i used to smoke cheese on a weber kettle bbq - tasted fantastic. You needed to use a max of 4 briquettes with some hickory chips on top - any more than that and the cheese starts to melt. Not sure how hot you smoker gets so it moght not work
i used to smoke cheese on a weber kettle bbq - tasted fantastic. You needed to use a max of 4 briquettes with some hickory chips on top - any more than that and the cheese starts to melt. Not sure how hot you smoker gets so it moght not work
jeez - that title had my interest
settle down cooky, were only talking FOOD here
o.k guys I haven't smoked any thing in a long time but back then it was cigi's, I have often thought of buying one of these smokers the one my tackle shop has is called a kipper I think are they any good ??? or can you tell me what would be a good buy ???
Cheers Chris
may you get a bend in your rod and your esky open often
Navi, the one we bought is a stainless steel one. We take it on the boat and smoke our tucker on the beach. I know you can get gal ones but with all the salt ours sees the stainless was a better option.
There are heaps out there and you can find them at the tackles stores, the camping stores or even bbq's galore. We have only had this one a little while so cannot really tell you to much except we are really happy with it and that the woolies brand honey beef snags come up a treat.
Al
Try smoking fish, beef, and sausages for a start in your hooded barby. Just place the sawdust on a metal tray and cover with foil to prevent flaring. Poke small holes in the foil to allow the smoke to escape. Probably one burner on the grill side will create the required smoke and the goodies can be placed on a mesh stand to allow free passage for the smoke. Dont forget the salt and raw sugar "brine" and allow to drain before smoking. You can do all this on wire trays in a camp oven or a big wok with a lid over the fire or gas barby. Dont over smoke the goods and avoid any strong pine sawdust. I use brigalow and sheoak as a rule.
Have fun Haji Baba
These are a nice little stainless steel smoker. Made in Australia by http://www.southern-metal-spinners.c...smoker_new.htm
Pics below.
Derek
Smoked snapper in mine.
Bone out a chook, lay flat and spread with stuffing, roll and tie just like a rolled roast. Great hot or cold.
Been tempted to try sausages.....do you brine them first as well or just put them straight in???
With Chicken and Fish in the small smoker i use half sawdust (red) and half tea leaves. Chicken breast comes up a treat with just tea leaves. Most of the fancier restuarants use tea leaves for their chicken. Brine can be given an added flavour with fresh herbs. Have smoked oysters and muscles quite successfully as well. Stay away from olive oil if you intend to bottle them though as it solidifys in the fridge, try cotton seed or canola. hope this helps
cheers
Joe
just throw your snags straight in no brine, thats what we do anyway and they are really nice. when we go on picnics we just take sangs, the smoker, buns, cheese and sauce makes our hamper really light so we can get to more out of they way picnic spots.
happy smokin'
Al
Ps do you guys put chicken in the brine too?
Thanks al.....I'll try the sausages
I brine my chicken, 20- 30 mins, rinse off (just a really quick pass under the tap) then let sit on a rack for 20 mins until the shiny coating is formed (pellicle) then in the smoker
Cheers
Stu
Tried some beef last night, Thin BBq beef which is topside put through a mangler. Great flavour , but I'll try again using better quality beef.
Theres a lot of myth and folklore about smoking because people get confused between HOT smoking and COLD smoking.
Hot smoking is basically roasting in the presence of intense smoke so that the item has a lot of smoke particles clinging to it and has a smokey flavour.
Cold smoking is a lot more complex. It is basically the process of dehydrating the meat in order to preserve it. Often the meat/fish is soaked in a mixture of sugar and/or salt firstly to draw some of the water out of it and let the salt infiltrate the flesh. Salt is a good preservative. Then the flesh is hung in a smokehouse. The smoke producing fire is often some distance from the smoke-house so as not to be too hot when it surrounds the meat. The smoke can be channeled into the smoke-house via a pipe. The idea is not to cook the meat or fish. The heat of the fire causes the water vapour to be driven off and the smoke is very low in humidity. It is this very low humidity cool smoke that dehydrates the meat and concentrates the salt that has accumulated in the flesh during the preparatory soaking in brine. The whole process usually takes a few days. The combination of dehydration and concentrated salt in the meat is very unfriendly towards bacteria, and so the properly smoked meat can be kept for a long time without refrigeration. This is basically the process behind our smoked ham and bacon except these days they inject stuff like nitrate salts into the meat and don't bother smoking it long enough to dehydrate it since we all have friges now. So long as it has a salty, smokey flavour we are all happy these days. And lightly smoked and salted tastes better.
For HOT smoking the brine soaking isn't necessary at all but add a bit more mystique to the process.
To make a cheap and easy hot smoker that will last for decades, just go to Woolworths and buy a couple of large stainless steel bowls. Get a really big one for the bottom and a slightly smaller one that act as a lid when **inverted **and sit inside the big bottom one. Smoking sawdust is cheap and freely available these days. But I use coconut husk detritus as I live in the tropics (and it tastes good). Sprinkle a generous tablespoon full of the sawdust on the bottom of the bowl. Place fillets or what ever on a cake rack inside the bowl. The cake racks can also be purchased in a department store for little cost.
Then turn the smaller bowl upside down and sit it in the bigger bowl to act as a lid. Make sure there are a few tiny little air gaps around the edges where the bowls meet as you dint want an air tight seal that will exclude oxygen completely and stop the sawdust from smoking up.
The heat source is not important so long as it is low to medium. You can use a metho burner, a gas BBQ (turned down to a low flame), or even an electric stove top. The main thing is to have enough heat to make the sawdust smoulder but not so much heat that it will turn it to charcoal in a couple of minutes. I usually lift the lid and check how things are going after about 5 minutes. The loss of heat might add a few more minutes cooking time, but who cares. Still tastes good in the end.
I have to say, without a doubt, the tastiest fish to smoke would have to be the humble MULLET. I know most of the more cultured people these days wouldn't lower themselves to eat mullet, but I can tell you, you will be missing out on a real treat if you overlook mullet in the smoker. I have tried a lot of other fish smoked and only Taylor comes close to mullet in the smoker.
Anyone can get into hot smoking fish tomorrow at minimal cost. You dont need to buy one of those expensive smokers. My first smoker was a 4 gallon kerosene tin and the fish out of that tasted as good as any I have tasted since.
Enjoy.
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