Smoke has been used to preserve and add flavour to meat, fish, cheese and other foodstuffs for thousands of years. Naturally preserving food in times of plenty was very much a necessity in days gone by, to see us through leaner times and winter hardships. Learnt over centuries this has lead to some of our favourite foods being preserved in this manner.
From smoked salmon & mackerel to smoked paprika there are two main forms of smoking – Hot and Cold. Hot smoking both smokes and cooks the food over a constant heat (50-90oC) leaving the food ready to eat upon completion. Examples include hams and mackerel.
Cold smoking involves the smoke being cooled before reaching the food. This can take longer for obvious reasons but is well worth the effort. If cold smoking meats they must be cured beforehand (with the exception of some fish) as previously described in my Blog – Bringing home the bacon.
Here I will be building a cold smoker to flavour my bacon.
Smoking requires hard woods such as oak, beech, cherry, ash or apple. The wood contains lignin and when burnt this releases phenolic compounds which preserve the food and give a subtle flavour. The smoke does not penetrate the food but rather coats the outer surface. Do NOT use soft woods such as pine as this may contain oils that produce an unpleasant taste and could be toxic.
Firstly you will need a container in which to burn the sawdust or shavings. I used an aluminium garden incinerator. This is perfect and easy to come by from hardware shops. Inside you will need to create a tube to hold the sawdust using chicken wire. It should be approximately 15-20cm in diameter and at least 60cm tall. The column will allow the sawdust to burn slowly downwards producing a steady supply of smoke. I found it necessary to keep a plant sprayer filled with water close-by with which to douse any flames. Next time I will cover some of the incinerator’s holes to reduce airflow and slow the burning down. Flames will consume the fuel quickly meaning you will have to resupply the column.
The incinerator lid is ideal because it is funnel shaped. To this you will need to attach a length of piping (preferably metal to avoid melting!) which will feed the smoke into the smoking chamber. This piping allows the smoke to cool before being introduced to the food therefore not cooking it but adding flavour, temperatures should not reach more than 30oC. These low temperatures mean cheeses can be smoked or try garlic bulbs.
Finally you need to fashion a smoking chamber – I used an old bread bin, which hopefully will double up as a hot smoker also. How long to smoke for depends on the size of the food, but generally 4 hours would be a minimum.
When finished all that is left to do is to cook your bacon and serve on fresh bread with lashings of brown sauce!
