What is cold smoking?

Cold smoking is a process whereby food it smoked at a low temperature to impart both a smoky flavour and also to help preserve food normally in combination with curing with salt. It is possible to cold smoke foods in any suitable container of sufficient size even an old cardboard box will work, but is you have access to a couple of decent sized Dutch ovens this technique works well and is one we have used many times. The wood dust needs to be a fine powder, coarse grains a likely to got out. 

What you will need

You will require 2 large Dutch ovens of the same diameter, a mesh smoke generator, a wire rack or trivet, a tea light and matches or lighter (or a blow torch) and some fine hardwood dust. If you don’t have 2 Dutch ovens you could use a similar size cooking pot or even a bowl on the top.

In the pictures we are using a cheap mesh smoke generator. It is basically a coil of fine mesh which when filled with the wood dust allows it to burn in a slow, controlled manner. This particular one is a round coil but square coils are also available, just make sure it will fit in the base of the Dutch oven. For short duration smokes you could use a small fine mesh metal sieve or tea strainer. 

We are using a circular wire rack that fits perfectly into the Dutch oven but a wire cooling rack would also work.

For the wood dust we generally use dust sold specifically for cold smoking but if you have a source of fine, dry hardwood sawdust then feel free to use that, just ensure it is now from a toxic species of tree (laurel, laburnum etc.). Commonly used woods are;- oak, beech, pecan, maple, hickory, cherry, apple, pear, etc. It sometimes pays to dry the dust in a very low oven prior to use to ensure it is dry. You can also add dried herbs to the wood dust to add additional flavours.

Getting set up

General pick a cool day or smoke overnight. The whole idea is to smoke at a low temperature if things get too hot inside the smoker the food could spoil. The temperature inside a black Dutch oven sitting in the sun is too hot!

Fill your smoke generator with the wood dust. Pour in you wood dust to fill the coils starting at the point where you ignite it. Fill the coils to the top then using your hand gently ensure that there is no dust on top of the thicker wires on the upper surface of the coil. If there is dust remaining in these it can allow the smouldering dust to jump across to the next coil which would then generate too much smoke. How much of the coils length you fill depends on what you are smoking an therefore how long you want to smoke (see below). A full coil of the size used in the pictures will typically smoke for 8-10 hours depending on the air flow.

Prepare the food to be smoked and set it up on the wire rack. The smaller it is the bigger the surface area to absorb the smoke flavour. Things that may soften slightly (such as the butter in the pictures) are probably best being placed on a plate or tray on top of the wire rack. Very fine foods, such as things like salt or dried herbs can be placed in a small metal sieve on top ion the rack.

Start smoking

Light the end of the smoke generator. Most smoke generators like the one pictured are designed to be lit with a tea light. The idea is to place the lit tea light on the little platform at the start of the coil beneath the dust and then remove it once the dust is happily smouldering as you don’t want the smoke from the tea light flavouring your food. From experience this is easier said than done with a hot tea light full of molten wax. To help solve this poke a cocktail stick or tooth pick into the side of the tea light and use this to maneavour the tea light in and out of the smoke generator. The other alternative is to use a small blow torch to ignite the end of the coil.

Once the coil is happily lit and producing a constant stream of smoke, place it in the bottom of one of the Dutch ovens.

Then your wire rack or trivet with your food on over the top ensuring there is a good gap of several inches between the smoke generator and the food. The smoke generator will produce some heat so it is important that the food being smoked is far enough away that is doesn’t get warm.

Place the other Dutch oven upside down over the top to create your smoking chamber and leave to smoke away. Ideally you want a bit of a gap between the Dutch ovens to allow air in and smoke out so if your wire rack is not creating a gap between the two Dutch ovens just offset the top one by a centimetre or so.

Continue smoking until the coil runs out or the food is sufficiently smoked (see below). If you can’t see a continuous wisp of smoke emerging from the gap between the two Dutch ovens, remove the top oven and check that the coil has not gone out which can occasionally happen.

What to smoke and for how long?

You can smoke pretty much anything within reason. Remember that cold smoking doesn’t cook the food so meats and some fish etc. will still need to be cooked once smoked. How long to smoke for is often a matter of personal taste, the longer it is smoked the stronger the smoky taste also different woods will affect the flavour. Generally things with a high fat content tend to absorb the smoke quicker. Below is a rough guide to what you can smoke and approximate timings, but the key is to experiment. Remember you can always put things back in and smoke for longer if not smoky enough but you can’t remove the smoke flavour if things have been in too long.

Butter 1-2 hours, Hard boiled eggs 1-2 hours, Salt 2-3 hours, Hard Cheese 1-4 hours, Nuts 1-4 hours, Bone marrow 1-4 hours, Vegetables 2-6 hours, Garlic 6-12 hours, Fish 6-24 hours, Meat 8-24 hours.

Once things come out of the smoker it is really important to leave for 24 hours for the smoke flavour to diffuse through the food and mellow.

For more information, tips and ideas we strongly recommend visiting www.coldsmoking.co.uk for tips, ideas, information and all your cold smoking equipment including smoke generators, smoking dust etc.