smoking at last!

[Batman]

Ian, as Jenny said the 100mm ducting fits into the Bradley pretty well. I bought mine from Screwfix, here's the link:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/17297/Hea ... cting-Hose

There are some adaptors which you can use as well. I've had my Bradley in the garage since I bought it and use a makeshift hood with an in-line computer fan and duct the smoke from the Bradley through the window to the outside. Bit of a heath robinson contraption but certainly seems to work. I'll try and remember to take a picture and post it.

[Ianinfrance]

Hi again Jenny and Batman,

No, Jenny I didn't go to Leroy Merlin, just to a local builder's merchant. However they DID have a galvanised thingy that would go through the wall OK, and possible even clip into position, (I tried to find a photo on L.M's website but failed). I'm breaking my whatsits at the moment trying to write a website for a friend before a big translation job arrives on my lap, so I don't have that much time to wander round the dumps, but it shouldn't be THAT hard to cobble something. Whether it will be acceptable to SWMBO is less certain. I must also try to find time to see if I can get one or two of those DC plug thingys so I can link that up too.

When you've played with the CSG, do please let me know how you get on. It might well be a money saving possibility.

Batman, that's a very kind offer. I'm sure I'll be able to find something suitable here in France, as 100mm ventilator ducting is everywhere. It's really just a matter of offering up a suitable termation to the Bradley. The rest is easy. When we went into the local builders' suppliers, we only had a couple of minutes before they closed for lunch so I couldn't really check up too carefully.

I can't wait. We had some bacon today. Magic (I'd cured it with a smoked cure, but then gave it an hour in the smoker - just to see)

Thanks again

[wheels]

I found the semi ridgid air con duct to be a lot easier to use than the flexible as it's self supporting. It's this sort of thing:

http://cart.vacuumsdirect.co.uk/index.p ... nt=38&pg=1

(I was able to get mine locally from a supplier of air con systems)

Phil

[Ianinfrance]

Hi Phil,

That's the sort of stuff I was looking at. We get that easily for ducting from a cooker hood.

As a follow up. We had a second smoked trout fillet today, and it had calmed down and evened out in flavour. Very good indeed. Not as good as the craftsman product my brother buys, but that's hardly surprising for a first time.

We also cooked the smoked haddock fillets to make into a Rick Stein's Leek and haddock tart http://pagesperso-orange.fr/souvigne/recipes/start340.htm. When we tasted some freshly poached fish, it was a bit too salty (4 mins in 80% brine for skinless fillets weighing c 4 oz each) and a tad over smoked (3 hours) but acceptably so. In the tart it was magnificent, so assuming we improve, our probs are solved. Given the difficulty of finding decent haddock here in France, I might well start smoking cod or hake as if it was haddock.

Overall, a GREAT success, for a first time. And oak chippings are REALLY easy to find too as we're surrounded by chippies who work local oak.

[saucisson]

Congratulations

[wheels]

Ian

Do you get a lot of river fish where you are - I've often wondered what smoked perch would be like?

Phil

[Ianinfrance]

Hi again Phil

(Thanks Dave)

France is a funny old place. Fishermen and hunters NEVER sell their produce, but will share it with friends. We can't get locally caught produce for love or money. There's practically no indigenous fish in local rivers, it's nearly all introduced stock to give sport for the local anglers' club members. I've never heard of anyone catching anything other than trout or grayling, and they either have to be returned or they get kept by the guy for eating.

That said, the local cash and carry does sell some river fish, but mainly fairly big stuff (pike perch - or zander) in fillets. Trout is easy - usually from local trout farms (Rainbow). Bisquettes are too expensive and hard to get for me just to smoke a couple of things at a time, so we will have to be very organised with what we do, so we can smoke a full batch. That's anothr good reason for me to look at the CSG, especially if I can work out how to use it with local chippings/sawdust.

The only "perch" we see in the shops isn't!! It's the ecologically catastrophic "nile perch" fillets from Africa. Anyway I'm off to the trade suppliers' tomorrow to see what they have again and see if I can order decent size haddock If I can, all well and good, if not I'll be looking at cod or hake as I said. In the meantime.... we've got guests tomorrow, so I'll be slicing the big fillet (350g) to serve in the same way as smoked salmon.

Cream of Mushroom
Cold Smoked Trout
Beef Pie (a stew with puff pastry "hat" on) Baked spuds & veg
Cheeses
Maids of Honour

I've just noticed.... it's a very "English" meal. Grin.

