Cookbook:Smoking
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Cookbook | Recipes | Cooking techniques
Smoking is a slow form of cooking that can pack in more flavour than probably any other form. It involves soaking the ingredient, whether it be fish, meat or vegetables, in the smoke of an aromatic wood.
An optional method of smoking food is through the cooking of the food in a covered grill. In a sense, all grilled or barbequed food have some aspect of smoking involved, usually through drippings on hot fire causing smoke, or by the fire smoke itself.
Contents |
[edit] Ingredients and Materials
- Smoker or smoker grill
- wood, charcoal or other fuel for fire
- Smoking woods, leaves or herbs. Each has different attributes and favors. Some complement the meats more than others.
- Alder — light smoke, good with fish
- Bay leaves - spicy herbal smoke, good for meats, vegatables, and general purpose
- Apple — somewhat sweet. Good with ham, beef or poultry
- Cedar Plank — used with fish.
- Cherry — sweet smoke, good with poultry or fowl
- Grape — unique sweet smoke, good with poultry or fowl
- Hickory — traditional favorite. Sharper flavor
- Maple — Mild smoke, good with pork, bacon and ham
- Mesquite — southwest flavor, somewhat sweet. Burns hot and fast when moisture is depleted so replenish frequently.
- Oak — medium smoke, good with meats
- Peach — somewhat sweet, good with poultry or fowl
- Pecan — rich smoke, burns slowly
- Seaweed — Sharp unique flavor - unique flavor for seafood
- Wine barrel chips — combination of fruity wine and oak smokes, good with meats and poultry
- Herbal smoke — Bay leaves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Peppermint, Rosemary, Tea
- Fruit smoke — Lemon Peel, Orange Peel
[edit] Procedure
[edit] Building a Smoker
Building a smoker is not a complicated process, but may take a bit of time and effort. An old style barbecue (the round ones you put coals in the bottom of) is easily modified into a "grade A" smoker. Just get the barbecue, find a thick piece of metal tubing (about 10-15 cm diameter) and cut a hole to fit it into the bottom of the barbecue. Another smaller metal drum is now needed; similar to an oil drum. Attach the other end of the pipe to the lid. The pipe needs to be long enough so that the meat doesn't actually cook while being smoked, just picks up flavour. Put a light bulb at the bottom.
A metal mesh goes above the globe and this is where you place your leaves.
[edit] Cooking by Smoking
To cook, just pick the leaves and wood chips from an aromatic tree (Bay leaves are good) and put it on the metal mesh. Put the meat in the smoker like you would if you were barbequing it. Turn on the light and wait 6 hours. After this you can refrigerate it and cook it on a grill later.
Smoking food is time-consuming, and can be expensive and a bit tricky, but the results can be superb.
[edit] Variations
[edit] Cooking foods by smoking
In this method, the foods are cooked slowly with a smokey fire. This usually involves an indirect cooking method, where the food is covered with the smoke and heat, but not directly over hot coals. The smoke is provided through water soaked wood chips or aromatic leaves placed on the fire or coals. It is a slower cooking method taking an hour or longer, depending on the food being smoked.
[edit] References
[edit] Warning
Warning: If you can't cure it, do not cold smoke it. While cold smoking food is quite a simple process, there are issues of safety. All smoked products must be cured. The reason for this is the threat of botulism. The bacterium responsible, Clostridium botulinum, is ubiquitous in the environment, grows in the anaerobic conditions created in the smoker, and thrives in the 40°F (4.4°C) to 140°F (60°C) temperature range. For this reason, anything you cold smoke must be cured.
