By Guest Blogger Anton Arnaldo, Manager of The Craic House
Foodies worldwide have all thought about it, as a food lover I can say with certainty that we’ve all been curious. We’ve all thought about doing it, but maybe the situation wasn’t right. Then, when we finally take that plunge (and some still haven’t) we all ask the same questions, “How much of this can I inhale before it becomes bad for me?” … ” I’ve never used this apparatus before, will it work?”… “How do I know it’s working?”
Well folks, we here at the Craic House Restaurant have all your answers. You might think it could happen never here on a remote island in the Philippines, but here on Malapascua, we are smoking every week! Meat that is, and lots of it: Chicken, Beef, Pork, Fish, Bacon, and even Garlic. We actually smoke pretty much anything we think we can make into a delicious dish. This week’s feature smoke was Smoked Chicken, Smoked Bacon and Smoked Garlic.
Our Chicken preparation starts the day before as the whole chickens are brined overnight and then before smoking they are stuffed with an assortment of herbs and rubbed with a variety of spices. Then using Imported Mesquite Wood Chips and Local Coconut Husks we smoke our meats on a low indirect heat. The bacon and garlic smoke for an hour while the chicken stays in for just over a couple hours. The result is a smoke flavor that is robust but delicate at the same time, not to mention unique and true to the island flavour one would expect to taste while in Tropical Paradise.
We made good use of the Smoked Chicken, Bacon and Garlic as it made for delicious daily specials which included:
- Smoked Chicken Croquettes, Linguine with a Parmesan Cream Sauce topped with Smoked Chicken.
- Traditional Carbonara using our House Smoked Bacon and Garlic.
If you think you missed out this week, we are smoking pork and beef next week. When we add our Homemade BBQ Sauce and Special Beer Braise for the pork. Look to see House smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches, and Smoked Brisket on a Bun. Did we mention we bake our own multigrain breads? If you’re not here, you’re missing out. Period.
