Even since Hubby saw Hugh F-W smoke fish in an old bread bin on River Cottage Autumn he's wanted to give it a go. Hubby being the resourceful man he is, he didn't want to buy a brand new smoker, but make one himself.
Hubby bought the bread bin a few months ago on ebay and last week the heat source he had been looking for, an old paraffin lamp/stove, finally arrived. The bread bin was then lined with oak chips that once heated begin to smoke. Hubby also has some whisky soaked chips somewhere, which should give an interesting flavour. 
There is essentially 2 types of smoker. A hot smoker and a cold smoker. A cold smoker is use for flavouring a food, but not cooking it whereas a hot smoker not only cooks the food, but also flavours it.
In tonights fading light Hubby decided to try out his new toy by smoking some plaice. The fish was cooked & smoked in 15 min. I have to admit smoked fish isn't really to my taste so I only had the tiniest amount, but Hubby was impressed with what he had achieved and is interested in trying to smoke other things. The cold smoker is now next on his to-make list. 
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Hot Smokin' Hubby
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I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteDid he salt/brine the fish first?
Phil
Phil - he salted the fish first.
ReplyDeleteOh wow that's so cool!!!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant post, very impressed too!
ReplyDeleteIt looks superb, I've hot smoked sausage, trout and game but have yet to do a white fish.
ReplyDeleteI may be back for more info!
Absolutely fantastic! :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool!
ReplyDeleteLooks brill - you have a very clever Hubby! I love the stove - where on earth did he find that?
ReplyDeleteVery inventive! Looks great.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your lovely comments. Hubby has really enjoyed reading them.
ReplyDeleteMerlotti - both the breadbins and stove were v lucky finds on ebay. I think the stove only cost him £10.
Wow, what a feat of determination! I am impressed, and would love to try it out myself!
ReplyDeleteI made a smoked mackeral pate the other day (didn't post it on my blog though because we ate it before I could photograph it!) - it's just creme freche, chopped mackerel, lemon and chives - he might want to try that if he get's his smoked fish really spot on.
Diggingfortruffles - Thank you for the recipe, I think that is something that Hubby would love to try. He's attempting to smoke duck breasts later on.
ReplyDeleteWow this is so cool - think I need to convince my hubby to get all DIY and build a smoker - I LOVE smoked food. I've been admiring the ready made smokers you can get for ages by they are madly expensive :(
ReplyDeleteI've done some 'hot smoked' duck breasts once using a bamboo steamer and a wok, you put dry rice and gunpowder tea in the wok and heat and the aromatics come off the tea to create a smoked like effect - the duck breasts were pretty delicious.
Hope todays smoking experiment goes well - keep us updated.
Wow! This is something I've always wanted to try... another thing to add to the ever-ending list!
ReplyDeleteHow resourceful is your husband!? And it looks good as well. Enjoy the results...
ReplyDeleteSo. So. Cool. Brilliant stuff. I love my smoker. We always take it with us on camping trips and normally smoke a couple of trout or some mackerel. I love this improvised version.
ReplyDeleteYou've inspired me to give this a go over the weekend.
Goodshoeday - in total this smoker cost Hubby about £20 to make. He recently made smoked duck and really enjoyed the results (I'm not a duck fan, unless it comes with plum sauce and pancakes, so didn't taste it)
ReplyDeleteSpringtime - Let me know if you try it.
Helen - I have to say he it quite resourceful and good at the things I'm not!
Browners - Hubby would love to go fishing and freshly smoke his catch.
Thanks for this, I heard about HFW and the breadbin smoker but missed the program. This is the first photo I've seen of one made and I was right in how I thought it might go together.
ReplyDeleteI've heard you can use a smoker to speed up the drying of beef jerky, so once I get off by back side and make a smoker and test it with some mackeral fillets, I'm going to try making my own smoked beef jerky to preserve close to date meat from the supermarket.
Elder - I would certainly rec ebay for finding the breadbin and heat source. I really like the idea of making beef jerky, I think Hubby has this on his "to make" list.
ReplyDelete