British BBQ Society Forums

Moring smokers. Its been a long time since I have posted, I have been so busy I haven't had time to even think about firing up the smoker or coming on here to converse with you fine people.

I have a question...

I have been looking at cold smoking food and looking into buying a cold smoker.

What ever the answer I will be getting a cold smoker mainly for sausages and bacon. . So here is the question;

would there be a big difference in flavour if I cold smoked a joint of meat then did a low n slow over charcoal on my big bbq? Surely you would have a better taste with better smoke control and could smoke something a bit in andvanced?

I just want opinions. When I get my cold smoker I will be doing a lot of testing to find out for sure

I posed a similar question to the guy who ran the cold smoking course I did but with ribs. His advice was to brine the ribs first, presumably to open the pores?!?! I've only done a few bits of chees so far so hopefully someone more experienced would be able to give a definitive answer.

I cold smoked a large lump of Pork shoulder for 3hrs before cooking it in my Cajun Microwave, the smoke flavour was very mild, almost non existant.
Next time I would brine and then smoke before adding the rub, we all live and learn!
Si

Im definitely getting a cold smoker in January so its something im going to experiment with.

Let me know if you get a better result after sticking the meat in the brine.

Alwaya rely in you two fine fellows for help. Hope you're both well.

Hi Mate
Thanks.
Check out Keith's post Cyderpig goes commercial.
Making yuor own Venturi set up is so easy.
Send a PM, will help any way I can.
Si

I saw that this morning. Looks really good mate. Is it basically a cold smoker then?

In this weather very cold, yes it's basically a stainless steel cabinet with a good seal, a small heat source and a fan powered by the marvels of electricity.

As Keith said that is what it is.
So easy to build, easy to re fill with shavings without having to open the door, long burn times and no faffing about!
Smaller cabinets will give heavier smoke taste in less time, but it is easy to oversmoke inthem.
Since using this set up I have had to revise all my timings, but as I said live and learn.
Si

Its a good idea and looks the part mate. After the extortions of christmas I will look more into maybe building one.

Keep me informed on your progressions with it.

Ben

I built a smoking cabinet out of an old shipping crate we had at the office. This is fed, via an extractor fan duct to cool the smoke, by a camping stove smouldering oak wood chip. The whole setup cost a few pounds and an afternoon with power tools in the man cave! If I can find some pictures I will aim to put them on here. I think I took some snaps when I smoked a couple of sides of salmon last.

You can buy something, of course, but you might like to try putting something worthy of Messers Heath and Robinson first to see how you get on... Nothing quite like home cold smoked food.