A lazy Saturday calls for...

smoked lemonade. I've seen variations of this in several places, most recently on Slashfood. I've modified their version slightly, and given a few more details.

Last weekend, while I was smoking a brisket, I decided to finally try making smoked lemonade. So I sliced up some lemons, and put them on the grill next to the brisket, using indirect heat at about 225 F. I had wet mesquite wood chips providing smoke.

I smoked them for about an hour, until they looked like this:

They were positively ready to explode, so I took them off the grill to juice them.

Juicing these is not like juicing raw lemons. With only a tiny bit of pressure they nearly ruptured. Juice and pulpy mess came squeeging out of the lemons. And unlike the usual blast of citrus smell, this was a notably smokey citrus smell. Yum!

The basic proportions:

10 lemons

1 1/2 cups agave syrup

Mix the agave syrup and lemon juice. Now you use this syrup as a base for the lemonade, in one of two versions. For the kids:

1/2 lemon/agave syrup

1/2 water

For the adults:

1/2 lemon/agave syrup

1/4 water

1/4 bourbon (I used Maker's Mark)

1/2 + 1/4 water + 1/4 bourbon

Serve with ice. Delicious! The adult version tastes an awful lot like a smokey bourbon sour. And it makes a relaxing weekend of bbq even more relaxing. Yum! Happy long weekend!