![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/DSCF3906a-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSmoke has been used to preserve and add flavour\u00a0to meat, fish,\u00a0cheese and other foodstuffs\u00a0for 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\u00a0preserved in this manner.<\/p>\n
From smoked salmon & mackerel\u00a0to 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)\u00a0leaving the food ready to eat upon completion. Examples include hams and mackerel.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0cold smoking meats they must be cured beforehand (with the exception of\u00a0some fish) as previously described in my Blog – Bringing home the bacon.<\/p>\n
Here I will be building a cold smoker to flavour my bacon.<\/p>\n
Smoking requires hard woods such as oak, beech, cherry, ash\u00a0or apple. The wood\u00a0contains 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\u00a0coats the outer surface. Do NOT use\u00a0soft woods such as pine as this\u00a0may contain oils that produce an unpleasant taste and\u00a0could be toxic.<\/p>\n
![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/DSCF3909a-300x225.jpg\")
<\/i><\/u> 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\u00a0the sawdust\u00a0using chicken wire. It should be\u00a0approximately 15-20cm in diameter and at least 60cm tall. The column will allow the sawdust\u00a0to 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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0into 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.<\/p>\n
Finally you need to fashion a smoking chamber – I used an old bread bin, which hopefully will double up as a hot smoker also.\u00a0How long to smoke for depends on the size of the food, but generally 4 hours would be a minimum.<\/p>\n
![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/DSCF3917a-225x300.jpg\")
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/DSCF3910a-300x225.jpg\")
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/DSCF3916a-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
When finished all that is left to do is to cook your bacon and serve on fresh bread with lashings of brown sauce!<\/p>\n
![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/01f330315bf139855c40d865d30dc8e2f0774bcbcaa-300x300.jpg\")
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jordansestate.co.uk\/glamping\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/01a29859e3ce8db02d6f6273195a519caad16fc8d7a-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Smoke has been used to preserve and add flavour\u00a0to meat, fish,\u00a0cheese and other foodstuffs\u00a0for 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\u00a0preserved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"
Smoke has been used to preserve \/ flavour\u00a0meat, fish,\u00a0cheese and other foodstuffs\u00a0for 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\u00a0preserved in this manner.<\/p>
From smoked salmon & mackerel\u00a0to 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)\u00a0leaving the food ready to eat upon completion. Examples include hams and mackerel.<\/p>
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\u00a0cold smoking meats they must be cured beforehand (with the exception of\u00a0some fish) as previously described in my Blog - Bringing home the bacon.<\/p>
Naturally here I will be building a cold smoker to flavour my bacon.<\/p>
Smoking requires hard woods such as oak, beech, cherry, ash\u00a0or apple. The wood\u00a0contains lignin and when burnt this release phenolic compounds which preserve the food and give a subtle flavour. The smoke does not penetrate the food but rather\u00a0coats the outer surface. Do NOT use\u00a0soft woods \/\u00a0pine as this\u00a0may contain oils that produce an unpleasant taste and may be toxic.<\/p>
<\/i><\/u> Firstly you will need a container in which to burn the wood. I used an aluminium Garden incinerator. This is perfect and easy to come by. Inside you will need to create a tube using chicken wire approximately 15-20cm in diameter and at least 60cm tall. This will hold the wood sawdust that will be burnt to create the smoke. The column of sawdust should burn slowly downwards. 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.<\/p>
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 towards the smoking chamber. This piping cools the smoke before being introduced to the food, temperatures should not reach more than 30oC.<\/p>
Finally you need to fashion a smoking chamber - I used an old bread bin (see photos) How long to smoke for depends on the size of the food, but generally 4 hours would be a minimum.<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[130,137,143,138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-cooking","category-homemade","category-recipe"],"yoast_head":"\n