I just found out that my "Luxury cut ribs" idea wasn't original.
It seems that not only is there a competition BBQ circuit, but on it you might find something called "Hollywood cut ribs" which have an uncanny resemblance (being identical) to Luxury cut ribs.
Oh well.
I'm still holding out hope for Frenched luxury cut ribs as my one contribution to the carnivorous, and our deep-seated need to cook stuff on charcoal.
Showing posts with label Making smoked foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Making smoked foods. Show all posts
Making smoked foods - Frenched luxury cut ribs
I thought I was pretty clever when I came up with cutting ribs so that ever second bone was removed. I called it "luxury cut ribs". This is always enormously popular with people at a BBQ.
But now I think I'm even more clever.
Cleverer.
I frenched every rib, but at opposing ends.
Luxury cut, but with a handle.
A genuine meat popsicle.
Bam!
But now I think I'm even more clever.
Cleverer.
Luxury cut, but with a handle.
A genuine meat popsicle.
Bam!
Making smoked foods - Soldering iron cold smoker
I bought some very inexpensive cuts of chicken labelled "Breast roasts for two" from my local supermarket.
They appeared to me to be a prime candidate for value adding.
I brined them in a solution of water, salt, sugar, pepper, and some lemon juice. I also threw in a couple of bay leaves. I have no accurate record of the measurements used.
Measurements are a tricky thing, because you cant rely on one batch being the same as the next. The amount of meat, and it's existing water and salt content create differences. You can probably ignore the existing levels, but the amount of meat being brined changes things a lot. The result is you cant just say x amount of water needs y amount of salt.
As I understand it, the process of absorbing the salt and sugar is done by osmosis. Salt is removed from the water, so the amount of meat in the brine changes how much salt is left in the brine. The result is the solution might need to be stronger to brine more meat. Irregular shaped meat like my chicken breast still on the bone, requires a bigger amount of water to cover it.
The good thing is, it will probably work well no matter what you do, but it does make a recipe a bit pointless.
That being said I used about 6 litres of water and a bit over half a cup of both salt, and sugar.
Brine your food in cold water, in the fridge.
After an hour and a half, I removed the chicken, pat it dry, and placed it into my lidded BBQ.
A 12 or 24 hour brine would have been better but I was pressed for time.
I also placed my trusty tin can full of holes inside, and jammed a 60watt soldering iron* into it at the base.
Perfect, cold smoke in minutes.
A total success.
The wood chips were from a store bought pack of smoking wood chips.
I'm pretty sure this would ruin the soldering iron for soldering, but this was one I've never used as it was way too powerful for anything I might do.
Previously I used my tin can full of holes with burning heat beads to keep it going, so I needed quite a few holes to support the combustion required to keep it alight. With the soldering iron, I can choke it down a lot more because it will never go out. I think I'll make a new tin can with less holes, and a large adjustable hole in the top by way of two lids with large holes that I can rotate to make whatever size hole I need. This should allow total control over how much smoke is made, and with some marks on the lids, I should be able to keep a record of what setting it was on, and what worked and what didn't.
But it does seem that everything works, no matter what you do so don't be too stressed over recipes and instructions. Just have a go, and you wont be disappointed.
120 Things in 20 years - Should have done a bit more research before trying to make a cold smoker because a soldering iron works really well.
*using a soldering iron for a cold smoker is NOT an original 120 things idea
They appeared to me to be a prime candidate for value adding.
I brined them in a solution of water, salt, sugar, pepper, and some lemon juice. I also threw in a couple of bay leaves. I have no accurate record of the measurements used.
Measurements are a tricky thing, because you cant rely on one batch being the same as the next. The amount of meat, and it's existing water and salt content create differences. You can probably ignore the existing levels, but the amount of meat being brined changes things a lot. The result is you cant just say x amount of water needs y amount of salt.
As I understand it, the process of absorbing the salt and sugar is done by osmosis. Salt is removed from the water, so the amount of meat in the brine changes how much salt is left in the brine. The result is the solution might need to be stronger to brine more meat. Irregular shaped meat like my chicken breast still on the bone, requires a bigger amount of water to cover it.
