Coldsmoking course

[keith157]

As a present for my birthday last week (pauses for well-wishers, and shouts of congratulations........nothing…… carries on undaunted) The FoodTaster got me on a cold smoking course in Milton Keynes. It's run by a senior Fire Fighter called Turan who has been cold smoking for many years and certainly opened my hitherto closed eyes to just how simple cold smoking can be. Methods and plans were discussed from cheap DIY cardboard box smokers to the latest is table-top electrical gadgetry and briefly touched on hot smoking as well. His website is well worth visiting and the picture below gives an idea of what we smoked & tasted over the day.



http://www.coldsmoking.co.uk/

[derekmiller]

Glad you enjoyed it Keith. Did he mention his book at all or the Curing course.
Thanks.
Derek.

(oh and congrats for last week.)

[keith157]

Yep, his FIRST book is out in November, the curing and sausage course will be early next year. I also gave him a wristband so he may well "pop-in" for a browse. I'm not sure I've got rid of all the tea and coffee yet

[derekmiller]

First book, does that mean he is working on a second book already?
Looking forward to his curing course.

[Simple-BBQ]

You might be interested in checking out Home Smoking and Curing by Keith Erlandson. There is so much information in here and it really works.

I built a box out of an old shipping crate and connected it to a small camp stove with some extractor hood ducting. It has been a while but EBay was a source of good reliable oak chips, the guy smoked himself so knew to explain this is what it could be used for.

I smoke salmon when the supermarkets sell them of cheap around Christmas and Easter time. About 24 hours in the smoke and, to my palate, tastes great.

One of these days I will video the process and add it to my YouTube channel.

Did you try smoking cheese and eggs? It looks like that in the picture. Delicious!

[Chris__M]

Can I just put a word in for cold smoked butter? Although I do a lot of cheese, by request from friends, the standout dairy to smoke for me is butter. It can then be used to introduce a subtle smoke flavour to anything you cook with it, including melting on baked potatoes.

Absolutely awesome is scrambled eggs made with smoked butter.

As I eat/drink mainly goat dairy produce, the butter I use is usually in stick format so convenient for smoking. If you are using a standard block of cow's butter, I would cut it in half lengthways, to increase the surface area.

Best smoked in cold weather, for obvuous reasons. Best wood (in my opinion) is oak, although I also have done maple. I usually open out the wrapper it came on and arrange the butter on that, rather than directly on a grate, as even in cold weather, it can start to sink through otherwise.

[keith157]

I did my first cold smoke yesterday, I did some strong cheddar with whiskey oak dust and a ProQ generator, a mild smoke for 4 hours absolutely wonderful. Next time though I'll use a milder/processed cheese as the mature was very crumbly.
I also built a DIY hot smoker with two roasting tins and racks over a camping stove and hot smoked (10 minutes) some roast cashews & almonds.

As to the course yes we smoked eggs, soft boiled and smoked for 4 hours still a softish centre.

[derekmiller]

I agree with Chris on the butter, I use mine for when I knock up an omelete.

[CyderPig]

Hi All
Just cold smoked 5kg Cheddar, 2.5kg Stilton and 1kg of Goats cheese ready for the village market on the 12th Oct.
My new veturi set up doesn't impart as strong a smoke as my old set up, so next time I will add another 2 hours to time.
It's all a big learning curve.
Si

[Simple-BBQ]

I usually open out the wrapper it came on and arrange the butter on that, rather than directly on a grate, as even in cold weather, it can start to sink through otherwise.

Butter - It has to be worth a try. Thanks for pointer on the surface area, and the use of the paper it comes in!