Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: carl on December 30, 2013, 17:40

Title: Cold smoking
Post by: carl on December 30, 2013, 17:40
Had a cold smoker for Christmas,has anyone got 1 of recipes to share?
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Mrs Bee on December 30, 2013, 19:33
You will end up as hooked as I am.  :D
Everyone had lots of smoked goodies in their Christmas hampers.

There is a brilliant book on all things smoking called Smoking Food at Home withSmoky Joe.  It is totally user friendly, with lots of recipes and they have a website and will give you extra hints a tips. I bought lots of books on smoking before I began but this one is tops and my smoky bible.

I like to brusk salmon in whisky and use a sprinkling of this salmon cure which is from the book.
550g salt
100g soft brown sugar
and a pinch of salt petre. You don't have to use this but I got some from Amazon.

One of my favourite things to eat are smoked olives, roasted nuts that you toss in a little melted butter or oil and then in a mixture of 4 tabs sugar 1 tab of salt, just enough to flavour and then add chillies or star anise.

If you have a Turkish store near you that sells the pickled red bell peppers they are delicious smoked as are the pickled garlic.  Smoke for between 3-6 hours.

Another of my all time favourites are sunblush tomatoes, either buy them or do your own in the oven before roasting. Halve tomatoes, sprinkle with a little olive oil, crushed garlic, salt, sugar and a drizzle of red wine vinegar and pop in a low oven for several hours until they are at the sunblush stage. It helps to disperse the moisture if you wedge your oven door open slightly with a wodge of tin foil. The smoke for between 2 to 4 hours.
CHeese is dead easy to smoke and absolutely delicious.
As long as you keep chicken and duck breasts below 20C for cold smoking you can then cook them off in the oven and they are delicious. There are good brine recipes in the book.

I smoked some butter and some double cream which I used to make a smoky chocolate icecream.

You can also brine mackeral, smoke it and then cook it in the oven or pan.

Which cold smoker did you get??
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Gryphon on December 30, 2013, 20:43
If you are interested in home cured and smoked bacon, I can hook you up with a good method?

Have fun with your smoker  :)
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Topscaff on December 31, 2013, 12:04
Please excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between hot & cold smoking, Mike
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Trillium on December 31, 2013, 14:35
THIS (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-cold-smoking-and-hot-smoking.htm) should sum it up fairly well.
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: carl on December 31, 2013, 15:39
As long as you keep chicken and duck breasts below 20C for cold smoking you can then cook them off in the oven and they are delicious

I don't really understand about the temperature as it is clod smoked??

I have a pro q smoking kit
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: carl on December 31, 2013, 15:40
If you are interested in home cured and smoked bacon, I can hook you up with a good method?

Have fun with your smoker  :)
Yes please I'm interested in that
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Mrs Bee on December 31, 2013, 18:00
As long as you keep chicken and duck breasts below 20C for cold smoking you can then cook them off in the oven and they are delicious

I don't really understand about the temperature as it is clod smoked??

I have a pro q smoking kit

Yep that is the one I have although OH has built a wooden smoker to house the wood dust.

You need to be careful in the hot weather to ensure that the temperature in the box does not go above 20C for meat or fish. definitely not  in the 30 C as there lies food poisoning.

Always a good idea to have some sort of temperature gauge.
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: carl on January 01, 2014, 15:19
Oh right.. Would be a good idea to but a thermometer in the smoker then??
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Mrs Bee on January 02, 2014, 06:59
Oh right.. Would be a good idea to but a thermometer in the smoker then??

Yes, especially for the summer weather. It will make cold smoking salmon safer and meat and poultry, even if you are going to hot smoke them later.

You can get them from most places that specialize in smoking supplies.

Also a tip for using the pro q is after you have used it, wash it in soapy water and use a nail or toothbrush to make sure there is no residue burnt wood dust cloggin the holes or it can make the next burn difficult as in it may fizzle out half way. 

Don't pack the dust into the very top in case it covers the metal grid/runway as this can cause the burn to cross over into the other channels instead of burning round in a spiral.

If you are having trouble with the wood dust lighting, it may have got damp so put it on a baking tray at 180 for about 5- 10 minutes to dry it out.  Do keep a careful eye on it though you don't want to set light to your oven. ::)

The book I spoke of would be a really good investment as it goes through hot and cold smoking in a really user friendly way. ;)
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Trillium on January 02, 2014, 15:50
I tried to find the book you recommended on various book sites but no luck. It seems to be available only from the author, who I don't think takes M/C or paypal.  :(
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Mrs Bee on January 02, 2014, 17:55
I tried to find the book you recommended on various book sites but no luck. It seems to be available only from the author, who I don't think takes M/C or paypal.  :(

I got mine from AMazon. I have also just checked out that I wrote the title correctly and it is

'Smoking at Home with Smoky Joe' by Jo Hampshire with Georgina Perkins. ISBN 978-1-908098-51-1

I will check that it is still available on AMazon UK. ;) And be right back.

CHecked it out and there are 2 copies available on Amazon Uk ;)
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Topscaff on January 02, 2014, 19:30
Thanks  ;)
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: carl on January 02, 2014, 19:50
Thanks for all the info, the book is still on amazon,I going to order me 1
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Mrs Bee on January 03, 2014, 12:12
Thanks for all the info, the book is still on amazon,I going to order me 1

You won't regret it. Mine is not very old but already stained and dogeared.

There are very good tables for the smoking time for a long list of foods, brining recipes; in fact everything you might want to know about smoking.

I have some salmon curing as I type and I will be putting some black pepper and juniper berries in the smoke dust when I smoke it tomorrow.]
Title: Re: Cold smoking
Post by: Mrs Bee on January 23, 2014, 09:34
Hi Carl how is the smoking going?