Discussion
Got a bit of supermarket salmon and some cheese in there for my test run, but if all comes out well I'll be off to catch myself some nice Farmoor trout. I've hot smoked before, and it's fantastic for trout, but this is my first attempt at cold smoking. Just getting s feel for how long my smoke source will work for.
The fish was rubbed with a mixture of salt, sticky brown sugar and pepper and left in the fridge for four hours, extracting a fair bit of water. It should then have been dried really, but I wanted to get on with my experiment.
Started smoking at half 7. My smoke source petered out at about half ten, and as I didn't really want to mess about getting it running again at that time of night or leave food in it, I took the food out to refrigerate it overnight with the intention of smoking it some more today.
Observations - the smoke is still a bit too hot for smoking cheese, though perhaps not for the salmon, which appears to have the right cured texture and not to have cooked. Cooler would definitely be better, though. The brie melted, and the cheddar sweated. The cheddar is rather nice, despite that.
I need to think again about managing the heat source for my smoke generator - it's one of these, with a few extra vents put in with a Dremel:
I put the charcoal in the bucket, get it going, then put the insert in (the thing you are actually meant to put the charcoal in) and put the sawdust in the insert. Works very well as a smoke generator, but I need to deal with the heat. I could stretch the ventilation pipe a lot further, to give a longer cooling run.
The charcoal was, as it turns out, not completely out some 12 hours after the smoke stopped. It looked to be out, so I chucked it in the compost heap, thought about dousing it and decided it wasn't necessary. Kind of a mistake, that.
Couple of new fence panels ordered...
The sawdust had completely burnt to ash, so I think I need to set something up to restrict the amount of oxygen available to the sawdust. I'm thinking that covering the insert with aluminium foil with a few holes punched in it might do the trick.
Started smoking at half 7. My smoke source petered out at about half ten, and as I didn't really want to mess about getting it running again at that time of night or leave food in it, I took the food out to refrigerate it overnight with the intention of smoking it some more today.
Observations - the smoke is still a bit too hot for smoking cheese, though perhaps not for the salmon, which appears to have the right cured texture and not to have cooked. Cooler would definitely be better, though. The brie melted, and the cheddar sweated. The cheddar is rather nice, despite that.
I need to think again about managing the heat source for my smoke generator - it's one of these, with a few extra vents put in with a Dremel:
I put the charcoal in the bucket, get it going, then put the insert in (the thing you are actually meant to put the charcoal in) and put the sawdust in the insert. Works very well as a smoke generator, but I need to deal with the heat. I could stretch the ventilation pipe a lot further, to give a longer cooling run.
The charcoal was, as it turns out, not completely out some 12 hours after the smoke stopped. It looked to be out, so I chucked it in the compost heap, thought about dousing it and decided it wasn't necessary. Kind of a mistake, that.
Couple of new fence panels ordered...
The sawdust had completely burnt to ash, so I think I need to set something up to restrict the amount of oxygen available to the sawdust. I'm thinking that covering the insert with aluminium foil with a few holes punched in it might do the trick.
My cold smoke generator is completely sealed apart from a 3mm hole in the bottom (and the 2cm outlet pipe at the top) and uses a fish tank air pump to give enough of a forced draft to keep the sawdust smouldering once lit with a blowtorch. It will keep a double handful of dry sawdust/wood chips smoking for about 4 hours (and holds enough for 24 hours if need be)
If yours is burning out you have too much air flow so restricting it with foil or blocking off some of the holes sounds like a good plan and will probably help with the smoke temperature.
I have found that getting the brining /drying right is critical to a good end product. If you smoke wet fish or meat it tends to taste of bonfires. Also leaving things to mature for a couple of days before eating them is absolutely key after cold smoking.
Not sure that the creosote in the fence panels will help the flavour though
If yours is burning out you have too much air flow so restricting it with foil or blocking off some of the holes sounds like a good plan and will probably help with the smoke temperature.
I have found that getting the brining /drying right is critical to a good end product. If you smoke wet fish or meat it tends to taste of bonfires. Also leaving things to mature for a couple of days before eating them is absolutely key after cold smoking.