The good thing is, it will probably work well no matter what you do, but it does make a recipe a bit pointless.
That being said I used about 6 litres of water and a bit over half a cup of both salt, and sugar.
Brine your food in cold water, in the fridge.
After an hour and a half, I removed the chicken, pat it dry, and placed it into my lidded BBQ.
A 12 or 24 hour brine would have been better but I was pressed for time.
Perfect, cold smoke in minutes.
A total success.
The wood chips were from a store bought pack of smoking wood chips.
I'm pretty sure this would ruin the soldering iron for soldering, but this was one I've never used as it was way too powerful for anything I might do.
Previously I used my tin can full of holes with burning heat beads to keep it going, so I needed quite a few holes to support the combustion required to keep it alight. With the soldering iron, I can choke it down a lot more because it will never go out. I think I'll make a new tin can with less holes, and a large adjustable hole in the top by way of two lids with large holes that I can rotate to make whatever size hole I need. This should allow total control over how much smoke is made, and with some marks on the lids, I should be able to keep a record of what setting it was on, and what worked and what didn't.
But it does seem that everything works, no matter what you do so don't be too stressed over recipes and instructions. Just have a go, and you wont be disappointed.
120 Things in 20 years - Should have done a bit more research before trying to make a cold smoker because a soldering iron works really well.
*using a soldering iron for a cold smoker is NOT an original 120 things idea
Making smoked foods - Mixed mock bacon results
I made some mock bacon the other day.
Mixed results.
Some of worked really well, and tastes like bacon. The other bit smells like bacon, and tastes like bacon, but it chews like a really thick rubber band.
And the jalapenos that I also smoked were kind of pointless. I think they needed a LOT more smoke.
I think I'm going to have to learn a lot more before trying bacon again.
Mixed results.
Some of worked really well, and tastes like bacon. The other bit smells like bacon, and tastes like bacon, but it chews like a really thick rubber band.
And the jalapenos that I also smoked were kind of pointless. I think they needed a LOT more smoke.
I think I'm going to have to learn a lot more before trying bacon again.
Making smoked foods - Mock bacon
I'm not really sure how to make bacon, but I can now smoke stuff, and bacon is smoked pork, so I should be able to get it half right at least.
Hope I don't die!
Actually I've read a lot of safety info, and it seems I can cold smoke stuff at dangerous, bacteria breeding temperatures for less than four hours, without killing myself.
I think.
Don't try this at home.
Ahgggeh...
Go on.
You'll be fine.
Ahgggeh isn't a word in Australia or anything. That's just the sound I made.
I type it as I hear it. And I hear it as I say it.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.
So...
I brined two completely different looking cuts of pork that both claimed to be pork belly.
I added around a 1/2 cup of sea salt, and a half cup of brown(ish) sugar, to a squirt of honey, and some fresh ground black pepper. I also threw in three bay leaves, and I'm pretty sure there was something else as well.
It's late here.
And the people next door have had enough smoke for the day so I'm about to retrieve my smoked stuff.
It looks kind of pallid.
But it has an interesting scent, that might be a little promising.
Whatever happens, this will not be the kind of bacon-like substance that you might be able to put in your cellar for a few weeks. This will be the kind of thing I'll be freezing, then making sure I cook it.
A lot.
Before eating.
Which is fine by me, because I think bacon should be crunchy.
I also smoked some jalapeños in there.
I'm off to retrieve it all now.
I'll let you know if it kills me.
Hope I don't die!
Actually I've read a lot of safety info, and it seems I can cold smoke stuff at dangerous, bacteria breeding temperatures for less than four hours, without killing myself.
I think.
Don't try this at home.
Ahgggeh...
Go on.
You'll be fine.
Ahgggeh isn't a word in Australia or anything. That's just the sound I made.
I type it as I hear it. And I hear it as I say it.
I have no idea what I'm talking about.
So...
