Lapsang Souchong Tea- give me your recipies!

[monavano]

I recently came across some lapsang souchong tea and remembered posts about people cooking with it. I've never tried before, but was eager to. So, I got a box and now want your recipies, experiences and recommendations for lapsang souchon tea. Thanks!

www.houndstoothgourmet.com

[Becca Porter]

Cook's Illustrated uses it in a fantastic indoor smoked rib recipe. It is on their site.

-Becca
www.porterhouse.typepad.com

[monavano]

Oh, I do remember seeing that epi.Thanks.

[jbyoga]

I just made potato corn chowder with chipotle and used a few cups to enhance the stock...mmm

[rworange]

I recently used it to cook a chicken breast and it gave a nice smoky taste to the chicken and sauce.

Basically I came up with this from a recipe I used during my "eating like a chowhound on $3 a day". It is easy and what can be added is up to your tastes. In the original post I used coffee but I thought I would give tea a try. Here it is

To a cup of brewed LS tea add a teaspoon or two of whatever condiment you think would work. In this case added mustard, brown sugar, dried smoked onion, grated fresh ginger and garlic.

Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add chicken breast ... leg ... whatever.

Simmer covered for 20 minutes. Serve over rice. Sauce can be reduced after chicken is cooked if desired.

I bought a book on sale called "cooking with tea" by Diana Rosen and they have a few recipes in there though I've never tried them. One good suggestion it seemed was to add some Lapsan Souchong dried tea leaves when grilling over charcoal. They also have an idea for wok smoking using the tea leaves.

This recipe for LS tea smoked lobster uses the technique for wok smoking
http://www.boston.com/dining/recipes/t/tea_lobster.html

Most of the recipes use other teas but I'll bet the smoky quality of lapsan souchong could be substituted in the other recipes ... or you could use the ideas for inspiration. I bet that it would be great for cooking mushrooms. There are a lot of recipes that poach fruit in tea and I'll bet plums would taste wonderful.

Specific recipes they have for lapsan souchong
- pan-marinated chicken with smoked tea
Turns out to be similar to my improvised recipe. In this case you brew tea, add ginger and marinate the chicken. Then you cook the chicken in thee marinade. They serve it with a spinach puree.

- smoked salmon with lapsang souchong cream sauce

They have a recipe for Earl Grey truffles, but I bet the lapsong/chocolate combo would be nice. Actualy here's a Jerimiah Tower recipe for Lapsang Souchong Chocolate Sauce
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lapsang-souchong-chocolate-sauce

Oh there's a web recipe out there that sounds good ... Lapsang Souchong Chili Truffles
http://www.teachef.com/view_recipe.html?recipe=100

This site had some good-sounding recipes like Lapsang Souchong Lamb Stew , Sweet & Smokey Baked Beans , Steak with Lapsang Souchong Sauce, Smoky Mushroom Ravioli w/Carmelized Onion & Cheese , Souchong Shitake Souffle, Tea infused Ham & Lentil Soup , and much, much more. I might take the suggestion to cook black beans in LS tea next time. I bet that would be great.
http://www.teachef.com/view_all_recipes.html?tea=lapsang%20souchong

Interesting idea here about adding LS tea bags to broth ... you can buy empty tea bags or use a tea infuser
Beef & Noodles in Smoked Tea Infused Broth
http://www.mccormick.com/recipedetail.cfm?id=12722

This site suggest adding LS tea to turkey stuffing
http://portsmouthtea.blogspot.com/2006/10/holiday-recipes.html

"While stuffing your turkey, try adding Lapsang Souchong, the cedar smoked tea from the Fujian province. It will add a complexity of flavor that you will want to repeat again and again. The drippings will make a unique gravy and the smokiness will add curiosity
without overwhelming your food."

