I made a promise to write about the good and the bad.
This is one of these recipes that had so much potential. The idea of a smoked head of cauliflower is something that I would like to get right, but this time I missed the mark. So if you want to give it a try, I thought I would share what I would do differently for my next attempt.
Firstly the kamado set up.
Nothing difficult here, just standard indirect, but choose the smoke wood carefully. I only had some ironbark available and this was absolutely the wrong choice. My suggestion here would be to choose a subtle fruitwood, probably apple would be my choice for my next attempt.
Seasoning.
I had thought that a really robust flavour would be suitable. In my mind, the natural flavour of the cauliflower would take really well to something with a truckload of flavour. Hindsight is a good thing. My suggestion here is to be gentle with your flavour choices. I used a good lashing of KC Butt spice, next time I will try something a lot more subtle.
Time and Temperature.
I cooked this one down around 275 and in total it was around 4 hours. My suggestion on time and temperature would be to run a little hotter. I think I would try around the 350f mark and the time would also probably drop to around 2.5 hours.
Is placing the cauliflower direct on the grill the best option?
After a number of discussions on Facebook, I am thinking that there may be a better option. One of the guys suggested, to leave the leaves on, in a tray with plenty of butter. That sounds like a good option, perhaps add some aromatics to the mixture as well.
These four points will help get you a great result for your smoked cauliflower.
- Choose a subtle smoke wood
- Go easy on the flavours
- Run the grill a little hotter
- Think about cooking in a pan of liquid and aromatics
Will I try this one again?
In short, Absolutely. The whole head of cauliflower smoked on the kamado is definitely something I will be trying again.