I brined two completely different looking cuts of pork that both claimed to be pork belly.
I added around a 1/2 cup of sea salt, and a half cup of brown(ish) sugar, to a squirt of honey, and some fresh ground black pepper. I also threw in three bay leaves, and I'm pretty sure there was something else as well.
It's late here.
And the people next door have had enough smoke for the day so I'm about to retrieve my smoked stuff.
It looks kind of pallid.
But it has an interesting scent, that might be a little promising.
Whatever happens, this will not be the kind of bacon-like substance that you might be able to put in your cellar for a few weeks. This will be the kind of thing I'll be freezing, then making sure I cook it.
A lot.
Before eating.
Which is fine by me, because I think bacon should be crunchy.
I also smoked some jalapeños in there.
I'm off to retrieve it all now.
I'll let you know if it kills me.
Making smoked foods - Brining and smoking
It seems that brining is really important.
It's soaking food in a salt water solution.
From here on in, it gets a little hazy.
Last night I made a brine of water sugar and salt. I'd tell you the proportions, but I don't know what they are. It started with a half cup of rock salt and a half cup of brown sugar, and around two litres of water. But then I added some more water so I really have no idea.
Luckily, my recipe or lack there of isn't the point of this post.
This is...
Apparently brining initially adds salt to the cells in the food, then when the solution is a bit depleted, a cell might have more salt than the surrounding brine, so it starts to draw in water. From what I've read, it might be worthwhile to figure out when that transition takes place, and remove the brine once the cells have started to turn towards taking on water, and replace it with a flavoured liquid instead of just the brine.
With this in mind, I spent a reasonable amount of time probing my whole chicken in brine with the probes of my multi-meter.
It's been an odd night.
It stands to reason that the changing salt content might change the resistance of the chicken. Resistance measures how conductive something is. I'm pretty sure salt water conducts better than pure water, and less sure that perhaps pure water might not conduct electricity much/at all. Either way, there might be something useful to be gained from sticking probes into chicken.
Wikipedia says this on the subject (on conductivity, not on probing chickens)...
--------------------------------
from... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purified_water#Electrical_Conductivity
--------------------------------
I'm not really sure why it says that. I'm guessing it means something to someone, but I think it's roughly agreeing with me.
So...
With this in mind, it might be possible to detect the point at which the food stops taking in salt, and starts taking in moisture.
Currently I'm at the stage in my research where I find it annoyingly difficult to get a good reading. The harder you press the probes, the better chicken conducts. I'm guessing this is just because there's more chicken exposed to the current, because there's more probe exposed to the chicken.
So for my next trick, I'l be concentrating on the brine and it's conductivity because I can completely submerge the probes, and as a result, I might get more consistent readings.
I'm also at two more stages.
One is not being sure what I should be looking for in the readings. ie how what's happening should effect the conductivity of the readings.
And the other is wondering if perhaps I should just have a bit of a lie down, and forget the entire episode.
120 Things in 20 years - Maybe the reason aliens are always probing things is because they are trying to ascertain the correct procedure for brining and smoking everything. Aliens like making smoked foods.
It's soaking food in a salt water solution.
 |
| Gratuitous smoked rib shot from last night |
Last night I made a brine of water sugar and salt. I'd tell you the proportions, but I don't know what they are. It started with a half cup of rock salt and a half cup of brown sugar, and around two litres of water. But then I added some more water so I really have no idea.
Luckily, my recipe or lack there of isn't the point of this post.
This is...
Apparently brining initially adds salt to the cells in the food, then when the solution is a bit depleted, a cell might have more salt than the surrounding brine, so it starts to draw in water. From what I've read, it might be worthwhile to figure out when that transition takes place, and remove the brine once the cells have started to turn towards taking on water, and replace it with a flavoured liquid instead of just the brine.
With this in mind, I spent a reasonable amount of time probing my whole chicken in brine with the probes of my multi-meter.
It's been an odd night.
