Whenever we fire up our smoker – we try to find ways to fill it up. Whether we’re planning to smoke a pork butt overnight and decide to throw on a pan full of garlic cloves in oil, smoke a bunch of onions until they are caramelized while we are cooking brisket or just cooking additional sides while we are heating it up high for burgers.
Sometimes we have plans, sometimes we just dig through the fridge or the garden and make something up. Slaws happen to be one of or favorite sides in the summer because they tend to be lighter and refreshing when the weather is hot. On particularly warm spring day when I had radishes fresh from the garden and we had Vidalia onions sitting around, Derek had the brilliant idea to try a smoked apple and onion slaw.
We decided to smoke the apples and onions together and then I threw in some radish at the end for some crunch and that little spiciness they give. A simple dressing of apple cider vinegar and honey was the perfect way to brighten it up while letting the smoky flavor shine.
Here’s what you need:
Thinly slice the onions. Thinly slice the apples and then slice them again into think sticks.
For this slaw, I wanted the apples and onions to be softened and smoky but still firm. We put them on the smoker in a grill basket when the smoker was cold and let them cook while it was warming up to 400 for our burgers. This provided a nice smoky flavor and slightly softened the apples and onions.
You have a lot of flexibility with the heat level in this recipe. If you’re smoking something low and slow, but put them on near the end and check periodically util they are the texture you want. You could also do this on the grill – gas or charcoal over higher heat from the beginning with some smoke chips – or not. You’d still get grilled flavor.
Have you ever noticed most recipes give you a time and also visual cues for when something is done. That’s because everyone’s oven is a little different, everyone’s idea of medium or high is a little different. So you need to rely on visual and textural cues as well. And in this case because of the flexibility in how you can cook it focus on the visual and textural cues.
In our case, the slaw was done when the smoker was up to temp. But if you have a smaller smoker that heats up faster, you may want to cook it a little longer.
The onions will be a little bit translucent but not fully soft and the apples as well. The key to when this is done is to grab a piece and taste it.
While it’s cooking thinly julienne some radish (cut it into thin strips by first cutting slices and then cutting those slices into trips). Whisk together a dressing of honey, cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the cooked apple and onion.
Stir in the dressing and the radish.
Enjoy!
- 1 honey crisp apple, cut into thin strips
- ½ golden delicious apple cut into thin strips
- 2 small Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
- 2 radishes, julienned
- 1 T honey
- 4 T cider vinegar
- 2 T extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Place the onions and apples into a grill basket in a cold smoker.
- Turn the smoker on to 400 degrees and take the apples and onion off when they are beginning to soften but are still firm. For us this was right when the smoker got up to temp.
- Whisk together the honey, vinegar and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir the dressing and radish into the apples and onion. Serve.
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