Fire It Up - Andrew Schloss [188]
DIRECTIONS:
Light a grill for indirect medium heat, about 325°F, with smoke, trying to keep the temperature toward the lower end of the range.
Coat the interior of a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or a heavy 13-by-9-inch baking pan with the baking spray and set aside.
Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar, stirring until completely moistened. Add and the oil and vanilla and stir until incorporated.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, the ginger, and allspice in a separate bowl and add to the wet ingredients, stirring just until the batter is smooth and thick. Stir in the shredded sweet potato and chopped pecans.
Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared skillet.
Drain the wood chips and add to the grill.
Put the skillet on the grill away from the fire, cover the grill, and bake until the cake has risen and browned, and a tester inserted in the crack in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 1 hour and 25 minutes.
Remove to a cooling rack, and cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto another cooling rack, remove the skillet, and sprinkle the cake with smoked salt. Cool to room temperature.
Mix together the remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar. Dust the top of the cake with this mixture before serving.
COOKIES
Salted Caramel S’mores
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
There are few cookies as puritanically plain as the graham cracker (originally formulated as a digestive aid), which is why when we bite into a s’more, it is always with a wee bit of awe. Although one would be hard pressed to improve upon this campfire icon, we think we’ve come up with something that aspires to a higher level. Inspired by salted caramels, we take soft caramel candies, sear them over an open fire, scrape them onto a chocolate-capped cracker, and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Because caramel can get outrageously hot without bursting into flames (unlike a marshmallow), they do a great job of melting the chocolate.
INGREDIENTS
4 long bamboo or metal skewers
8 traditional chewy caramel candies, such as Kraft
1 dark chocolate bar (about 3 ounces), broken into 12 squares
8 graham crackers
1 teaspoon fleur de sel or sel gris
DIRECTIONS:
If you are grilling with bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes. Light a grill for direct high heat, about 475°F. Leave the grate off the grill.
Unwrap the caramels and flatten between the heels of your hands to about ¼ inch thick. Thread 2 caramels onto each of the skewers, piercing the caramels through their narrow sides.
On a serving plate, arrange 3 squares of chocolate on each of 4 graham crackers.
Hold the caramels close to the fire of the grill until they brown on both sides and start to collapse, 3 to 4 minutes, turning often. When the caramels are on the verge of collapse, place each skewer on a chocolate-topped graham cracker. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and top with a plain graham cracker. Holding the graham sandwich in place, slide the skewers out from the centers.
Let the s’mores rest for a few minutes before serving to give the chocolate time to melt. Serve with plenty of napkins.
COOKIES
Piggy Oatmeal Whoppers
MAKES 8 SERVINGS
Fresh-baked cookies coming off the grill is a puzzling sight, as if the distinction between cooking indoors and outdoors had suddenly disappeared. The cookies are as good as any that have ever come out of an oven—thick and moist, rich with bacon fat (it makes them exceptionally tender), salty and smoky from bacon pieces, molasses-sweet from lots of brown sugar, and chewy with whole grain and dried fruit. They will stay fresh for 4 to 5 days in a cookie jar.
INGREDIENTS:
3 thick strips bacon, finely chopped
2 cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats
⅔ cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons coffee or water
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup raisins
Flour-and-oil baking spray
DIRECTIONS: