Smoking food: tips needed!

[Loiseau]

I was intrigued to read of Frank's smoked camembert.

On a recently-acquired smoker, we have had great success with smoking trout and are ready to expand our horizons.

Any home smokers out there who could share their successes?

There do not appear to be many helpful books on the subject; they're mostly aimed at people intending to make a living out of a smokery.

Angela

[idun]

Mr Idun smokes food. In France he used to smoke saucisson a cuire, chickens and pork as well as trout and salmon.

He has only done hot smoking so far and  would get a small but  good braise going and add oak shavings or sawdust and just keep the fire going and adding the oak shavings or sawdust. Firstly the meat  would get soaked in brine for a few hours and then rinsed  and dried overnight. Chickens  or pork joints would be on about 8 hours. He'd do quite a few at a time and we'd freeze some of them.

He has said that he found all his info on the web and there is a bit of experimenting involved as the size of meat dictates how much brining (is that a word?) is involved.

Good luck, it is worth persevering with it and IMO is a zillion times better than any BBQ.

[Ian]

Loiseau, it was my camemberts that were smoked - who is this guy Frank?

I've been cold smoking for several years now. Mostly the bacon I make (and the camembert). Usually with oak, occasionally beech or apple.

Bacon takes about 12hrs of smoking, camembert around 2-3hrs. Both need to sit for a day or two afterwards.

Here's a summary of other possibilities - I've not tried them all, this is a collection of other people's ideas

Cheese: 1” thick, 4-5 hours, leave to mature for hours/days

Butter: Open, 2-3 hours

Garlic:

Nuts (various): Lay on pierced foil, 3-4 hours

Or, brine overnight then 2-3 hours

Salt: Lay on pierced foil, 4-5 hours

Pepper Corns Lay on pierced foil, 4-5 hours

Pigeon Breasts: Dry cure overnight for 2-3 hours

1-2 hours, then cook

Sausages: 4-5 hours, then cook

Boiled Eggs: 12 hours

Seeds (various): Brine overnight, 2 hours

Ham (sliced): 2 hours

Chillis: 5-6 hours

Mushrooms: 1-2 hours, then cook

Trout: Dry cure overnight, 12 hours

Bananas: Halved longways, 1 hour

Almonds: Brine for 24 hours, 2-3 hours

Carpaccio Fillet, 1 hour

Beetroot Cooked, skinned, 2-3 hours

Camembert 4-5 hours

Duck breasts 7-8 hours

(Sorry about the lay-out - it's a cut and paste job from a document)

You can also look at the following site - it's very good:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org

Good luck

[Loiseau]

Ooh,thanks Idun, and Ian (aka Frank - to me!).

I am not sure we have the same setup, as ours is a metal box into which you put the sawdust, then the stuff to smoke above it on a rack; put the lid on, and light a meths holder underneath for an hour or so. Is this called "hot smoking"? It seems hot to me. Our trout took less than an hour, rather than 12.

How do you do the "cold smoking"?

We obviously have a lot to learn about this...

Angela

[Ian]

Loiseau, you're welcome.

What you're doing is cold smoking. Hot smoking is using something like a barbecue with a lid (for example, a Weber). When you close the lid, you keep the smoke in as it cooks.

Fish only needs a n hour or two of smoking. If you need to smoke something for longer, just refill the sawdust,

Cheers

[idun]

I have to disagree Ian, we do pretty much the same as Loiseau and we consider it is hot smoking.

In fact, for us, the fundamental difference between the two systems is that cold smoking preserves and hot smoking needs eating, hence we do a lot and freeze it. One day we will cold smoke, but are not kitted up yet.

[Ian]

Idun, I'm not sure we disagree.

Hot smoking is a cooking process, with added smoking to enhance the flavour. Think of it as a more sophisticated way of barbecuing food. If you don't eat it all immediately, then yes, you can freeze it.

On the other hand, cold smoking takes place at 30°C or less and is a process mainly for flavouring the food. Afterwards, the food may require cooking (like my bacon) or may not (like my camembert). Again, you can freeze it for later if you want. I do with both bacon and camembert.

Where food is smoked for preservation reasons, the food still needs some form of processing first. Usually curing with salt, sometimes drying. I don't think anything is preserved purely by smoking.

Cheers