It stands to reason that the changing salt content might change the resistance of the chicken. Resistance measures how conductive something is. I'm pretty sure salt water conducts better than pure water, and less sure that perhaps pure water might not conduct electricity much/at all. Either way, there might be something useful to be gained from sticking probes into chicken.
Wikipedia says this on the subject (on conductivity, not on probing chickens)...
--------------------------------
from... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purified_water#Electrical_Conductivity
Electrical Conductivity
Electrical conductivity of ultra-pure water is 5.5 × 10−6 S·m−1 (18 MΩ cm in the reciprocal terms of Electrical Resistivity) and is due only to H+ and OH- ions produced in the water dissociation equilibrium.[7][8] This low conductivity is only achieved, however, in the presence of dissolved monoatomic gases. Completely de-gassed ultra-pure water has conductivity of 1.2 × 10−4 S·m−1, whereas upon equilibration to the atmosphere it is 7.5 × 10−5 S·m−1 due to dissolved CO2 in it.
--------------------------------
I'm not really sure why it says that. I'm guessing it means something to someone, but I think it's roughly agreeing with me.
So...
With this in mind, it might be possible to detect the point at which the food stops taking in salt, and starts taking in moisture.
Currently I'm at the stage in my research where I find it annoyingly difficult to get a good reading. The harder you press the probes, the better chicken conducts. I'm guessing this is just because there's more chicken exposed to the current, because there's more probe exposed to the chicken.
So for my next trick, I'l be concentrating on the brine and it's conductivity because I can completely submerge the probes, and as a result, I might get more consistent readings.
I'm also at two more stages.
One is not being sure what I should be looking for in the readings. ie how what's happening should effect the conductivity of the readings.
And the other is wondering if perhaps I should just have a bit of a lie down, and forget the entire episode.
120 Things in 20 years - Maybe the reason aliens are always probing things is because they are trying to ascertain the correct procedure for brining and smoking everything. Aliens like making smoked foods.
Making smoked foods - Luxury Cut Ribs
I have a hot tip for making ribs.
It's very simple, but it always pleases.
I call it Luxury Cut or sometimes Lux Cut.
All that's required is just before serving, you remove every second rib bone, so that the ones on either side get double their share of meat.
Total luxury.
Ask your butcher to do it for you. Tell them to just throw the removed bare bones onto the scales as well so you still pay the correct amount. If you do, they probably wont charge you any more for the preparation time. Turn the bones into stock or whatever. Always go to your butcher during non-peak times.
I promise you will never go back (not to the butcher, you'll go back to the butcher. Just not to normal ribs)
And sorry to any Vegetarians reading.
It's very simple, but it always pleases.
I call it Luxury Cut or sometimes Lux Cut.
All that's required is just before serving, you remove every second rib bone, so that the ones on either side get double their share of meat.
Total luxury.
Ask your butcher to do it for you. Tell them to just throw the removed bare bones onto the scales as well so you still pay the correct amount. If you do, they probably wont charge you any more for the preparation time. Turn the bones into stock or whatever. Always go to your butcher during non-peak times.
I promise you will never go back (not to the butcher, you'll go back to the butcher. Just not to normal ribs)
And sorry to any Vegetarians reading.
Making smoked foods - Tin can smoker - Cold smoke
I thought I'd try to get the food to a place where I had a little more control over the temperature. In my first experiment with my tin can smoker, the device was inside the BBQ, and contributed quite a bit of heat. I suspect the BBQ was at around 50c, which is perfect if you want to breed bacteria.
I'd prefer not to.
I figured I might be able to create smoke by just dry frying some wood chips, and I think it shows some promise.
I put the can on the wok burner and ran it on high for a bit before adding some hickory wood chips.
In this photo I used a flash so as to not distort how much smoker there was. It's a dull day, and if I took it without the flash, I would have captured half a second of smoke instead of 250th of a second or whatever flashes really run at. [Which is why you cant see much of the flame]
Probably much much faster.
Anyway...
It worked a treat.
A total successful test, and only took about 5 minutes to start smoking, and be ready to use. It might even be possible to just move it inside the BBQ now that it's going, and the BBQ heat night keep it going.
