Smoker pointers

[kevster]

I hope you are able to get the cedar smell out of your smoker, it may still taint other foods from the resins on the inner walls.

I had a friend who thought we would season his pit with pine, we needed to sandblast the interior and use harsh chemicals to get that funky smell ot of it, and then reseason with oil and burn green hardwoods to re-caot the steel again.

I may just put the whole smoke can into the bbq and burn any residue out of it, or filling it with red-hot charcol may do the same thing. Otherwise, the tin cost me £1 from PoundLand and was filled with chocolate waffers that the kids loved....so the worst doesn't seem so bad.

I hope to get some seasoned logs from a place outside town this weekend...so the next attempt may be soon. I've been experimenting making sawdust by drilling into the ends of some logs I have in the garden using a large flat-bit (also not suitable for food...they are eucalyptus) and it makes a lovely fine powdery dust.

Kev

[Nutczak]

I hope to get some seasoned logs from a place outside town this weekend...so the next attempt may be soon. I've been experimenting making sawdust by drilling into the ends of some logs I have in the garden using a large flat-bit (also not suitable for food...they are eucalyptus) and it makes a lovely fine powdery dust.

Kev

I saw something that may work better than a flat drill-bit for making chips. I saw it in a wood-carving catalog, it was a spindle that attaches to a drill, ut he head of the tool has an actual chain from a chainsaw wrapped around it. It was for fast removal of material.

A wood-plane may also give you a great chip and quicker too.

[saucisson]

Nice ideas, thanks I've used a flat blade dril bit and while it gives great material you end up with at least 60% of the wood still in riddled log form.

Dave

[kevster]

Nice ideas, thanks I've used a flat blade dril bit and while it gives great material you end up with at least 60% of the wood still in riddled log form.

Dave

Maybe I could chop the remainder down to kinddling-size sticks and put them through the garden shredder and mix them back in with the sawdust?

Last night I tried a burn with the dust I'd made and I got about 8 hours out of a mug-full of dust without much wastage left over at the end. Now all I need is my oak/beech logs.

I'm off to search for posts on smoking techniques....do you smoke bacon before or after you've cured it...hmmmm

Kev

[saucisson]

After curing...

[kevster]

After curing...

After a good look around, I'm not sure hwo best to treat salmon.

I've been using a gravlax recipe in the past, which is great and very herby (dill) and a nice late night snack. But it takes a few days and from what I gather of smoker recipes, it doesn't really need as long (most of the instructions seem to be about 24 to 36 hours). I've had a look at the 'Fish Curing' forum and there are instructions there, but they are not fully descrptive (either amounts or curing times seem vagure). Does anyone have a good recipe for curing salmon prior to smoking? Ideally it would be one where some of the drying is done before smoking as I'd rather everything in the fridge wasn't smoked.
Cheers
Kev

[wheels]

Most of the commercial smokers that have featured on the TV recently have just covered it with a heavy dusting of salt and cure it overnight, maybe 8 - 12 hours or so.

Phil

[saucisson]

You can do 25g salt and 10g sugar per kilo, dry cure overnight, rinse, pat dry and then into the smoker, preferably overnight on a trickle. Then wrap in several layers of greaseproof paper and back into the fridge.

These days I sprinkle a small handful rather than measuring

Dave

[kevster]

You can do 25g salt and 10g sugar, dry cure overnight, rinse, pat dry and then into the smoker, preferably overnight on a trickle. Then wrap in several layers of greaseproof paper and back into the fridge.

These days I sprinkle a small handful rather than measuring

Dave

Hi Dave
Would those amounts be for a single side of Salmon? Do you put it all on the flesh side?
Thanks
Kev

[kevster]

I've just found a load of posts on smoking salmon....with lots of input from you Dave, and Oddley and others.

It looks like the whole water content thing is going to be a challenge. It did make me wonder about something I was considering, which was: Is it worth me fitting a small circulation fan inside the smoker? I was originally thinking of it to help stop the smoke just sitting at the bottom of the smoker....but now I'm wondering if it will help the meat dry a little as well?

The whole smoking salmon thing also raises another question: Instructions seem to suggest smoking at 25oC, but outside ambient temperature is now well below this and I'm more likely to smoking at around 8oC to 10oC. Is this a problem?

Cheers
Kev

[saucisson]

I've edited the post so it now says per kg, I'd missed that out... and yes flesh side only.

8 to 10 deg should be fine, I wouldn't worry about a fan.

Dave