Smoked Cauliflower Steaks with Whiskey Glaze
Cauliflower cut thick, smoked over wood chips, painted with a brown sugar and whiskey glaze.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 10 oz
- cal / oz
- 39
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 30 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Cauliflower | 2 large heads | cut into eight 1-inch slabs through the core |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 3 tbsp | 2 for the cauliflower, 1 for the glaze |
| Salt | 1 1/4 tsp | divided between the steaks and the glaze |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Light brown sugar | 1/2 cup | |
| Water | 2 tbsp | |
| Whiskey | 1 tbsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1/4 tsp | |
| Hot sauce | 1 tsp | optional, and worth doubling |
| Hardwood chips | 2 cups |
Method
- Wrap the wood chips in a doubled foil pouch and poke a dozen holes in the top. A smoker box works too if you carry one.
- Get the grill to medium-high. Set the pouch at the back of the grate, close the lid, and give it about 15 minutes until it is smoking steadily.
- While that runs, rub the cauliflower slabs with 2 tbsp oil and season with 1 tsp salt, the pepper, and the garlic powder.
- In a small pan on the grate, stir the brown sugar, water, whiskey, ginger, hot sauce, remaining oil, and remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes until it coats a spoon, then pull it off the heat.
- Lay the steaks on the grate away from the chips. Lid down, 8 to 10 minutes a side, until a knife slides into the stem without pushing.
- Brush the glaze on in the last three minutes. Any earlier and the sugar burns before the cauliflower is done.
Cauliflower is mostly water, and thick slabs behave like something denser once smoke and dry heat drive that water off. Cutting through the core is the whole trick. The core holds the florets together, so a 1-inch slab stays a steak instead of falling into gravel on the grate.
The glaze is sugar doing structural work, not just sweetening. It clings where oil would run off, and the whiskey and ginger keep it from tasting like dessert. The source version used butter; olive oil does the same job with no cooler space and no dairy. Add it late, since sugar over direct heat goes from glossy to black quickly.
Packing
Cut the steaks at home and stack them between paper towels in a bag. Premix the sugar, ginger, and salt in a jar, then add the whiskey and water at camp. Wood chips ride in their own bag, dry.
Variations
- Bourbon reads sweeter here than rye, which stays sharp against the sugar.
- Missing wood chips, cook them straight over the fire and accept a plainer steak.
- Leftover steaks chopped into a tortilla the next morning is a good breakfast.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/smoked-cauliflower-steaks-with-whiskey-glaze