How Gordon Ramsay Adds An Extra Touch Of Smokiness To Baba Ganoush

I'm sure we've all heard of hummus by now. The Middle Eastern and Mediterranean chickpea dip has become something of a phenomenon in the 21st century, going from a niche international product to having no less than 10 different flavors of hummus available at the supermarket at any given time (though we still like to upgrade ours).

While I love dipping crisp veggies and pita chips into the creamy tahini and chickpea dip, hummus also suffers from overexposure — do we really need brownie-flavored hummus? The dip that truly has my heart is baba ganoush, a smoother, smokier version of hummus made with a base of silky, roasted eggplant (make sure you get the best eggplant from the store).

The charred flavor of the roasted eggplant is the key that makes baba ganoush so deliciously different from hummus. Since the eggplants are traditionally grilled over an open fire in order to impart that smoky barbeque flavor, it can be difficult to get the full experience of baba ganoush when prepared in your home kitchen. Thankfully, chef Gordon Ramsay has a secret hack to make baba ganoush sufficiently smokey with the help of liquid smoke.

Making baba ganoush at home starts with roasting the eggplants. Although they're traditionally cooked over an open fire, you can achieve a similar flavor by roasting them in a hot oven. Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit to get the skin of the eggplant appropriately charred and blistered. You may be nervous about burning the eggplant, but you actually want to burn them to get them charred enough to impart that unique smoky flavor.

After the eggplants are soft and black, they need to cool before you can scoop out the smooth inner flesh, which tastes so silky and luxurious some chefs call it eggplant caviar. This gets plopped into a food processor with tahini along with olive oil, lemon juice, and spices like cumin and sumac. All this gets pureed into a smooth paste.

If you go to taste your freshly pureed eggplant dip and find it's not appropriately smoky, you can add a few drops of liquid smoke into the mix to bump the flavor up a notch. It makes all the difference in baba ganoush, but use it sparingly. When I say a few drops I mean you should start with one or two — this is really potent stuff and too much can easily make your food taste like burnt wood or dog food. Serve it in a bowl, drizzle it with olive oil, and scoop it up with fresh soft pita bread. Baba ganoush also makes a great addition to gyros, falafel platters, and even non-Meditteranean meals.