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Kymmy
15-05-2009, 15:50
BEFORE you lot think that I'm talking about a dispicable nicotine habit let me assure you that I'm talking about smoking food!!!

I've thought about smoking my own food for a couple of years but only just got round to putting my plan into action....

All thanks to Jen's (my partner) requirements (and nothing to do with food) I've finally gone ahead and planned a food smoker.

So got together one smoke generator (small ammo box) a length of 100mm metal air-con pipe (£5 from B&Q) and a smoker unit.. (one under the counter fridge which Jen wanted the compressor from so she could have a suction pump for her GRP projects - found on a lay-bye on the A6 so we're also responsible for cleaning up the countryside )

We've also got the trunk of an offshoot from our greengage tree (could also go with hickoy, elder, oak, other fruit) that I'm gonna chip/sawdust...

Gonna piece it all together probably this weekend and then test it out on some cheap sausages, chicken, pollack fillets, garlic bulbs and cheese...

Will let you guys know the results on the burp-o-meter

superbiatch
15-05-2009, 16:05
Sounds amazing, making me hungry tho! ;)

Scarlett
15-05-2009, 16:09
We tried smoking fish but the ciggys kept going out...

joglynne
15-05-2009, 16:14
I will be interested in hearing how you go on Kymmy.

Last summer I experimented with smoking chicken using Tea leaves, with my old wok as a smoker, on our gas barbeque. Took a couple of tries to get the flavour right but I shall be definitely doing it again this summer.

Saaf_laandon_mo
15-05-2009, 16:29
I made a smoker using an old biscuit tin, and some chicken wire mesh. Something I saw on a jamie oliver episode and it worked a treat.

Ramrod
15-05-2009, 16:44
My father used to smoke fish and meat. In Africa he constructed a big smoking 'cupboard' connected to a fire by pipework. Here he used a tin and pine sawdust (which we could only get from Harrods)

joglynne
15-05-2009, 16:53
I made a smoker using an old biscuit tin, and some chicken wire mesh. Something I saw on a jamie oliver episode and it worked a treat.

That's the program that started me off as well. :D

My first effort resulted in a biscuit tin, with a hole burnt in the bottom, and a mixture of burnt sugar, rice and tealeaves melded to my glass hotplate. https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2016/10/1.gif I set off every smoke detector in the house and John banned me and my smoker from the kitchen forcing me to continue my experiments at the bottom of the garden. :D

Kymmy
15-05-2009, 17:03
Pine isn't that suitable for smoking , apparently it gives the produce a bitter taste..

We have a greengage tree at the back and a maple at the front that should supply the sawdust... (any hardwood fruit tree is suitable, as well as the usual oak, elder, maple and hickory

alferret
15-05-2009, 17:13
Shame your not local to me I could supply you with all the free sawdust and chippings you could need. Oak, maple, cherry, walnut, beech etc.

Good luck with the project, I'll put my order in now for some kippers or herring :D

Ramrod
15-05-2009, 17:16
Pine isn't that suitable for smoking , apparently it gives the produce a bitter taste..:erm: I beg to differ young padawan :D

It depends on the pine :)

Kymmy
15-05-2009, 17:19
Just going by what wikipedia says

Some softwoods — especially pines and firs — hold significant quantities of resin, which produces a harsh-tasting soot when burned. Because of this, these woods are generally not used for smoking.


Though yes I have heard of certain foods being smoked in pine but not in the UK

Ramrod
15-05-2009, 17:21
Though yes I have heard of certain foods being smoked in pine but not in the UKThat'll be it......we used to buy bags of the stuff imported from scandinavia.....

Kymmy
15-05-2009, 17:48
That'll be it......we used to buy bags of the stuff imported from scandinavia.....

Any idea if the type of pine??

Ramrod
15-05-2009, 18:13
Not offhand, this is going back to the 1980s. All I know is that he used to send me to Harrods to buy it as that was the only place we knew to get it from.....

Kymmy
15-05-2009, 18:44
LOL, I know that homebase sells chipped oak but my view is that I live in a small village surrounded by countryside so what's the point in paying for it..

Anyway I have a maple growing in the front that I can prune and I've just recovered a 3ft trunk of greengage that Jen pruned last year that I've just chop-sawwed 8 inches to produce a bag full of slivers/dust which will do fine for experimenting with :)

Currently total cost of this smoker is about £10 (ammo-box I bought 4 for £20 for geocaching and the pipe was £5 from B&Q)

Earl of Bronze
16-05-2009, 18:39
Well, with the weather forcasters predicting a BBQ summer, I'll have my Abu Garcia Smoker on the go again. Nothing like a oak smoked Sea Bass and tatters for dinner, and all for 8 minutes of cooking. :D