Give your cocktails another dimension this summer by serving them over ice cubes which have been smoked.
Yes, we're talking ethereal smoky flavours which dissolve into your drink as the ice melts, transforming the flavours from your first sip into an interesting new complexity by your last.
Whilst, it might sound strange it's also surprisingly easy to smoke ice cubes. While we've come across other techniques for adding smoky notes to drinks with a cocktail smoker box, smoking the ice cubes themselves is reportedly more effective, making for a more intense and exciting release of flavour.
We came across an easy recipe here for making smoked ice, which requires some simple smoking kit, ideally a smoking gun. They've tried the method out over at Serious Eats and say it imparts a pleasantly smoky flavor and add that you can even get creative with the smoky flavours imparted by choosing different wood chips. Whilst the inventor of the technique reports " I had the cubes in Bourbon, Cognac, and Bloody Marys. It worked beautifully in all cases, and without a question made the best Bloody Mary I've ever tasted."
The technique requires making ice, melting it during the smoking process and then re-freezing, which might seem counter intuitive, but apparently its all down to science and chemical bonding. And while our science might be hazy, the message is it's more effective than just smoking water.
Here's How to Smoke Ice:
1) Make up a batch of ice cubes.
2) Put the batch of ice cubes into a shallow pan or baking dish with sides high enough to hold the water once it melts.
3) Set up your smoking gun, gas grill or charcoal grill and smoke the ice cubes for 20 mins to an hour until the ice has melted.
4) Re-freeze the smoked water in ice cube trays and experiement with your cocktails as desired, or try this recipe for smoked ice and rum.
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