A few other recipes

Edamame With Tea-Smoked Salt
http://www.thestar.com/Food/article/165432

Tea Smoked Haddock with Crushed Potatoes ... interesting idea of throwing a some tea leaves in the water used to steam fish
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/583832

Smoky Rice Pudding: Lapsang Souchong Rice Pudding, Caramelized Apples and Quince, Bourbon.
http://www.sweetnapa.com/2006/11/05/rice-pudding-smoky-style.html

Smoky Tea Bread
http://www.bakingmad.com/recipes.aspx?nID=12&nSubID=188

Lapsang Souchong Sea Trout
http://wannabetvchef.blog.co.uk/2006/03/31/title~688133

Lapsang Souchong Smoked Quail
http://teasonline.com.au/catalog/lapsang-souchong-smoked-quail-p-983.html

Lapsang Souchong Smoked Chicken Breast Sandwich with Herbed Goat Cheese and Apples
http://www.fineliving.com/fine/our_specials/article/0,1663,FINE_5916_2305744,00.html

tea-smoked chicken wings
http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Tea-smoked%20chicken%20wings

tea & lemon ice
http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Tea%20%26%20lemon%20ice

skillet smoked salmon-martha stewart living
http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Skillet%20smoked%20salmon-martha%20stewart%20living

Tea smoked salmon spirals
http://www.salmon123.com/recipe9.htm

Chocolate-Brioche Pudding with Lapsang Souchong and Mango
http://community.livejournal.com/tea_recipes/

Good NYT article about cooking with tea in general
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DB1730F932A35751C0A96F948260

Sorry ... you caught me the day after I made my chicken with LS tea and I loved it so I'm looking forward to trying some of the above. I don't steam fish often, but the idea of steaming it over LS tea has me re-considering.
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/583832

[monavano]

Wow, thanks! This will get me going for sure.

[rworange]

Hope you will report back on what you try ... as you can see I am interested in using LS tea. I also edited the above post with a few more recipes I found. I'm intrigued about using the tea in turkey stuffing. Might try that if I make a turkey this year

Also added a good NYT article at end about cooking with tea in general. .

[monavano]

I will. I'm excited to get started with it!

[rockycat]

I just had a look at the truffle recipe and it does sound great, but nowhere in the instructions does it say where to add the cayenne. Any suggestions?

[rworange]

Hmmm ... not sure.

Maybe one of the real cooks on the board will have an answer. I would think cayenne can stand up to cooking. Don't know if the flavor would be more pronouced if adding it at the end.

Last time I made candy of any kind I was eleven, it was fudge, it was grainy and that was a long, long time ago.

[lora]

Tea eggs are pretty much the best thing ever. They are gorgeous (they look like marble) and delicious. They are stunning when brought to a party. I eat them as-is or in a sandwich, where they are rather bacon-y.

Hard-boil eggs. Tap them gently all over with the back of a spoon to crack the shell, but don't peel. Put them in pot with (for each half-dozen):
4 c. water
1 tablespoon lapsang souchong
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons soy salt
2 whole star anise (or about 16 broken sections)
1 cinnamon stick

Bring the eggs to a boil in the solution, them simmer over the lowest possible heat 2 hours. Take the eggs off the heat and let them sit in the solution overnight. When peeled, the solution will have stained the eggs in a marble pattern.

[pikawicca]

Put some in a tea ball and throw it into a pot of soup or stew to add a nice smoky flavor. This is a great trick for vegetarians who are yearning for the smoky taste of bacon.

[monavano]

hmm....I'm thinking it would work nicely with bean soups...thanks!

[meatn3]

This is the easiest dish, quick too. In spice grinder whiz kosher salt & Lapsang Souchong tea, equal parts, maybe a few teaspoons each. Cook a bag of frozen edamame, shelled. Drain it, put edamame in a bowl, drizzle with evoo, sprinkle salt/tea mix on to taste, mix well. Eat immediately. Very popular & highly addicting. Found recipe in Food & Wine 2 years ago IIRC.
This same mix is nice as a basis for rubs. But be aware that the ground tea does loose strength, so try to gring it fresh each time. As someone else mentioned, this has stellar results as a smoked ham sort of flavor option for meatless soups/stews. (Now that I've posted I see it was pikawicca who mentined it!)

[monavano]

This does sounds like addictive but healthy snacking.