That might mean it will be useful as a cold smoke maker, and a hot smoke maker.
I guess I should write some stuff on what smoking is all about instead of jumping right in with a smoker. Sometimes I forget I'm supposed to be writing about this stuff, and just get on with the learning.
120 Things in 20 years' Making cold smoke in a tin can smoker on a wok burner may just be the 2nd success in a row. I'm not sure that's ever happened before.
I'd prefer not to.
I figured I might be able to create smoke by just dry frying some wood chips, and I think it shows some promise.
I put the can on the wok burner and ran it on high for a bit before adding some hickory wood chips.
In this photo I used a flash so as to not distort how much smoker there was. It's a dull day, and if I took it without the flash, I would have captured half a second of smoke instead of 250th of a second or whatever flashes really run at. [Which is why you cant see much of the flame]
Probably much much faster.
Anyway...
It worked a treat.
A total successful test, and only took about 5 minutes to start smoking, and be ready to use. It might even be possible to just move it inside the BBQ now that it's going, and the BBQ heat night keep it going.
That might mean it will be useful as a cold smoke maker, and a hot smoke maker.
I guess I should write some stuff on what smoking is all about instead of jumping right in with a smoker. Sometimes I forget I'm supposed to be writing about this stuff, and just get on with the learning.
120 Things in 20 years' Making cold smoke in a tin can smoker on a wok burner may just be the 2nd success in a row. I'm not sure that's ever happened before.
Making smoked foods - Tin can smoker
As far as I can tell, everything worth eating, is worth smoke curing.
As a result of a gift from my other mother, we have one of these in our yard.
Shiny!
And poorly photographed!
"Poorly photographed", is a new style I'm exploring a bit in this post.
A gas BBQ is all well and good, but as part of the move to gas, we tend to miss out a bit on the flavours that woodsmoke can provide.
Gas = good
Wood = good
Gas AND woodsmoke = amazing!
An extremely important part of this "Thing" is the humble tin can. I say humble, but I'm not really sure if a tin can actually does humble.
I'm guessing a tin can mostly does tin can things.
Lurking springs to mind.
Shinning might also rate a mention if it's a fresh one.
Mine's a fresh one.
Shine can, shine.
Lurk can, lurk.
A tin can can also have holes punched through it with an old mini-screwdriver, but I'll get to that a bit later.
For now, I'll introduce the backbone and or possibly un-necessary briquette.
Backbone, because it provides the heat that drives the smoke.
Un-necessary, because it might not.
I cant really tell what contribution this stuff made, other than it was used, and the result was good.
I also don't know enough to endorse any product you might see in this post, so take everything I say as you always should, with a grain of bacon salt.
Now is probably a good time to say that none of this stuff is my idea or anything (except perhaps using a screwdriver as a drill, and then enlarging those screwdriver holes with a bigger, thicker screwdriver ) but rather, it's a collage of everything I've read over the last few days, and the implementation is based on trial and error in real time, bizarre ritual, and risking tonight's meal.
DO try this at home. (except maybe the bit about ramming a screwdriver through a can of burning coal)
Anyway...
The briquettes look like this up close.
They look like brown coal, but I suspect they are made of more recent trees. Checking...
Ok... well it seems the packaging reads "Not suitable for barbecues. Probably something I should have read before buying it. Perhaps it shouldn't have been displayed in the BBQ section of the hardware I bought them from.
You live and learn.
I hope this isn't what made today's smoking such a success.
I have no idea what's in these things, so please don't use them unless you find out, and then please tell me what they are made off so I can seek whatever medical attention I might need.
I'm sure I'll be walrus.
Anyway...
other things to show and tell, include hickory chips.
I ended up using around two cups for my two chicken thighs, but I'm guessing it would make no difference how much stuff I put in the BBQ. It would still take around two cups.
Two chicken thighs in a BBQ is a total waste of energy, but I didn't want to waste too much food if it all went wrong.