Not sure that the creosote in the fence panels will help the flavour though
Edited by Tanguero on Thursday 23 June 16:40
Yes - looks like a lot of people with this kind of design of smoker use a gas burner underneath the smoke box to get things going and then turn it off until the smouldering stops. I didn't really want to go down that route, but it might be the only way to get enough control.
This guy has a similar concept to mine, and has it working nicely by the looks of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKyqZ78Yj4I
This guy has a similar concept to mine, and has it working nicely by the looks of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKyqZ78Yj4I
I brought three nice fat rainbow trout home from Farmoor reservoir on Sunday, and thought I would have another go with the smoker now the air temperatures are lower. I also bought a cheap electric planer for making sawdust, and a bag of hardwood logs. I filleted the trout and then brined them for a couple of hours in 80% brine, then left them uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry.
Instead of cooking the sawdust over charcoal, I removed the insert, filled the bucket with sawdust and threw in some hot coals of charcoal. This, along with the cooler weather, appears to have solved my heat issues, with it running at about 27-28C most of the time and smoking for 6-7 hours, but it does take rather more fettling to keep it ticking over than I would like, and the smoke is less dense than it was with the original method. I have bought a small cheap gas burner, which I will try next time instead of the charcoal.
Anyway, the trout fillets got two sessions in the smoker, going back in the fridge overnight, so around 12-14 hours total, and were then left in the fridge for 24 hours for the smoke to permeate. Salmon is usually smoked for longer than this, but the trout fillets are thinner. My book says that they will be excellent for five days in the fridge and edible for ten, and freeze well.
Very pleased with the results. I ate one fillet for lunch yesterday with lemon juice, pepper and Dijon mustard and used one for dinner in a pasta/ricotta dish. I have one left to eat now and have frozen the other three. It's not as moist as smoked salmon, it doesn't have the fat content, but it has a good texture all the same and is very tasty. It will take a few more goes to get perfect, but progress, I think.
Instead of cooking the sawdust over charcoal, I removed the insert, filled the bucket with sawdust and threw in some hot coals of charcoal. This, along with the cooler weather, appears to have solved my heat issues, with it running at about 27-28C most of the time and smoking for 6-7 hours, but it does take rather more fettling to keep it ticking over than I would like, and the smoke is less dense than it was with the original method. I have bought a small cheap gas burner, which I will try next time instead of the charcoal.
Anyway, the trout fillets got two sessions in the smoker, going back in the fridge overnight, so around 12-14 hours total, and were then left in the fridge for 24 hours for the smoke to permeate. Salmon is usually smoked for longer than this, but the trout fillets are thinner. My book says that they will be excellent for five days in the fridge and edible for ten, and freeze well.
Very pleased with the results. I ate one fillet for lunch yesterday with lemon juice, pepper and Dijon mustard and used one for dinner in a pasta/ricotta dish. I have one left to eat now and have frozen the other three. It's not as moist as smoked salmon, it doesn't have the fat content, but it has a good texture all the same and is very tasty. It will take a few more goes to get perfect, but progress, I think.
That looks really good
I use one of these http://www.forfoodsmokers.co.uk/acatalog/New_Cold_... I use it in my webber kettle and it will smoke unattended for over 12 hours on one load. It really is surprisingly effective. it only raises the ambient temp by a couple of degrees and you can counter that by putting a big block of ice in the chamber with it if necessary. The only downside- I have tried it with home made saw dust but couldnt get it to work consistantly (i think because the dust needs to be of mixed size). However the packs of dust that they sell dont cost much if you buy in bulk and work everytime, works out about 65p for 12hrs smoking. I would thoroughly recommend this little device to anyone that wants to do cold smoking the easy way.
