Smokey Crisp

I hope the picture is doing it's job, so I don't have to do the hard work of coining purple, mouth-watering words to explain how good this batch of rhubarb crisp turned out. (You can exchange apples for an awesome apple crisp.) With the picture doing most the work, I will declare, this was the best crisp I had ever done. Applewood smokey flavors... Right balance of sweet and tart... Ah... and the other... flavors. Either way, if you're reading this, you get to be lucky enough to find out how I did it. 

First, heat up the coals. Once a burning grey, add water-soaked applewood chunks. I soaked these overnight.

Gather your ingredients: rhubarb, butter (or margarine), brown sugar, white sugar, flour, and rolled oats. Warning, I do not measure.  

Layer the bottom of a cast iron skillet with butter, flour, and white sugar. Butter goes at the bottom and should be quite thick. Coat the sides as well. Then, dust the butter with flour. Finally, top with a generous helping of white sugar.  

Add chopped rhubarb (or peeled apples). 

Add 1 part brown sugar, 1 part rolled oats, 1 part flour, and one part butter. This is approximate. If you need to measure, make it a quarter cup of each. If you hadn't made enough make more. If you made too much... I don't think that is possible... Just add it to the skillet, or eat it raw. Once the ingredients are in the bowl, smash it with your fingers until it forms a lumpy texture. 

Heap your lumps on top. 

Place the pan over the coals, and then cover. Cook times vary depending on how hot your coals are. I suggest you wait for the coals to have cooked down a while. This recipe is great for using the still burning coals after you have grilled your main course. I would check after 10 minutes regardless of the heat. 

Once done, let cool for as long as you can stand to wait. The longer you let it cool, the firmer it will become, but, hey, it's still good even when flowing. Perhaps drizzle a hot mess of it over a scoop of ice cream.  

If you've tried this recipe, let me know how it turned out. Any handy tweaks you want to share? Did you try it with apples? Or, if you have any questions, feel free to comment below.