Liquid Smoke

For Thanksgiving and Christmas this past year, Bobby and I took on the challenge to cook dinner for our families. On my side, it is normally my sister who does all the cooking. She's really good.

To make things a little bit easier on us, we decided we were going to cook the meat in the crock pot. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com:http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mijos-Slow-Cooker-Shredded-Beef/Detail.aspx

During my last semester at Ga. State I was taking 2 Southern Folklore/History classes and spent a good portion talking about food - especially BBQ. I remembered they referenced liquid smoke but never really thought much about it. So when we found this recipe and I saw that one of the ingredients was liquid smoke I thought, "Oh no! Where the hell are we going to find liquid smoke?! Isn't this some southern folklore stuff - am I going to have to make it this stuff somehow."

"They sell it at Kroger" - Bobby

"Oh." - Me

So, we've had this bottle of liquid smoke sitting in our fridge for a while. It just stares at me - challenging me to dash it into something. But what? What do I want to make taste smokey.

I made black beans a few weeks ago and tried it. I only put a little dash - and it tasted great.

I made black beans again this week. And, well, I put a little more than a dash. They taste delicious. Seriously. My mom taught me how to make beans and her's are always delicious. It is pretty funny watching her make them as well because it is always a little bit of EVERYTHING in the kitchen plus some key ingredients that really make it. I follow the same routine when I make them adding a little bit of anything I can find and any extra vegetables. But I have to say the liquid smoke adds a nice touch. I don't know what else I'll use it for.

Time to go back to packing! We're moving into the house in 2 weeks and just got started - we've got lots of work to do.

Liquid Smoke Installation: