Started smoking again

Taff

Well-Known Member
Some of you may know the longing feeling to start smoking again, after months of going without on new years eve I spotted some in sainsburys at a price to hard to resist, the wife says I stink,she says she is not a lover of it, I keep getting the urge to go into the garden and stand by my shed, yes I got some cheap salmon any advice on smoking fish and meat,I try to follow Keith Erlandson,s book home smoking and curing but all advice appreciated.
 
I take my Salmon and Sea trout to a shop in Newton Abbot at the end of each season and get them cold smoked, sliced, and vacuum packed, fantastic.
I have a hot smoker but cold smoking is best.
Hugh FW made a cold smoker on telly over the Xmas period.
Just found this http://www.coldsmoking.co.uk/making.htm
Cheers
Richard
 
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Dds I am trying cold smoking for the first time,my main problem is keeping enough sawdust burning, if it burns out will it affect the fish at present it lasts about four hours, which is ok during the day but not at night.
 
I posted a link in the Top Tips page.
I made one to take a Salmon in two halves.
volume of sawdust and/or keeping it burning is the main issue.

I resorted to a gas burner under the sawdust box which allowed me to pile it up and produce some good volume of smoke.
Dont underestimate how hot the smoke with be even with a cooling tube. you want it as cold as possible. doing it in this weather will help
mine has an 8 foot aluminium pipe which I thoroughly soak inside and out and will be adding some wet newspaper inside to cool it further.

After about 7 hours I had smoked a large rainbow trout and used a bucket of fine sawdust (finer the better) and it still had some areas which had clearly been "cooked" slightly. too hot.

also stinks up whatever area you are using!
 
Like DDS I used to take eels to Jacksons in N.Abbot. They kept a few and didn't charge for the smoking. Best smoked fish I ever tasted.
You can do you own and quite a few do but there is quite a bit to it if you want a really good end product.
 
I second the recommendation of this: Cold smoke generator - Mac's BBQ Ltd. It is a great product. Make sure you keep your wood-dust bone dry for a guaranteed slow burn. I have never tried making my own dust.
I find that Erlandson over-smokes and HFW over-salts. To be fair, I guess that they are both following traditional methods where produce had to be cured hard for longer preservation. My smoked goods don't last very long so I have experimented. I smoke a 800g back bacon joint for 8-10 hours only, with maple. That is just right.
As I write this my mind strays back to the cold-brined, air-dried, cold smoked then hot smoked mackerel Kedgiree with duck eggs in Scotland last year. Best thing that I have eaten. (I've dribbled on my keyboard again)
Happy smoking.
 
As I write this my mind strays back to the cold-brined, air-dried, cold smoked then hot smoked mackerel Kedgiree with duck eggs in Scotland last year. Best thing that I have eaten. (I've dribbled on my keyboard again)

That made me dribble too...
 
I second the recommendation of this: Cold smoke generator - Mac's BBQ Ltd. It is a great product. Make sure you keep your wood-dust bone dry for a guaranteed slow burn. I have never tried making my own dust.
I find that Erlandson over-smokes and HFW over-salts. To be fair, I guess that they are both following traditional methods where produce had to be cured hard for longer preservation. My smoked goods don't last very long so I have experimented. I smoke a 800g back bacon joint for 8-10 hours only, with maple. That is just right.
As I write this my mind strays back to the cold-brined, air-dried, cold smoked then hot smoked mackerel Kedgiree with duck eggs in Scotland last year. Best thing that I have eaten. (I've dribbled on my keyboard again)
Happy smoking.

Plus 1 for HFW oversalting. I roughly halve the amount of salt he recommends in his recipes (from his Fish book this is) and I get a nice result. Not tried keeping it long though, it gets eaten! (This is hot smoking over oak dust).
 
Thanks for the links,and advice, I think I will get a smoke generator, the saw dust I use is beech from a deckchair company it's really dry, my first attempts on a small smoker generated to much heat , so I have buy
T a bigger one, I don,t know if any of you have tried some of the jerky curing mixes from cabelas, I use them as if making jerky but then add smoke ( old pie warmer works great) they work well on venison, pheasant, but some people didn,t like the pigeon. The salmon has been in for 24hrs and it has not heated up so hopefully it will be good.
 
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