Building the Smoker

This is a very simple design to enable cold smoking. The smoker consists of a large box 5ft high 3ft wide and 4ft deep made from plywood and is big enough for a smoke producing fire box to be housed within the smoker without adding too much heat.

Take three sheets of 1/2inch external ply and cut each into a 5x4 and a 3x4 - this can be done at the wood yard/builders merchant and may make transportation easier.

Use two 5x4 sheets for the sides and cut the third into a 5x3 to make the door.

Screw two (I use cleaned 2x3 studding timber) 4ft 8inch lengths to the outer edge of each of the two 5x4 sides leaving 2 inches top and bottom. Use the two 3x4 sheets to make the back (the size of the back = the door i.e. is 5x3ft) by cutting one piece into a 1x3 to add to the 4x3 to make 5x3. Screw the back onto the sides.

Fit cross bars top and bottom to help stabilise the box and   using 6 or 8 inch T hinges attach the door. I attach short lengths of 3x2s to the outside of the box to help secure the hinges. Use the last 3x4 sheet to form a roof, it is best to have a leaky roof .

Source of smoke

I use a small wood burning stove and smoulder oak logs for smoke. Stoves may be purchased for c. £100 new, a lot cheaper second hand or the more resourceful could improvise with short bits of cast iron pipe etc. Some people smoulder sawdust in biscuit tins etc. but I am convinced that the different combustion products from burning sawdust produce a different tasting end product. I use oak but have dabbled with a bit of peat when oak supply was running low, others swear by beech   beware of soft wood it will give good colour but a resin taste and/or contaminated sawdust. Once the fire is going, green wood ensures a slow burn and the nice moist smoke a humid atmosphere that is essential.

Preparing fish and meat for Smoking   

Before cold smoking, fish and meat must be brined. A simple guideline is to sprinkle with salt to draw out water and salt the food the thicker the object being smoked the thicker the layer of salt. The best check on when brining is finished is by monitoring weight loss. A max of 10% is considered normal but with experience you may prefer the flavour of less salt. Remember that some things e.g. sausages will already contain salt and will consequently require less brining. When starting out brine to different levels to discover which you prefer.

As water is drawn out the fish or meat will become firmer to the touch, taking on bacon like texture (good bacon that is). Brining times vary hugely from less than an hour for delicate small fish fillets to 10-12 hours for whole sides of salmon and are greatly influenced by freshness and temperature. Keep records.    

In the Smoker

Cold smoking is great for all sorts of meat, fish and cheese (no brining for the cheese). You can even cheat a bit by buying good quality unsmoked but cured bacon and ham and giving it the personal touch by smoking it yourself.

  Hang or lay the fish or meat in the smoker. I use cut up broom sticks for hanging rails and stainless steel cake racks for laying (Nisbetts 01454 855555 have excellent trays for around £20).

The fire, once going, should be shut down to produce moist   cool smoke which allow the products in the smoker to slowly infuse with smoke and loose more moisture. Dry smoke will cause a skin to form on the products that prevents further smoke penetration.

Temperature should not go above low 30o centigrade as proteins start to change especially in fish. A long cool smoke is hugely preferable to a short hot one. Generally a further 5% weight loss is fine. Because one is cold smoking you can put different products in the smoker without flavour cross contamination. In fact if you put a block of cheese in your smoker it will monitor the temperature regime - if the smoker is too hot the cheese will begin to melt through the wire rack.

There will be no loss of the fat/oil from the products that occurs in hot smoking and apart from making the smoker very messy can have serious fire risks - not so good in a wooden smoker.

Smoking times vary from 4-6 hours for smallish fillets, up to 36 hours for whole salmon sides and even longer for hams or dry smokey sausages.

In the Kitchen

  Many items can be enjoyed cold smoked but some such as trout, mackerel, haddock and eels are best enjoyed cooked. Rather than hot smoking we prefer a more controlled gentle cooking and generally poach fish off minutes before eating in water that is not even boiling.

The joy of smoking ones own food is that you can control   the degree of saltiness and smokiness   of the end product. You can taste the unsmoked food to check salt levels and can desalt to some degree by putting into fresh water - remember osmosis?   And finally if all else fails make pate.

However you can only make so much pate and time prevents this from being any more comprehensive a good book is Home Smoking and Curing by Keith Erlandson , Ebury Press £9.99 or even better come on a smoking course March is now full so next one probably not till Autumn (tel. 01967 402226).   Happy Smoking.  

Bluebell Croft, 15 Anaheilt, Strontian, Ardnamurchan, Scotland UK PH36 4JA   Tel 01967 402226