To smoke or not (that is the question !)

[Meatloaf]

Guys ,
Not sure which forum this topic should be in , so apologies if i am wrong but couldnot see general disscusions listed.
Anybodys advice on fishsmokers would be appreciated .
eg best ones (portable or large ), best places to purchase , prices etc.etc
Does it make a huge taste difference , and how many of you have and use them ?
Just a bit bored wirh normal cooking methods and tastless fish. need to experiment.

Thanks

Dave

[mark]

I smoke loads. wouldn't be without.
2 paths to follow, hot smoking and cold smoking. hot smokers are cheap to buy or easy to make.

I've got one of these, think I got it from billys:

Ron Thompson Deluxe Fish Smoker

takes about 15 to 20 mins. 2 firelighters underneath, salt and season the fish fillets, lay them in, sprinkling of sawdust and shut the lid. makes a huge difference to the taste of some fish. hot smoked scotchie filelts (yes scotchies!) or coalie or pollock is lovely. and hot smoked mackeral is superb

one thing I learnt the hard way is not to overdo the saw dust, couple of heaped teaspoons full is enough. trial an error to suit your own tastes though

easy enough to make a hot smoker from a biscuit tin. sawdust on bottom of tin, fish on rack above sawdust, lid on, stand on 2 bricks (the tin that is not you!), couple of firelighters underneath...

cold smoking is more complex but much better IMHO. takes about 12-15 hours and is a bit more complex. you need a firebox to brn your woodchips/sawdust, some ducting to act as a chimney to cool the smoke and transfer it to your smoking chamber

made mine from an old gas bottle, cut a hole and welded the bit on hinges to make a door, cut another hole int he top and welded a bit to be a chimney, 12 foot of stainless flue liner, which leads to an old wooden cupboard (looking to replace this with a wooden barrel)

light a wee fire of hard wood sticks/charcoal, mother ith sawdust and shut the door, go back every 2 or 3 hours and shove a few more wood chips and a bit of sawdust in to keep it going. the fish gets hung up inside the cupboard

will nip and take a pic of it in a mo

[mark]

modified old calor gas bottle as the fire box

just pulled out of mothballs for the season! length of pipe goes over the top and transfers the smoke to the bottom of an old wooden cupboard, used a metal filing cabinet before that with the fish going in the drawers!

works brilliantly, have cold smoked allsorts with it, cod, ling, pollock, bacon, herrings even sea trout and smoked salmon with great success. needs regular tlc to keep checking the fire isn't getting too hot as the smoke would cook the fish at the other end which is not the point of cold smoking, or that the fire has gone out

get a hot smoker first though absolute doddle to use, and the results are brilliant

[Meatloaf]

Thanks Mark,

Have ordeed the same one you have. (plus some oak dust)
Not sure how this sawdust /oakdust works , but guess it will make sense eventually !!!
Well done with your ingenius home made smoker


Dave

[mark]

there's 2 little 'tray' bits inside the base, stick a heaped teaspoon full of the smoke dust on each as a starter, then theres a wire tray that goes over the top to hold the fish. then snap the lid un. theres 2 little dishes underneath in the base/stand in the same position as the trays where the dust went on the inside. stick a firelighter, slsh of meths or whatever in these, light, place the moker on top and leave it alone for 15-20mins

I found a whole single firelighter in each of these is enough to smoke and lightly cook about 8 mackeral fillets

[phill_itofish]

i've been looking into this for a while nad all the reading i've done about hot smoking says that you must get the fish to a temperature of 160F for a period of half an hour. I've never one this before so i could be wrong am currently looking at making a smoker out of an old gas oven.

will try and find the link and post it. the PDF i downloaded is to large to attach

[phill_itofish]

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw238.pdf

[mark]

i've been looking into this for a while nad all the reading i've done about hot smoking says that you must get the fish to a temperature of 160F for a period of half an hour. I've never one this before so i could be wrong am currently looking at making a smoker out of an old gas oven.

will try and find the link and post it. the PDF i downloaded is to large to attach

unsure as tot he merits/claims of that. perhaps if your fish has been lying around unchilled for a day or 2 first then perhaps. But I've smoked fish on the day its caught for years, anywhere between 10 and 20 mins for hot smoking and its always been spot on. It could be that while the time is shorter the internal temperature of the little smoker I have is way way higher than 160, I suspect it goes way over 200 for a time. that, combined with the antiseptic properties of smoke anyway should kill of any nasties

[The Great Wallsendo]

would a firelighter not leave a chemical flavour?

[phill_itofish]

would a firelighter not leave a chemical flavour?

i think that would be outside the smoker mate

[phill_itofish]

unsure as tot he merits/claims of that. perhaps if your fish has been lying around unchilled for a day or 2 first then perhaps. But I've smoked fish on the day its caught for years, anywhere between 10 and 20 mins for hot smoking and its always been spot on. It could be that while the time is shorter the internal temperature of the little smoker I have is way way higher than 160, I suspect it goes way over 200 for a time. that, combined with the antiseptic properties of smoke anyway should kill of any nasties

you could well be right mate, like i said i have no idea, it could also be to do with how long you want to keep the fish for after smoking, i supose if your eating it right away and its freshly caught it wount matter to much.

like i said i'm making mine out of an old oven, so i should be able to control the inside temperature