Cheepo smoker......

[Rik vonTrense]

I have a Pau Wok with a lid....that is not like your conventional cantonese wok like a deep bowl frying pan but a large two handled wok and the lid is like an upturned saucepan and not like a dome.

Line this with a bit of tin foil and spread your wood chips on this I then use a bamboo steamer with lid for the stuff to be smoked and then put on the wok lid which is a good seal....stick this on your hob and away you go ....twenty minutes later you have beautiful smoked salmon that melts in your mouth.

Going to try it with sausages etc...but it beats spending �60 on a table top smoker.....as long as it does the job it doesn't matter what it looks like.


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[jenny_haddow]

Hi Rik,

You clever old thing. I've got what sounds like a similar pan I found in a charity shop. It's got a deep base with a high domed lid with straight sides for about 5inches before it domes. There's a valve on top which, when closed keeps all the moisture in when cooking, its cooks like a dream. I reckon this could double up as a smoker.
Question, after its been smoking does the smell of the smoke go when the pan is washed, as I would want to cook with it again?

Cheers

Jen

[Wohoki]

I hot smoke in an old stock-pot on the hob, particularly things like trout, cold smoked bangers and duck-breasts. It works a treat, if you keep an eye on it, and turn the extractor fan up to max. Jen, you can minimise the smoke staining your pan by putting a linning of foil inside the pan, and just throw it away, then a good scrub gets the rest of the smell out.
A nice recipe is one from China (where I got the idea) for duck breast.

Salt the duck for an hour, rinse and dry.
Line a pan with foil, then put a couple of tablespoons each of brown sugar and green tea and a star anise in the bottom, then a small pie dish (or something similar made from foil) to stop the drips of fat falling on the smoking mix and blowing up your kitchen (I'm serious!).
The duck goes on a wire rack over this, then the lid.
Heat gently until smoke starts to come out, then turn down the heat and smoke for half an hour.
Finish the duck under a grill to crisp the skin, or even better on a barbie.
It's superb with rice and some steamed greens with garlic and ginger, and a dab of plum sauce. (works well with a nice, fatty pork chop as well.)

[jenny_haddow]

Wohoki hi,

That sounds quite scrummy, will have a go at that for sure. I'll read up the posts on smoking, I hadn't thought of doing it until I saw Rik's post this morning. Also, until I start working here, I've recently moved, I don't want to buy too much equipment until I can afford it. However, necessity being the mother of invention, it's amazing what you can do.

Presumably an old barbecue with a domed lid would do the job as well, it's going to be lateral thinking for all kitchen equipment from now on I can see that.

Cheers

Jen

[Wohoki]

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. A BBQ would be perfect, just put the smoking mix in an old pie tin on the coals, you could add some soaked wood-chips directly onto the coals as well (just soak for half an hour, then drain in a colander for half an hour). Trout work superbly cooked over damp woodchips, it steams and smokes at the same time.
My cold smoker is an old whiskey barrel, the family barbie and some ducting, and I'd bet quids that the smoked meat is as good as a Bradley, but for a fifth of the price and it has twice the capacity. A bit of time, work and some thought....... (I've got a couple of chickens in there at the moment, mmmmmm)

[Paul Kribs]

I agree that a lidded BBQ is a useful hot smoker, haven't got around to knocking up a cold smoker yet though. My BBQ is gas, and I put oak chippings/dust into a 'cheapo' baking tray and damp it down well with water. I put this directly onto the coals and keep the gas burning until the oak starts to smoulder, then turn the gas off and put the produce onto the rack above it, and then on with the lid. It works very well with sausages, particularly Franco's Merguez and the Bratwurst, smoked for about 20 minutes.. also had very good results with venison pastrami, obviously have to slow cook it after smoking.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Vernon Smith]

Just noticed that Paul hasn't tried cold smoking yet. You should. It's very easy. I have a cold smoker that I knocked up from Uni Florida diagram and instructions. Perhaps someone else has made one of these too. I emailed the diag. to Paul as a pdf today. Let me know what you think Paul. The pdf might be a bit large to post here so anyone wanting the diag. email me (smithv@solomon.com.sb) and I will forward one. All the hot smoking that I have seen discussed here is one-meal table-top size but a cold smoker is cheap to make and easy to operate if larger amounts (bacon etc.) are required.
Regards
Vernon Smith

[Paul Kribs]

Vernon

I have replied to your email. Making a cold smoker isn't a problem for me, the problem is where to site it as I would have to tear up some of the hard lanscaping in my small garden. I have given it plenty of thought but feel I cannot warrant it for the small amount of cold smoking I would do.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Wohoki]

Hi Paul,

I think you'd change your mind if you sat down to a nice cold-smoked and roasted chicken, either hot as a Sunday roast, or cold as a salad. I know you've raised issues with using galvanised bins in the past, but it isn't an issue if you keep the smoke-box remote from the smoking chamber, and a half-size galvanised bin would hold a fairly large ham, as well as all the kit needed if you needed to stash it in the shed to keep things tidy. Well recommended: I was surprised how popular the less usual smoked foods are, and how little smoke escapes (if your neighbours are a problem: mine didn't know it was there for three weeks, and then only 'cause I gave them some bangers as a "thank you".)
Give it some thought: you would use it

David.

[Paul Kribs]

Wohoki

Maybe if I could design something that would fit in with the garden design I might give it a go.

The neighbours are not a problem, they are vegetarians and I just fire up the BBQ and they go in

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Wohoki]

I have to appologise: I get a bit evangelical about smoking at the moment

[welsh wizard]

Hi Paul.

"just fire up the BBQ and the vegetarians go in" - interesting, do you think it would work elsewhere?

Re cold smoking, and I am not going to bang on about the Bradley but, basicialy the Bradley is a fridge size box with a hole in it for the burner plate. With someone of your handy man experience I am sure it would not take you much time to knock one up that was portable. I will say that once you get into cold smoking it is hard to stop. I cold smoke now a lot more than I hot smoke especially fish.

Cheers WW

[Paul Kribs]

welsh wizard

I wasn't inferring that the vegetarians go in the BBQ heaven forbid.. they would taint the meat.

During my 'googling' for smokers, I have noted that the eastern europeans smoke a lot of sausage and meat, and a lot of thier smokers are built away from the heat source, with the underground piping going to the smokehouse which is elevated... I suppose in an attempt to cool the smoke as much as possible. I believe that you have to use ice cubes for the Bradley when cold smoking due to the close proximity of the heat source??

I once saw a small clip on tv where a guy caught some eels and hot smoked them in a 50 gallon oil drum.. now they did look superb, and ironically I have just renewed my fishing license.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Rik vonTrense]

At every council tip there are dumped fridges and upright freezers...if you have room in your garden for one of these then why not make a firebox out of and old dusbin or such and vent the smoke through a coil of flexible flue
this would act like a condensate tube and cool the smoke before it got to the meat for cold smoking.

Then for hot smoking use a short flu direct onto the fridge.

If I wanted to make a smoker I know it wouldn't take me very long.


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[Paul Kribs]

Rik

As I say, making one is not the problem, it is how and where to put it.

Regards, Paul Kribs