smoking at last!

[saucisson]

I haven't tried tenterhooks, the small numbers I do I just lay them on a rack and turn them over when I stock up the wood chips.

Dave

[jenny_haddow]

Tried my hand at kippers this weekend, small but tasty. I couldn't find any decent sized herrings, so it was a bit like kippering large sardines!

Those of you who use a Bradley, do you find the bisquettes are shunted off into the bowl before they have burned right down, or is this normal? I seem to have a bowl of small blackened discs at the end.

Went to the tip this weekend and came away with the metal casings of four dead microwaves. These have been fashioned into a dedicated box for cold smoking as my cardboard one was disintigrating fast.

I'll get some photos up shortly

Cheers

Jen

[saucisson]

Speaking from complete ignorance ( which is often the best place to be ) I would have thought if you heat a wood pellet long enough it will turn into charcoal, once it is charcoal almost all the aromatics are probably gone and the only contribution it could make is to burn and release heat so that is the point at which to get rid of it. Does it get tipped into a bowl of water to extinguish it? If so what you describe seems to make sense,

Dave

PS I cured some salmon with salt, honey and a dash of whisky before smoking, definitely worth a go "Dry" cure 20g salt a kilo and a dollop of honey and a splash of whisky.

[jenny_haddow]

Hi Dave,

Shall try your PS recommendations, sounds too yummy.

The bisquettes are designed to burn the way I have found. The last remnants, as you rightly point out make no positive contribution. A relief, because I thought I was doing it wrongly.

Hoping to fire up the smoker this week as I have never seen a whole smoked salmon disappear so fast. I'm going to do a few mods as well and do a lovely recipe for smoked duck that Wohoki posted some while back.

Cheers

Jen

[jenny_haddow]

Just had a morning with the Bradley and took some pictures. This is the smokehouse with the smoke generator venting into a box made from old microwave casings. Works a treat.




Loaded up with haddock, cod and trout (split). Lightly brined for 10 minutes in a solution of salt and brown sugar.



After two hours smoking we enjoyed a piece of the haddock with a poached egg for lunch, with home made bread of course.





I gets better every time.

Cheers

Jen

[saucisson]

Superb

Dave

[jenny_haddow]

Thanks Dave, so far I've only smoked fish, I must get cracking on some bacon etc.

Cheers


Jen

[welsh wizard]

Hi Jen, that lot looks A1 - well done you!

Is the pipe leading from the micro box to the smoker of plastic construction rather than the metal ducting variety?

Cheers WW

[jenny_haddow]

Hi WW,

Yes it is plastic. It's a venting tube for a tumble drier. It seems to be doing the job OK, but the OH is going to replace it with metal. We are kicking ourselves because we got rid of a load of metal tubing when we moved house recently.

We are just about to try the smoked trout for lunch

Cheers

Jen

[welsh wizard]

Well look on the bright side at laest you are sitting in the warm! I on the other hand in a rush of madness invited half the village over for a Paella Q!

B&Q do the metal variety for c�6. I have just replaced mine (after 3 years)

Oh well best start prepping the fish.............

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

Good luck WW. My back garden is now a water feature complete with stream running past the back door

Dave

[Ianinfrance]

Resurrecting a second thread!

I see that for your first attempt you gave your haddock fillets half an hour and salmon fillets 2 hours in 80%. Then in the post in which you attached photos, you said

Code: Select all

Lightly brined for 10 minutes in a solution of salt and brown sugar.

so you had reduced brining time to 10 minutes Was that "skin on" or skinned. I saw on one of the "pro" website a time of 4 minutes in 80% brine.

Further, you describe the cure as sugar and salt. Equal weights? Did you use sugar on the white fishes too? How long did you smoke for?

For my first attempt I brined my smallish haddock fillets (skinned) for 4 minutes in an 80% salt only brine. The trout fillets (skin on) went into the same strength brine for an hour. Both were dried hanging up overnight in a wine cellar at 7C. I'm cold smoking the haddock with two of the trout fillets over oak for 3 hours and will then try hot smoking the other two trout fillets, if only I can find some suggestions as to times and temperatures.

[jenny_haddow]

Ian,

Since I've used the Bradley I've tried various brining times and brine recipes. I keep the skin on my fillets, haddock and cod mainly and brine for no more than 10 minutes, less if the fillets are small, ie thinner. Oily fish I brine for an hour. In a gallon of 80% brine solution I'll sometimes put in about 2 cups of brown sugar. I use this with all the fish I smoke. It's particularly nice with trout.

I bought an interesting book called 'Fish Grilled and Smoked' by John Manikowski and I have used and adapted some of his recipes for brining. The results have been interesting and given a different twist to such favourites as smoked haddock. In one recipe the brine is made up with equal parts water and white wine. I'll also play around adding various herbs and spices to the brine such as juniper berries , peppercorns etc. Earl Grey tea leaves are interesting too.

I smoke for about 2-3 hours, at first I smoked for much longer 5hrs plus but it was too much for my taste. I am planning to give the CSG a run soon and try a longer smoke. I'm going to put it directly into the bottom of the Bradley chamber under the fish.

HTH

Jen

[Ianinfrance]

Jenny,

You're a STAR. Thankd so much for all that.

As I think I said, I smoked 4 trout fillets and a couple of skinless haddock fillets on two batches. 2 trout and the haddock for 3 hours, but they got a bit hotter than I wanted (I had been going to hot smoke the other two trout fillets), so I sort-of-cold smoked the other two trout fillets 2 hours, just managing to keep the temperature below 30C. (Haddock 4 mins, trout 1 hour in brine).

Everything was pretty smoky when it came out, so we decided to give them all a couple of days to calm down before attacking them. Anyway we did start one of the two less heavily smoked fillets and found it delightful. The fish had flaked a a bit while warm, which is a watch point.

I could well see that a little sugar or honey would be a good addition, so thanks for answering that question. I think that as a counsel of perfection, I might like my fillets a tad less smoked - just like you.

We'll be trying one or more of the haddock fillets soon. I've also been investigating the possibility of separating oven from smoke generator, and think it might be possible with my digital smoker, provided that I put a 100Kohm resistor across the probe connector. Looks like I might have to visit one of the local electronics specalists to see if I can pick up a suitable plug or two. That said.... it might be better merely to extend the connection so I can keep an eye on the smoker temperature.

I think I can cobble the smoke connector together, but it might be a bit tricky because we don't seem to have any of these flue flange attachments available round our way.

If you do try out your CSG, with the Bradley, would you put it on the bottom tray, or in your (ex microwave) smoke cooling chamber to keep things even cooler?

Thanks again!

[jenny_haddow]

Ian,

Glad that was helpful. I haven't use a flange attachment with my tumble drier hose it fits straight into the side of the Bradley chamber, and into a hole the OH cut to size in the microwave. Have you tried Leroy Merlin for a flange? If you have a problem sourcing them I'd be happy to send some on to you from here. Screwfix are bound to have them and they have a shop in Cambridge.

I thought I would place the CSG in the Bradley chamber. If I find it gets warm, I'll transfer it to the microwave. Depending how I get on with it, I'll probably take one out to use in France.

Jen