How to make our best-ever, easy-as-pie, home-smoked seasoning for BBQs

You can buy smoked condiments in delis, but it’s really so easy to make your own home-smoked seasoning for meat, fish or any dish that will benefit from a hint of smokiness.

This home-smoked seasoning recipe requires you to make a simple hob smoker; we provide the instructions, below.

This seasoning will suit many of our barbecue recipes, and once you've made it, it can be stored in an airtight container until you're ready to use it again on the grill.

Ingredients

• For the smoker
  • 2 oz each of tea leaves, long-grain rice, rock salt and sugar
  • 4 dried herb stems such as sage or thyme
  • 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• For the seasoning
  • 4 tbsp sea-salt flakes
  • 2 tbsp white, black or pink peppercorns
  • 2 peeled mandarin or orange skins, torn and air-dried for two days
  • 2 dried red chillies, broken
  • 8 dried bay leaves, crumbled
  • 1 tbsp dried sage or thyme leaves, crumbled

The Homes & Gardens method

1. Make a hob smoker following the instructions (below). Spoon the smoker ingredients into the base of the wok and place the wire rack on top.
2. Mix the seasoning ingredients together, tearing the mandarin or orange peel into tiny bits that will smoke easily.
3. Take a foil tray small enough to fit on the rack and pierce the base around 60-80 times with a pin or fine skewer to let the smoke pass through. Set this on the rack and add your seasoning ingredients, then seal the foil.
4. To smoke, open windows to create a through-draft. Turn on the hob and heat the wok on high for five minutes – enough time to create a dense aromatic smoke – then reduce to medium low for a further 10 minutes. You may hear faint crackling, bubbling sounds, which is fine. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before uncovering.
5. Lift out the tray and leave the seasoning to dry out for two hours, before blitzing or pounding briefly to a gritty, uneven mix. Store in an airtight jar to use as wished (this is Amazon's top-rated airtight container, which we think should see you through a whole season of grilling!).

Making a hob smoker

1. You need a wok, small wire rack or pierced metal insert, which needs to sit around an inch above the base of the wok. This type of wok from Amazon would work well, or you can buy heavy-duty foil pans for smoking from Amazon, too.
2. Line the wok with two sheets of wide aluminum foil, overlapping it in the center and leaving lots of excess to hang over the edge.
3. Once you’ve added the seasoning ingredients or whatever else you want to smoke, pull up the excess foil and pinch and seal the parcel tight so no smoke can escape.
4. Cool the used smoking foils and dispose of them carefully.

The haze of the barbecue on a sultry day is the essence of relaxed summer entertaining but hitting the charcoal isn’t the only way to give dishes a moreish chargrilled flavor.

Creating this kind of flavor by using ingredients from artisan smokeries such as cured meats and fish, or using smoky whiskies, Lapsang Souchong tea leaves and seasonings such as smoked paprika (Spanish chillies smoked-dried over wood fires) works a treat in any weather.

Adjust the smokiness to taste and balance the dish with some citrus, crisp salads or creamy dips.

To make a tasty canapé with this smoked seasoning, mash two skinned smoked mackerel fillets with two tablespoons of horseradish, smooth into little pots and sprinkle smoked seasoning over the top.