So far i have made smoked salmon smoked cheese cold smoked meats for cooking and regually make smoked back bacon. in fact my current batch is just finishing in the dry cure so It should go in for 36hrs of cold smoking this weekend. Without blowing my own trumpet my applewood smoked dry cure back bacon is better than most commercial products i have tried and is really pretty simple to produce (cheap too if you can get hold of cheap deals on pork loin)
I use one of these http://www.forfoodsmokers.co.uk/acatalog/New_Cold_... I use it in my webber kettle and it will smoke unattended for over 12 hours on one load. It really is surprisingly effective. it only raises the ambient temp by a couple of degrees and you can counter that by putting a big block of ice in the chamber with it if necessary. The only downside- I have tried it with home made saw dust but couldnt get it to work consistantly (i think because the dust needs to be of mixed size). However the packs of dust that they sell dont cost much if you buy in bulk and work everytime, works out about 65p for 12hrs smoking. I would thoroughly recommend this little device to anyone that wants to do cold smoking the easy way.
So far i have made smoked salmon smoked cheese cold smoked meats for cooking and regually make smoked back bacon. in fact my current batch is just finishing in the dry cure so It should go in for 36hrs of cold smoking this weekend. Without blowing my own trumpet my applewood smoked dry cure back bacon is better than most commercial products i have tried and is really pretty simple to produce (cheap too if you can get hold of cheap deals on pork loin)
It will be interesting to try cold smoking some trout from my local fishery. The trout from Farmoor reservoir are always utterly wonderful, not a hint of muddy flavour, and absolutely fine cooked any way at all. Trout from smaller stillwater fisheries can often have a slight unpleasant muddy taint or "potato peelings" flavour. I've found that hot smoking them completely avoids this problem, so it would be interesting to see if they cold smoke nicely.
Tried out a few starter ideas with the trout this evening - in third place, wholemeal bread, buttered, spread with ricotta cheese, a layer of smoked trout, a few capers, grind of black pepper, dab of dijon mustard, squeeze of lemon.
In second place, small pile of rocket and watercress, some ripe avocado, smoked trout, a little sushi ginger. Dressing of lime juice, finely chopped habanero chilli, root ginger, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper.
In first place, egg, scrambled with butter and milk and cooked until almost set, then add salt, pepper, fresh dill, spoon full of ricotta and trout, serve on wholemeal toast.
In second place, small pile of rocket and watercress, some ripe avocado, smoked trout, a little sushi ginger. Dressing of lime juice, finely chopped habanero chilli, root ginger, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper.
In first place, egg, scrambled with butter and milk and cooked until almost set, then add salt, pepper, fresh dill, spoon full of ricotta and trout, serve on wholemeal toast.
Otolith
I have just been given some freshly caught rainbow trout and have been asked to give it the smoke treatment.
previosly when i have smoked salmon i have used a dry cure, which although gave a good result, the exterior of the flesh went a bit too hard and salty so needed trimming. i would like to try the brine cure on this occasion. please can you give me a little more info on the cure you used- i.e. quant of salt sugar water and other flavourings?
thanks
Pete
I have just been given some freshly caught rainbow trout and have been asked to give it the smoke treatment.
previosly when i have smoked salmon i have used a dry cure, which although gave a good result, the exterior of the flesh went a bit too hard and salty so needed trimming. i would like to try the brine cure on this occasion. please can you give me a little more info on the cure you used- i.e. quant of salt sugar water and other flavourings?
thanks
Pete
I didn't do anything fancy this time because I wanted to assess the basic process, so I just used a simple 80% brine (265g salt/litre) for a couple of hours. When I did a try-out with a bit of salmon I used a dry rub of salt, brown sugar and pepper, but I think maybe that's a bit aggressive for trout fillets, so I would go with brining. You could maybe add extra flavourings when you take the fish out of the brine, before letting it dry? My book suggests 24 hours drying in the smoker before you start the smoke up, but I thought the ambient temperatures were still a bit too high for that, so I let it dry out in the fridge overnight.
I didn't, no. The most common risk of parasites from raw fish is from Anisakis species, but they are parasites of marine mammals, so not usually a risk for freshwater fish. The tapeworms of the genus Diphyllobothrium are at least a theoretical risk - and given that some are hosted by fish eating birds, I suppose even the farmed, stocked trout from a drinking water reservoir pose some risk. Brining reduces the risk of infection by this parasite and freezing eliminates it. I'm happy with the risk of eating fresh cold smoked trout, but you may prefer to freeze all fish before consumption - if doing so, I would freeze after smoking, not before, the brined fish should keep its texture much better.
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