Butternut Squash "ham" Steaks
The neck of the squash is used to make these savory steaks. Use hickory or a blend of hickory and cherry in your smoking gun on the cooked steaks to get that smoky flavor.
Servings: 2 or more
Equipment
- Smoking Gun
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut Squash Use the neck only, save the bulb for something else.
- 1/4 Cup Maple syrup
- 1 Jigger Bourbon
- 1/4 Tsp Hickory salt
- 1 Tsp Hickory liquid smoke Optional if not using smoking gun
- 1/4 Tsp Ground clove
- 1/4 Tsp Ground sage
- 1/4 Tsp Pepper or hickory pepper
- 1/4 Tsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp Smoking gun chips I use Breville or Camerons in my smoker
Instructions
- Cut the butternut squash where the neck meets the bulb. Set the bulb aside for another use. Cut the vine end off. Peel the squash and wrap in parchment paper. Dip in water to dampen the paper then place of a baking sheet with a rack. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 ° F or until the squash is fork tender.
- In a small sauce pan, mix together the maple syrup, bourbon, clove, garlic, sage and hickory salt. Warm over low heat the burn off the alcohol and thicken the glaze.
- If you do not have a smoking gun, you will have to rely on the Liquid smoke and hickory seasoning. Add these to your maple glaze when you assemble the ingredients.
- Remove paper from the squash and slice into 1/2" steaks. The number of servings will vary depending on the size of the squash.
- Carefully place steaks in a ziploc bag. Load your smoker with hickory chips or a blend of your preference. Insert the smoking wand in the edge of the bag and seal as much as possible. Light the chips and fill the bag with smoke. It is best to do this outside or next to your cooktop downdraft.
- For the best smoke flavor, I smoke the squash at least three times in 30 minutes as the smoke seems to lose it's power.
- Arrange squash on your baking dish without the rack and pour glaze over the steaks. Use a brush to distribute and cover the steaks.
- Broil for 5 minutes to lightly brown and warm the steaks.
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
Smoking guns are fun to use. They can be used with a Ziploc bag, a smoking dome or a marinating box. It is a quick way to impart the smoke flavor without the use of chemicals.
Look for smoking gun chips on Amazon and select a small sampling to start with. I prefer the hickory but it's fun to sample each one or mix them up for your own preference.
I use salt and pepper from the San Francisco Salt Company. Their salt and pepper is actually smoked over wood and not created with artificial flavors.
Of course you could pre-cut your raw squash and grill them on your outdoor grill with some smoke chips in your smoke box.
Treat these like you would a ham steak. You will love it!