Cold Fingerfood Ideas

[mcokevin]

Was racking my brain trying to come up with something for the 4th of July but I'm coming up empty, so I thought I'd turn to the amazing body of knowledge here for ideas. Hoping you all can spark something for me.

Here's what I'm looking for. Every year for the 4th my in-laws and in-laws^2 (sister-in-law's parents) get together for a beach day on the 4th. We always have tons of great food, drinks, etc... and it's a really great day.

This year I thought it would be nice to bring something smoked-ish as one of many mid-day snacks. The keys here are it would be served cold and also best eaten as finger food as we will have neither a kitchen and plates/utensils are cumbersome on the beach.

How do ABTs do cold? Any other ideas?

 

[bbqbrett]

You could do some smoked deviled eggs. I know if you search the site you can find info on them.

 

[banderson7474]

I saw this thread the other day and it could work

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/smoked-fish-dip.82864/#post-1846869


From the top of my head, there's not a lot that you can smoke and serve cold. I was thinking maybe smoking wings and serve some sort of mango salsa that they can be dipped in.

You could smoke a tri-tip or a good piece of meat and cut it up bite size and put tooth picks in them. Just need to come up with a good sauce that's served cold. I'm thinking a sour cream horseradish sauce.

 

[mcokevin]

I saw this thread the other day and it could work

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/smoked-fish-dip.82864/#post-1846869


From the top of my head, there's not a lot that you can smoke and serve cold. I was thinking maybe smoking wings and serve some sort of mango salsa that they can be dipped in.

You could smoke a tri-tip or a good piece of meat and cut it up bite size and put tooth picks in them. Just need to come up with a good sauce that's served cold. I'm thinking a sour cream horseradish sauce.

Thanks for the response - I agree not a ton of options for smoking and serving cold! I like your ideas but I think the dips/sauces add a bit of complexity.

You could do some smoked deviled eggs. I know if you search the site you can find info on them.

Loving this idea. Didn't find a recipe via site search but did find one that looks delicious online. Clubhouse leader so far :) Thank you!

 

[TomKnollRFV]

For smoked eggs I did 2 hours on in the shell raw. Ice water bath, peel, then another 20 mins on the smoke.

Other methods I have used is after an hour I took em off, plunge into ice water, lightly crack, and another 30-60 mins on the smoker. Both impart smokey flavour. <If you do a heavy smoke with this second method, some of the eggs get some what interesting penetration lines>. The key here is when you do either, the second part where the shell is gone or cracked is you want a heavy, powerful smoke. Hickory, Mesquite..etc..

As for your egg recipe..well. I suppose you don't need help with that part!

You could use smoked cream cheese though in pickle wraps. Which are a mix of chopped pickles, cream cheese, garlic salt, some tobasco for kick, and ham. Blend up, spread on flour tortilla, roll, slice to serving size :)

 

[browneyesvictim]

Smoked Sausage (precooked)
Pickled Smoked Sausage (hot mammas)
Pastrami, ham or any other cured and smoked meat
Smoked Cheese & Crackers
Shrimp- Peel and eat or variations of
Smoked salmon or any other fish for that matter
Pickled fish- (ask me for a great recipe!)
Sandwiches or wraps- choices are limitless
Smoked Chicken Salad- as a dip or spread or as sandwee or wrap

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

So this is not a direct answer to your cold food idea but it is something interesting that I came across a couple months ago. It's more a think outside the box kind of idea for something smoked hot but portable and acceptable at the beach.
. This is from that guy who calls his channel cooking with Ry. It's an interesting idea. Also to have something hot with no charcoal grill you could bring a charcoal chimney and cook over it like a rocket stove with a basket holding whatever you are cooking. Not exactly smoked but you could toss a chunk of your favorite wood in with the charcoal and add a bit of wood flavor to whatever you cook. My wife and I love to go do the beach bonfire thing and are planning to do it again tomorrow on my day off. I generally cook over a bed of charcoal in the fire pits on the beach. Charcoal is allowed on our beach but not a charcoal grill. Not sure why they would have an issue with a small grill in the fire pit but it is what it is. So this is just an alternate idea if you wanted to consider something different.

George

 

[mcokevin]

For smoked eggs I did 2 hours on in the shell raw. Ice water bath, peel, then another 20 mins on the smoke.

Interesting. The recipe that I found has them hard-boiled in the traditional method then peeled and in smoke for ~30 minutes, but it sure would be nice not to deal with the hard boiling part. Were they done after 2 hours in the shell raw? I assume you smoked somewhere around 225-250?

 

[chopsaw]

Kevin , did you see the thread (s) on pork shots ? I happen to like them cold just as much as warm . BEV has some great choices above . Bacon wrapped little smokies are great cold also .

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Interesting. The recipe that I found has them hard-boiled in the traditional method then peeled and in smoke for ~30 minutes, but it sure would be nice not to deal with the hard boiling part. Were they done after 2 hours in the shell raw? I assume you smoked somewhere around 225-250?

Very much so done, and in that range yes. And...this is my -favourite- part..easier to peel then hard boiling. Not much smoke flavour to me <Though I also can eat a teaspoon of tobasaco and think it's fine>. But if you let the smoke penetrate the egg flesh it self, it picks up bacon like notes..

 

[kawboy]

I've smoked almonds with a recipe from here that went over fairly well.

 

[xray]

How about a shrimp ceviche. Or a smoked shrimp ceviche?

That’s the kind of food I’d like to eat on the beach, something light and citrusy.

 

[zwiller]

That’s the kind of food I’d like to eat on the beach, something light and citrusy.

+1 keep it light and I think smoked stuff could be too heavy for the beach. Fruit, veggies, crackers, cheese for us. Maybe some jerky to round it off?

 

[Bearcarver]

Here's two of my Favorite Cold Treats:

BLT Rollers
Dried Beef Roll-ups


Bear

 

[crazymoon]

MCOK, No ideas from this old dubba but my friends and I eat cold ABT's, not sure about your families culinary tastes though?

 

[Rings Я Us]

Smoked chicken salad wraps.

 

[mcokevin]

Thanks all for the responses - sorry for the delay, today kicked my ass at the office. I’m going with the eggs. Love the idea of ceviche but as I’ve never made it myself not something I want to test on a group and in an uncontrolled environment.

Appreciate all of the help!

 

[mcokevin]

Quick update - the smoked deviled eggs were a huge hit. They will definitely be added to the rotation long term.

 

[banderson7474]

Quick update - the smoked deviled eggs were a huge hit. They will definitely be added to the rotation long term.

I smoked eggs over the weekend but only in the shell. When I peeled them, they didn't taste much different than normal hard boiled eggs. I guess I should have peeled them and then put them back on there.

 

[mcokevin]

I smoked eggs over the weekend but only in the shell. When I peeled them, they didn't taste much different than normal hard boiled eggs. I guess I should have peeled them and then put them back on there.

I smoked them in the shell, then peeled, then back in the smoke for 30 minutes unpeeled. I think next time I will hard boil them in the traditional method then peel and smoke for 30-60 minutes. They were a little bit tough to peel and I damaged the first one I did (then my wife took over the peeling and the rest were fine... go figure!), so I think the next time I do them I'll hard boil in the instant pot first.