I have started smoking fish and chicken. The ;problem is that the fire keeps going out. I use methalated spirits and the smoker sits on a wooden bench on top of a sheet of fibrelite (fireproof) I have to re light the fire at least 4 or 5 times before it keeps going.Do any of you seasoned smokers have any idea why!
davidt4,
Mar 3, 2:11pm
I gave up trying to use the saucers and meths for that exact reason.That's why in your earlier thread I suggested putting the smoker on a barbecue; other people suggested the same.
buzzy110,
Mar 3, 2:28pm
Snap.
OP you need to understand that your food is still hot cooked, just like in an oven and the smoke is more of a flavour enhancer, not a cooking method. It certainly does not preserve your meats as cold smoking does. You only require a small amount of sawdust in a hot smoker. I know people who only use a small handful. The BBQ is an excellent suggestion.
omaria,
Mar 3, 3:30pm
That would be good if you had a bbq the smoker fits on, ours is an oval shaped and not very big :(
omaria,
Mar 3, 3:31pm
what on earth is cold smoking! Sorry I am a novice (I bet you couldnt tell)
buzzy110,
Mar 3, 3:40pm
It doesn't have to fit on the BBQ perfectly. I use a 3 burner gas ring when I am camping.
Cold smoking is when the fire is built some distance from the actual smoker and when it is ready, the smoking medium is added and the smoke is channelled via a pipe, to smoker. It takes a long time and the smoke cures the meats rather than cooking them and giving them a smoke flavour, as in the hot smoker you are using. I'd give my eye teeth for a cold smoker like my father used to use - a 44gal drum with bars inserted in holes in the walls and food hung on hooks hanging from them. The temperature in a cold smoker is only as hot as the smoke.
The hot smoker does confer a small amount of curing though and I like to brine and hot smoke fresh salmon fillets when they are on special and then I cut them into smaller portions and vacuum pack.
beaker59,
Mar 3, 4:15pm
I prefer something down the middle and smoke for 1 hour in a cooler (though not cold) smoke. it also cooks the fish but you get a deeper flavour some preservation and it has less of a rosiny type bite you get with the hot smokers. I use my webber BBQ to do it.
I remember my grandfathers cold smoker at the bach in Muriwai he used to smoke fish for nearly 24hrs it was more like drying in smoke. You had to simmer the fish in milk to rehydrate and cook it but it made the best fish pie. The fish were kept by hanging in the garage in sacks and would keep there for a month or more.
buzzy110,
Mar 3, 4:27pm
Beaker, you should try pohutukawa chips rather than manuka. The pohut chips are the absolute best for hot smokers as they smoke well but have no particular flavour and no resiny aftertaste.
My father's smoked fish used be stored in the cellar that he built into the house when he built it. It was lovely and cool and insects never went near it for some reason. He used to catch the fish at the bottom of our garden. How cool was that! I remember those fish pies too.
beaker59,
Mar 3, 7:00pm
I mainly use fruitwood currently using a plum tree I cut down last year. I do like manuka preferring the heart wood from the thicker logs its really good with stronger flavoured fish like Kahawai. Yes pohutukawa is awesome I used to use it allot down in Corromandel always a branch to be picked up allong the coast.
Tomorrow I have a large snapper to smoke (12lb) I have it soaking in salt and brown sugar in the fridge right now. I also have a large snapper head and frame and a heap of wings which I will also smoke.
davidt4,
Mar 3, 8:20pm
Wow!12 lb snapper is huge.How long will you give it in the smoker!
My most recent smoking success was trevally roe.We bought a lovely plump trevally and when it was split there was a beautiful roe, about 300g.I cured it with the fish overnight, smoked it nestled on one side of the fish and it was perfect.I just hope we can identify some more fish which are plump with eggs.
omaria,
Mar 4, 5:30am
Wow that sounds so awesome.I wonder, our bbq is a small oval one with one side a plate only and the other side with sort of grooves in the plate. If you think that would work I will give it a try :)
We also have small burners we use for table gourmet dinners, they can be regulated and may keep burning better than an open dish.
davidt4,
Mar 4, 6:55am
Take the plate off your barbecue and rest the smoker over the burners.Or your small burners would probably do.All you need is a constant heat source to get your sawdust or woodchips hot enough to start smokng.
By the way, what is a "table gourmet dinner"!
omaria,
Mar 4, 8:53am
By the way, what is a "table gourmet dinner"!
It is a dinner where we have meth filled little burners and a small frypan for each guest. The table is set with trays of a variety of cuts of meat, eggs, boiled sliced potatoe, small sausages, salad, onion etc.Also some liquers to flame pancakes after :)
It takes a long time to eat but its a wonderful way of communication and sharing a meal.
beaker59,
Mar 4, 9:48am
We are getting a run of larger fish just the last week or so Yesterday I released 2 fish that were much bigger than that I usually wouldn't have kept the 12 but I had promised a big smoked snapper to someone. Also Kept an 8lb fish and a few pannies for the neighbours and we had a meal of fried snapper last night and will have raw fish tonight.
A fish that size I will give it an hour and a half its going in shortly.
Yes smoked roe is my fav too more of a spring thing for most fish including trevs I would have thought. The snapper we are getting lately have completely empty roes and look a little skinny and hungry I guess they are starting to fatten themselves up for winter certainly they were biting agressively yesterday.
beaker59,
Mar 4, 10:22am
Something I have changed lately which is really nice is I use dark muscovado sugar instead of the old chelsea brown much nicer flavour :)
buzzy110,
Mar 4, 12:42pm
I will add that sugar to my smoking supplies. I love getting these sorts of tips.
buzzy110,
Mar 4, 12:44pm
I will add muscovada sugar to my smoking supplies. I love getting tips like this.
buzzy110,
Mar 4, 12:50pm
What did you do with your smoked roe! Something like that is just calling out to be converted into taramasalata. I have recently used a recipe with smoked roe, sour cream (I used by own cultured cream fraiche), lemon juice , olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper, rather than soaked bread.
davidt4,
Mar 4, 1:34pm
I cut it into slices about half a cm and served it as part of an hors d'oeuvre plate, along with some of the smoked trevally, small pieces of herby kuku and some labna with preserved lemon and mint.And toothpicks to pick it all up with.
I like taramasalata but I wouldn't waste my beautiful home smoked roe on it!Seamart snapper roe yes.
beaker59,
Mar 4, 2:15pm
+1 (he said nibbling on a freshly smoked snapper wing:)
buzzy110,
Mar 4, 2:56pm
You are a lucky man beaker. I have found that cooking the wings immediately the filleting is done and everything is cleaned up and eating with a fresh, crisp drink of something georgeous, is a wonderful, after fishing trip, treat
buzzy110,
Mar 4, 2:58pm
That sounds lovely.
aktow,
Mar 5, 8:19pm
i used to sit my smoker on the concrete floor and turned the smoker away from any wind. i had no trouble with the smoker going out. i bought a bigger smoker and i sit it on my bbq. i only use two gas burners as the heat gets to hot if you use more. i found i burnt big holes in the bottom platein a short time by putting it on a bbq so i got a sheet metal place to weld a thicker plate on the bottom of the smoker. it works great.
pickles7,
Mar 6, 6:41am
We made a fab smoker using two stainless steel sinks topped and tailed. I made a tree tiered rack to sit inside it out of fridge shelves. It works perfectly. We have two burners to put under and bricks to stand it all on to stop the fires being blown out.
purplegoanna,
Mar 6, 9:00am
using meths is a pain.i use the top of the bba with the grill plates off and sit it on a stand thats just above the flames and in mrpgs big dryer smoker we use a gas ring.
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