The River Cottage Curing and Smoking Handbook by Steven Lamb

Author:Steven Lamb [Lamb, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60774-788-8
Publisher: Potter/TenSpeed/Harmony
Published: 2015-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

A cold smoker can either be custom-built or adapted from salvaged items, so a good rummage around a car-boot sale or a junk shop is a wise first move.

Homemade cold smoker

The firebox/smoke generator This is where the smoke is created, by burning wood chips or sawdust. At River Cottage, we have a firebox made out of an old bottled-gas cylinder. At home I use a galvanized metal garden incinerator. These are so good as fireboxes for cold smokers that they might as well have been designed specifically for that purpose. They are easy and cheap to buy, fare pretty well outside year-round, have neat, ready-made air holes to allow just enough oxygen flow to make wood chips smolder, and conical lids that fit perfectly onto a piece of vent ducting. Also, because of the material they are made from, they have a nice, cool interior.

The only minor adjustment you have to make is to create a column of chicken-wire mesh to go inside the box (about 6 inches in diameter and around 24 inches high), in which to place your fuel. A column of sawdust this high and wide will burn gently for 8 to 10 hours. To start the fire, you just need to put a couple of hot coal embers or some lit newspaper on the top of the sawdust column.

Alternatively, you could dispense with the firebox and position a commercial smoke generator, just as Hugh has, directly in the bottom of your smoke chamber – providing it is tall enough to allow the smoke to cool before it reaches the food above. This also takes away the need to incorporate tubing or piping.

The tubing/piping/ducting You’ll need some kind of heatproof tubing that leads the smoke away from the firebox and over to the smoke chamber, allowing the smoke to cool as it does so. Spare bits of galvanized drainpipe (not plastic ones) will do the job but are rigid and hard to work with. Flue ducting is an obvious and more practical alternative, as it’s actually designed for the job of moving smoke from one place to another. It’s also flexible, so it can be adapted to the space you’re working in, and is cheap enough to be bought and cut to the length you require. It should be at least a yard long – more if your firebox has a tendency to burn hot – to allow the smoke to cool as it travels to the smoke chamber.

The smoke chamber This is the space where the cooled smoke is contained, making contact with the food as it swirls lazily around. A few leaky spots are ideal, as a totally airtight chamber won’t draw properly. In some cases, a little chimney, at least a small hole in the top of the chamber, may be necessary to help the draw. A colander placed where the tubing or piping enters the smoke chamber at the bottom will dissipate the smoke, stopping it from becoming too much of a plume.

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