smoking food

[matthewdick23]

anyone into smoking (food)

am looking to get into it, but no idea where to start?!

[Padraic]

I've always wanted to give this a try too, 1 bedroom apartment stops me from trying things like this!

[matthewdick23]

yeah, would really love to get into it! not as big a thing over here though, when I lived in the states, they were all about it!

[ColMack]

A mate of mine has done it both hot and cold smoking.  He started with a galvanised rubbish bin and some oak sawdust and chippings.  For hot smoking he lights the fire in the bin with the food and for cold smoking he lights the fire in a biscuit tin and pipes the smoke into his bin/smoker.

[Eoin]

I was stoned off me head on a haddock there recently, mighty stuff.


In seriousness, I'm thinking of getting into this smoking lark myself, the galvanised bin is a good spot to start.

[Bubbles]

I haven't tried it myself, but I know you can do it on a small scale using one of these stovetop smokers.

http://www.nisbets.ie/Stovetop-Smoker/S491/ProductDetail.raction

Not cheap, but you could improvise one using a cheap SS baking tray and some aluminium foil.

You could probably smoke your own malt in one of these too... hmm...

[Bubbles]

Btw, Nisbets also stock a range of wodd chips for smoking, including:

http://www.nisbets.ie/Smoking-Chips/S495/ProductDetail.raction

[johnrm]

We were camping up Ballina, Co. Mayo last year and a Swiss chap in a camper pulled out something like that.
He had been fishing earlier in the day and smoked his own freshly caught fish.
I think you can use Gel/Alcohol burners to heat the wood chips.

[Will_D]

We were camping up Ballina, Co. Mayo last year and a Swiss chap in a camper pulled out something like that.
He had been fishing earlier in the day and smoked his own freshly caught fish.
I think you can use Gel/Alcohol burners to heat the wood chips.

Yep!, Fishing tackle shops sell small portable smokers ( will do say 2 nice trout). They are either heated by solid fuel (Meta fuel or a chafing dish burner) or maybe can be put on a cooker hob.

@Pardraic: If you have a cooker hood over the cooker then you should be OK in an appartment kitchen. Any probs:

Open Window
Remove battery from smoke alarm (put PLEASE put it back)

Really all a hot smoker is is a metal pan with a close fitting lid with a small chimney.

The wood goes on the bottom of the pan where it is charred by the heat source underneath ( fire or a cooker)

The food is suspended above it on a wire rack and thats about it.

For cold smoking you need to separate the hot smoke generator from the cooler food compartment.

HTH!

[LordEoin]

check here: http://www.coldsmoking.co.uk/making.htm
he sells cold smoker plans for £2
you could probably build one off the photos alone, but the £2 would buy you a few questions I'd say

[matthewdick23]

thx guys. edging towards a hot rather cold, i think

[Padraic]

I think you've also hit on a good use for the barrels when they are finished...

This beer was aged in the same wood that I used to smoke this salmon...

[RichC]

I know very little about it but I bought a thermoneter for my barbeque and fitted it a few days ago with the intention if smoking some meat. It's a 3 burner gas BBQ so my intention is to use 1 burner and get it to about 140c or so(whatever smoking temp is) and use a foil pouch of wood chips to generate smoke. I saw some American dude on tv doing a leg of lamb this way. It takes hours- maybe 8 or so for a big piece of meat. I'm working on a BBQ area where I intend to build a smoker among other things

[lordstilton]

I have a webber smokey mountain smoker..got it from planet bbq in the UK...its the best smoker you'll buy for under 500..It will hold its temp for 11 hours steady if you set it up right.

[Metattron]

I do my smoking with my bbq.  It's a weber 60cm kettle bbq and works well.  I've also done it on a modified Tescos £10 bbq with some succcess.
Have a look at some of the setup details here:

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/best_BBQ_ribs_ever.html

I did ribs twice over the weekend, 5 hours of slow cooking and the meat was falling off the bones.  No expensive smokers needed.