I also bought some fire starter cube things to get the briquettes that are unsuitable for BBQs alight.
I have no idea what these things are made of.
If I ran an unscrupulous country that wanted to get rid of it's toxic waste, I'd just shape it into things and export it as products.
Outdoor furniture and so forth.
So, I smacked a few holes in my tin can with a rusty old mini-screwdriver thing.
I knew it was sharp enough for this task, because every other time I use it for a task it wasn't designed for, I manage to gain a body piercing of a part of my hand that was never designed to receive such a thing.
This time I hurt nothing but the can, because it turns out cans are pretty thin.
Confident stabs make smaller dents in the can, and cleaner holes.
Stab confidently.
I punched two extra holes at the top to thread a loop of wire through to act as a handle.
Probably not required, but I did use it at the end of the day to pick it up and put it under a water tap to make sure any leftover fire was safely out.
So... add a handle if you have a handy coat hanger or length of wire.
Pliers also work as a handle.
It took way too long to get the briquettes going because there was clearly not enough oxygen getting to them.
The flames were there, but they started at the top where they met fresh air rather than at the fuel where a fire should be.
So I "extra safely" punched a few more holes through, then made them bigger with a thicker screwdriver.
It turns out it's probably not a good idea to do this when it's burning, but it worked out fine in the end.
The fire took on a much more healthy glow, and I held back on adding too many holes to the lid, because I figured I might need to damp the fire down a bit because I want smoke not flame.
You cant really see it in the pic, but the flame actually looked like it was coming in through the holes at the bottom. Like an inside out gas burner. Like the fuel was gasing, and the flames did what they did to seek the oxygen.
Interesting. And a pretty handy tin can stove.
To be honest, I don't really understand why this was burning like I wanted it to when I wanted to get it alight, but then settled down to what I wanted it to do when I wanted smoke.
All the photos above include flame from the fire starter things, so perhaps it's just a case of them burning with a bit more gusto than the heat beads and wood chips.
Or it could be the water soaking of the wood chips.
Did I mention that? The wood chips were soaked in water boiling water for a few minutes before being added to the tin can with the glowing briquettes.
I suspect they dry out before they start to smoke, so perhaps it's just to stage the wood chips so they don't all go up in flames at the same time. As far as I can tell, it should be possible to either make them burn in stages by wetting them, creating only a small section at any one time that's dry enough and hot enough to start smoking, OR restrict the airflow and choke them to whatever combustion rate you want.
Perhaps the water soaking has some other reason. I'll let you know if it turns out to be important.
Smoke!
Lots of it.
I didn't push the number of holes, because I didn't want it to go to flame, but I got the feeling I could have made as much smoke as I wanted simply by adding more.
There was quite a bit of slack space between it burning , and it smoking. If I put out the fire, it would take a lot of blowing at the holes around the bottom to get it to flame again. (I only did this to test how forgiving it was) The result was that it seemed to prefer to make smoke rather than fire unless it was really coaxed into flame, and even then it settled back to making smoke.
Clearly it knew it's designated task.
I'll play a bit more later, and there's always the lid to damp it down if needs be. I might even add a second lid so I can turn it like a tap to adjust it. ie, a big hole in each lid, and overlap them so you can change the size of the hole.
I was concentrating on air in, but controlling air (or exhaust) out does the same thing. It probably doesn't matter which one you control, the result is, if you restrict the airflow over the coals, you restrict the burn, and control the smoke.
After an hour or so of smoke that was sometimes on and sometimes off, depending on what I was trying at the time, the result looked like this.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed.
I thought it would have a lot more smoke colour to it. Some of that colour on the bacon was there in the beginning. And this photo is actually a little flattering as far as colour goes.
But it was getting late so I lit the BBQ and brought the bacon wrapped, blue cheese, and tomato stuffed chicken thigh parcels (my best tying effort to date in my own opinion) up to an internal temperature of 75c.
Apparently I missed a step called brining. I'll let you know if it turns out to have been important. I think it involves marinating your food in a salt water solution before smoking like I had to do with the home made cheese "thing".