[wheels]

My apologies for asking Ian - it was common-place in the Jura when we were there. (mind - I know that that's a long way from you).

I can't believe that your doing a "Beef Pie (a stew with puff pastry "hat" on)". Either do proper pie or a stew, or you won't be able to sleep at night for the guilt you'll feel!

Phil

[jenny_haddow]

Ian,
Do you have many etangs near you with managed fish stocks? Where we are there are several that are drained periodically and the fish 'scooped' out as the water level drops. If you go along you can buy some fabulous fish. We have the Brenne National Park nearby where the same thing happens, but on a larger scale.

Jen

[Ianinfrance]

Hi.

Four things.

1 The smoked trout.

When I tried to slice the fillets that we did in the first batch (3 hours' smoking and a temp that went up a bit too much, the fish just flaked and wouldn't be sliced. So, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, we made it into a smoked trout pate which was very good indeed. I'll write down what we did and send it in when I've tickled it up into a real recipe. (250 g fish, 150 g St Moret (like philadelphia cream cheese) 30 g butter, a little cream, lemon and pepper all whizzed up together. Then I stirred in the finely chopped green part of 3 spring onions. They ate so much of that, that they all decided to pass on the cheese!

2 The future.

I spoke to the fish lady at the local big cash & carry. She said that if I ordered it, they could easily get me some decent sized haddocks. I'd need to phone in on a weekday and she could find out availability and price on the spot. I'd just have to fillet it myself, which is no big deal. There would be the advantage that it would have the skin on, to protect it. The other advantage is that, if ordered specially it should come in pretty fresh! They also always have very nice looking Norwegian farmed salmon fillets at a fair price (€8 a kilo), so I could easily fill the smoker to the brim, to make the smoking more economical. The trout paté was SO good, that honestly I might well start incorporating that into our menus deliberately. I could slice up the salmon and some trout fillets and use the trimmings in the paté, which should freeze very well.

3. Phil

No apologies needed. You are right that we're a long way away from the Jura and that's yet another BIG difference between the UK and France. With the industrial revolution in the UK there was enormous migration from country to town and so traditions and so-on became very mixed up. Although some regional habits and foods live on, you're as likely to find a lancashire hotpot served in London as Lancashire - to say nothing of Yorkshire pudding.

In France the revolution here (was designed to/resulted in) keep the country people where they were, so there are far more differences between northy and south, East & West and so on.Traditionally food in Provence has practically nothing in common with food from Normandy - and not much in common with the Béarn almost next door. With the discovery of the Internet (NIH so taken up relatively late here) people are now beginning to discover food from other regions, but more as an "interesting change" than something to be adopted on a day-to-day basis. I'm simplifying, naturally.

But all that to say that although we have a lot - a LOAD of rivers,in our area, fresh water fish other than farmed trout simply don't hit the shops. I know that pike is common in the rivers for example, but I've only ever seen it sold once or twice ibn 20 years. Actually the Correze is very badly supplied with fish generally. There's one excellent and expensve shop in the mddle of Brive, but the fish stall in the markets are not up to much, generally, and the range and quality of what's sold in supermarkets is lamentable, compared with what it was 20 years ago. I go to Brest every year, and the difference in quality is so marked that I've almost stopped buying fish here now.

As for my beef pie It was delicious!! I've no shame in having created a new dish!! (Chortle).

4. Jenny,

Yes we have a load of étangs and some certainly have managed fish stocks - I'd never thought of your suggestion. I don't know what they have could be perch I suppose but I'd have expected it to be mainly carp. When next I'm in Argentat with a little time to spare, I might pop into the local tackle shop and ask.

And with that, I've got to get on with translating a 15k word web site and sterilise 8x large jars of Szekely Goulash :- http://pagesperso-orange.fr/souvigne/re ... ain680.htm

Tomorrow is set aside to make and bottle Choucroute garni!

[wheels]

Thanks Ian

It's great to hear about your life in France.

Phil

[jenny_haddow]

Yes, lots of carp Ian, but some whopping zander and pike. They are sold live, you have to deliver the last rites, (zander seem to take some dispatching). If you are ever in the region, the chateau in Le Blanc has a fascinating museum about the fish farming in the lakes of the Brenne, well worth a look.

Jen