolved. Place salmon in a zippered bag and the shrimp in a separate one. Divide the marinade between the two and chill for at least an hour.
Form a foil “bowl” around the salmon out of two to three layers of foil. Place tarragon and green onions on top of the salmon. Do the same with the shrimp.
Line a cast iron pot or a heavy wok with two layers of foil. Mix together and add the smoking ingredients to the bottom. Place a steaming rack above or improvise as follows: Crosshatch two pairs of disposable wood chopsticks at the bottom of the pot or wok so that the foil bowl will be above the smoking material. Place the foil bowl of salmon on top of the rack or crosshatched chopsticks. Cover the pot tightly with more foil, and then with the pot lid.
Turn the heat source on high, and when it begins to smoke (about 2-3 minutes later), turn down to medium low and let the fish cook about 4 minutes. Turn it off for 5 minutes. Then turn the heat on high again, let it smoke for 4 minutes, and turn it off again, letting the fish continue to smoke for 5 minutes, all the time without removing the lid. Remove the lid and check to see if the fish is cooked but not dry. Seal the foil around the fish, remove, and let it keep warm.
Repeat with the shrimp. Test for doneness before removing it from the smoking pot.
Serve with sauteed vegetables and lychee rice.
Note: Lychee tea can sometimes be found at Asian stores, or purchased online at Amazon.com