But the result was truly amazing!
Totally worthwhile.
My big fear is that this will be one of those beginners luck things, and that I will now spend the rest of my life trying to duplicate it.
Hopefully, and perhaps more likely, is that this is just the beginning of what is possible with smoking.
I hope so.
The result makes for a terrible photo, because for some reason, I went for an autopsy/science look rather than a food look.
Never take a food cross section photo straight on.
Originally I was a bit suspicious of the pink, thinking it might be under cooked, but my digital meat thermometer said it was cooked, and it turned out the thermometer knows it's stuff.
The chicken looked a bit like good bacon.
The bacon wrapped around the chicken looked like what I now call good chicken.
If anything it was actually a little over-done, but the brining step might add a bit of moisture to the final product that might counteract that.
Who knows. I cant wait to find out.
The only thing to do is learn a bit more, and do it again.
I rate this experiment with a tin can smoker a total success, and if you've ever thought about smoke curing stuff, I thoroughly recommend giving it a go.
Insanely delicious.
I hope the in(common)-laws don't read this and want their BBQ back.
120 Things in 20 years - Smoke cured stuff really rocks, and you can knock up a tin can smoker in only a few minutes.
As a result of a gift from my other mother, we have one of these in our yard.Shiny!
And poorly photographed!
"Poorly photographed", is a new style I'm exploring a bit in this post.
A gas BBQ is all well and good, but as part of the move to gas, we tend to miss out a bit on the flavours that woodsmoke can provide.
Gas = good
Wood = good
Gas AND woodsmoke = amazing!
I'm guessing a tin can mostly does tin can things.
Lurking springs to mind.
Shinning might also rate a mention if it's a fresh one.
Mine's a fresh one.
Shine can, shine.
Lurk can, lurk.
A tin can can also have holes punched through it with an old mini-screwdriver, but I'll get to that a bit later.
Backbone, because it provides the heat that drives the smoke.
Un-necessary, because it might not.
I cant really tell what contribution this stuff made, other than it was used, and the result was good.
I also don't know enough to endorse any product you might see in this post, so take everything I say as you always should, with a grain of bacon salt.
Now is probably a good time to say that none of this stuff is my idea or anything (except perhaps using a screwdriver as a drill, and then enlarging those screwdriver holes with a bigger, thicker screwdriver ) but rather, it's a collage of everything I've read over the last few days, and the implementation is based on trial and error in real time, bizarre ritual, and risking tonight's meal.
DO try this at home. (except maybe the bit about ramming a screwdriver through a can of burning coal)
Anyway...
They look like brown coal, but I suspect they are made of more recent trees. Checking...
Ok... well it seems the packaging reads "Not suitable for barbecues. Probably something I should have read before buying it. Perhaps it shouldn't have been displayed in the BBQ section of the hardware I bought them from.
You live and learn.
I hope this isn't what made today's smoking such a success.
I have no idea what's in these things, so please don't use them unless you find out, and then please tell me what they are made off so I can seek whatever medical attention I might need.
I'm sure I'll be walrus.
other things to show and tell, include hickory chips.
I ended up using around two cups for my two chicken thighs, but I'm guessing it would make no difference how much stuff I put in the BBQ. It would still take around two cups.
Two chicken thighs in a BBQ is a total waste of energy, but I didn't want to waste too much food if it all went wrong.
I have no idea what these things are made of.
If I ran an unscrupulous country that wanted to get rid of it's toxic waste, I'd just shape it into things and export it as products.
Outdoor furniture and so forth.
I knew it was sharp enough for this task, because every other time I use it for a task it wasn't designed for, I manage to gain a body piercing of a part of my hand that was never designed to receive such a thing.
This time I hurt nothing but the can, because it turns out cans are pretty thin.
Confident stabs make smaller dents in the can, and cleaner holes.
Stab confidently.
Probably not required, but I did use it at the end of the day to pick it up and put it under a water tap to make sure any leftover fire was safely out.
