Cold then hot smoke?

[salumi512]

I'm seeing some recipes for sausage that call for cold smoking and then immediately hot smoking. Is there a pointer to what this double technique is achieving?

In Texas we do mostly German style sausage making that are hot smoked, so I'm not sure what the cold smoking is doing ahead of time.

[SausageBoy]

Folks who intend to cook/finish sausage in a smoker will often start with a cold smoke to get a longer smoking time before finishing up the sausage with a hot smoke.

[solaryellow]

Folks who intend to cook/finish sausage in a smoker will often start with a cold smoke to get a longer smoking time before finishing up the sausage with a hot smoke.

I do this as well for some kinds of sausage.

[salumi512]

Ok, that makes sense. I have a pretty big pit that burns whole logs, so I don't think I'd need to ever cold smoke to get the desired flavor before hot smoking.

[Wunderdave]

Some sausages and cured whole muscle products call for extended periods of cold smoking, sometimes in excess of 48 hours. You simply cannot achieve the same level of smoke color and flavor by using hot smoke.

All this means is that your certain preparations of hot-smoked sausages might not have an authentically smoky flavor. Other than that they will still be delicious if they are prepared with care and quality ingredients.

As with many cooking questions this boils down to a balancing act between personal preference, equipment availability, and desire to remain traditional/authentic.

[salumi512]

No issues with cold smoking for air dried meats, but thanks for pointing that out. I was just confused about recipes that said to cold smoke for a couple of hours and then immediately hot smoke to cook. That just seems unnecessary to me if the only point is to try to get a little extra smoke in there before it reaches the final doneness.

[Wunderdave]

Take bacon for example. It's easy to make bacon by "warm-smoking it" at 150F for 6-8 hours until it's "cooked"

However, you may want more smoke flavor on bacon, in which case, you can cold-smoke it for 24 hours before you cook it either with warm smoke or in an oven or sous vide etc.

[Wunderdave]

I believe that the cold-smoke before the warm-smoke for sausage cooking also assists in drying the surfaces of the sausages to encourage smoke adhesion during the cooking process.

[Dingo]

I cold smoked then hot smoked the bacon i made recently and could see that it would add more smokiness. That bacon was also marinated in Bourbon and Rum which dominated the flavor of the bacon. My next batch I plan on cold smoking+hot smoke or half the batch and only hot for the other..to do a comparison of "Smokeyness"

[BriCan]

Folks who intend to cook/finish sausage in a smoker will often start with a cold smoke to get a longer smoking time before finishing up the sausage with a hot smoke.

I do this as well for some kinds of sausage.

Just curious -- could I ask which kinds?

[BriCan]

Ok, that makes sense. I have a pretty big pit that burns whole logs, so I don't think I'd need to ever cold smoke to get the desired flavor before hot smoking.

Cold smoking and hot smoking are in essence two totally different things -- each one has its own use and usually we do not mix the two

[BriCan]

Some sausages and cured whole muscle products call for extended periods of cold smoking, sometimes in excess of 48 hours. You simply cannot achieve the same level of smoke color and flavor by using hot smoke.

This is absolutely true --- like being close with horseshoes

All this means is that your certain preparations of hot-smoked sausages might not have an authentically smoky flavor. Other than that they will still be delicious if they are prepared with care and quality ingredients.

If one shuts the dampers one can control the amount of smoke adhering to the product, we must remember that with hot smoking we are in fact cooking the product where as with cold smoking we are in a sense preserving the product

As with many cooking questions this boils down to a balancing act between personal preference, equipment availability, and desire to remain traditional/authentic.

Agreed

[salumi512]

Cold smoking and hot smoking are in essence two totally different things -- each one has its own use and usually we do not mix the two

This was my point, and focused at recipes calling for 1-3 hours of cold smoking immediately before hot smoking. I didn't see the point of cold smoking for such a short time directly before hot smoking.

[BriCan]

Take bacon for example. It's easy to make bacon by "warm-smoking it" at 150F for 6-8 hours until it's "cooked"

Most if not all North American bacon id Hot smoked -- smokehouse temperature is set to 175 degrees F When the belly with the temperature probe in it reads 145 - 150 degrees F it is done. One must remember this product is still going to be cooked in a skillet/cook top/oven for breaky.

However, you may want more smoke flavor on bacon, in which case, you can cold-smoke it for 24 hours before you cook it either with warm smoke or in an oven or sous vide etc.

This I have a hard time with and I think Young Master asked me say sumet

Most bacon in the UK and Europe is cure for the flavour which can and will be on the delicate side, we use spice blends to enhance but not taking away from the meat flavour

Our problem in North America we seem to have only two types of pigs --- Butcher pigs and Cutter pigs -- one for pork chops and roasts and the other for sausage and bacon.

Cold smoking is a way of preserving the product -- once a side of pork has been cured the shelf life can be for a long time, but in damper climates one might/will need a little help hence cold smoking as this is also a drying process what was found that with cold smoking it brought another depth of flavour to the product.

Depending how one cold smokes -- light - medium to heavy will also affect the flavour while hanging and drying over several months A heavy cold smoke drying over several months can and in most cases will turn bitter where a light to medium will turn into a deep rich flavour.

Under no circumstances do we ever warm smoke bacon after we have cold smoked it as this will ruin the flavours and in a sense destroy the shelf lie downwards

[BriCan]

I cold smoked then hot smoked the bacon i made recently and could see that it would add more smokiness.

If you are after a deep rich flavour with a rich smoky flavour what you need to do is three cold smokes 8 hours one day - 8 hours the next day then rest a day the a further 8 hour smoke. Hand and mature for at least a week if not longer then check it against your hot smoke --- if done right I know which one will win

That bacon was also marinated in Bourbon and Rum which dominated the flavor of the bacon. My next batch I plan on cold smoking+hot smoke or half the batch and only hot for the other..to do a comparison of "Smokeyness"

If one was to use the Bourbon and Rum so that it was in the background then all three flavours (Bourbon and Rum, bacon and the smoking) would/will produce amazing tastes

On your next batch do one as cold smoke (as I described) and the other hot smoke --- my Maple bacon (120 pounds every two weeks) I used to hot smoke --- now I only cold smoke as this is out selling the hot.