It’s been a very long time since smoking was fashionable, but it’s back in a big way. Of course, we’re talking about either hot or cold smoking fish, meat, cheese and vegetables. An almost primal act that speaks to something ancient within our psyche.
There are two ways to smoke your meat, fish or vegetables: hot and cold. Both are equally popular methods but are used for different purposes. Basically, cold smoking imparts a flavour to your food, but doesn’t fully cook it; hot smoking means you are cooking and flavouring at the same time.
The reason behind cold smoking is preservation by drying and also the smoke particles are antibacterial.
Keep it cold
In cold smoking, food is placed in a chamber or box and smoke is pumped through the chamber for a period of around 12- 48 hours. The temperature of the chamber is kept between 20-25°C, and the fire producing the smoke is kept away from the food. Food is generally cured before cold smoking, which helps draw out moisture so the smoke can better penetrate. Curing also helps cold smoked food keep for a long time without refrigeration.
“The reason behind cold smoking is preservation by drying and also the smoke particles are ,” Rodney Dunn, Rodney Dunn, co-founder of the , tells Maeve O'Meara on Food Safari Water.
Eel is a favourite in Rodney Dunn's cold smoker: "It smokes well, it's moist at the end and the flavour is like bacon." Source: Food Safari
Smoke may well have anti-bacterial properties, but it’s still critically important to get the smoke temperature right when cold smoking. This is especially important for foods eaten raw after smoking, like salmon, cheese or vegetables.
Cure first
Typically, cold smoking is used for ready-to-eat foods that can be eaten raw, however, any food can be cold-smoked, then cooked at a later time. Cold smoking imparts a subtle smokiness that intensifies the longer the smoking time. It’s important to cure the food before cold smoking.
The end product would just be dry and smoky-flavoured, but smoky-flavoured like tongue-kissing a trout with a pack-a-day smoking habit.
“I tried cold-smoking trout a few times in the new cold smokehouse with terrible results,” Rohan Anderson writes in . “I was so distracted by getting the amount of smoke right that I always forgot to cure the fish and the end product would just be dry and smoky-flavoured, but smoky-flavoured like tongue-kissing a trout with a pack-a-day smoking habit.”
So, definitely cure fish before cold smoking! Anderson recommends soaking in a good brine then hanging to air dry and form a “gooey layer called the pellicle.”
Keen smoker Rohan Anderson is known as a modern-day "hunter gatherer". His second book "Grow, Hunt, Cook" is essentially his motto for life. Source: Supplied
Turn the heat up
In hot smoking, food is placed alongside the fire that produces the smoke. Food is smoked and cooked simultaneously using this method. Depending on what’s being cooked, the temperature of the chamber is generally kept between 80 and 150°C; so much lower than other methods, hence the long cooking time. Hot smoking generally imparts a smokier flavour than cold smoking, although cooking time will impact this in both hot and cold methods.
Foods cooked in a hot smoker are tender and juicy with a subtle smoky flavour. If you’ve never eaten a hickory smoked brisket roll at a summer music festival, you haven’t lived!
Get the recipe for Texas beef brisket .
Delightfully succulent, beef brisket will blow your mind! Source: Dean Cambray
Choice chip
Smokers devote hours to experimenting with different wood chips to find the best type for smoke flavour. The wood of most fruit trees, especially apple, peach and cherry, are favoured for smoking, but hardwoods like hickory, maple and oak are the top three for many. Closer to home Australian hardwoods like ironbark, black wattle and manuka are considered to produce good flavour.
Some of native Australian hard woods will burn hot but will give you a bitter, acrid smoke which is completely undesirable and inedible.
“Manuka wood is… one of my favourites,” Jay Beaumont writes at . “It permeates a distinctive smell, which is hard to describe, almost sweet, and musky, awesome for all meats and definitely a go-to.”
Beaumont recommends experimenting before throwing anything into an Australian wood-fuelled smoker. “Some of the native Australian hard woods will burn hot but will give you a bitter, acrid smoke which is completely undesirable and inedible,” he says. “Play around with different woods and see what you prefer.”
Matter of taste
Anthony Simone's riverside smoker proves that it doesn't have to be complicated, and it doesn't have to be slow. Source: Food Safari
A fast method like this imparts a very subtle smoky flavour. A great tip from Simone to add a “beautiful perfumed smoke” flavour to fish is to tuck a few eucalyptus leaves in with the hickory chips before smoking.
This week it's all about freshwater seafood on with Maeve O'Meara 7.30pm, Wednesdays on SBS and then you can catch-up on all episodes via SBS On Demand. Visit the for recipes, videos and more.