So... add a handle if you have a handy coat hanger or length of wire.
Pliers also work as a handle.
The flames were there, but they started at the top where they met fresh air rather than at the fuel where a fire should be.
It turns out it's probably not a good idea to do this when it's burning, but it worked out fine in the end.
You cant really see it in the pic, but the flame actually looked like it was coming in through the holes at the bottom. Like an inside out gas burner. Like the fuel was gasing, and the flames did what they did to seek the oxygen.
Interesting. And a pretty handy tin can stove.
To be honest, I don't really understand why this was burning like I wanted it to when I wanted to get it alight, but then settled down to what I wanted it to do when I wanted smoke.
All the photos above include flame from the fire starter things, so perhaps it's just a case of them burning with a bit more gusto than the heat beads and wood chips.
Or it could be the water soaking of the wood chips.
Did I mention that? The wood chips were soaked in water boiling water for a few minutes before being added to the tin can with the glowing briquettes.
I suspect they dry out before they start to smoke, so perhaps it's just to stage the wood chips so they don't all go up in flames at the same time. As far as I can tell, it should be possible to either make them burn in stages by wetting them, creating only a small section at any one time that's dry enough and hot enough to start smoking, OR restrict the airflow and choke them to whatever combustion rate you want.
Perhaps the water soaking has some other reason. I'll let you know if it turns out to be important.
Lots of it.
I didn't push the number of holes, because I didn't want it to go to flame, but I got the feeling I could have made as much smoke as I wanted simply by adding more.
There was quite a bit of slack space between it burning , and it smoking. If I put out the fire, it would take a lot of blowing at the holes around the bottom to get it to flame again. (I only did this to test how forgiving it was) The result was that it seemed to prefer to make smoke rather than fire unless it was really coaxed into flame, and even then it settled back to making smoke.
Clearly it knew it's designated task.
I'll play a bit more later, and there's always the lid to damp it down if needs be. I might even add a second lid so I can turn it like a tap to adjust it. ie, a big hole in each lid, and overlap them so you can change the size of the hole.
I was concentrating on air in, but controlling air (or exhaust) out does the same thing. It probably doesn't matter which one you control, the result is, if you restrict the airflow over the coals, you restrict the burn, and control the smoke.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed.
I thought it would have a lot more smoke colour to it. Some of that colour on the bacon was there in the beginning. And this photo is actually a little flattering as far as colour goes.
But it was getting late so I lit the BBQ and brought the bacon wrapped, blue cheese, and tomato stuffed chicken thigh parcels (my best tying effort to date in my own opinion) up to an internal temperature of 75c.
Apparently I missed a step called brining. I'll let you know if it turns out to have been important. I think it involves marinating your food in a salt water solution before smoking like I had to do with the home made cheese "thing".
But the result was truly amazing!
Totally worthwhile.
My big fear is that this will be one of those beginners luck things, and that I will now spend the rest of my life trying to duplicate it.
Hopefully, and perhaps more likely, is that this is just the beginning of what is possible with smoking.
I hope so.
Never take a food cross section photo straight on.
Originally I was a bit suspicious of the pink, thinking it might be under cooked, but my digital meat thermometer said it was cooked, and it turned out the thermometer knows it's stuff.
The chicken looked a bit like good bacon.
The bacon wrapped around the chicken looked like what I now call good chicken.
If anything it was actually a little over-done, but the brining step might add a bit of moisture to the final product that might counteract that.
Who knows. I cant wait to find out.
The only thing to do is learn a bit more, and do it again.
I rate this experiment with a tin can smoker a total success, and if you've ever thought about smoke curing stuff, I thoroughly recommend giving it a go.
Insanely delicious.
I hope the in(common)-laws don't read this and want their BBQ back.
120 Things in 20 years - Smoke cured stuff really rocks, and you can knock up a tin can smoker in only a few minutes.
Making smoked foods - Cold smoker build
I thought I'd finally be well enough to do something, and thought building the cold smoker experiment should be a good thing to do some of.
So I did.
And it looked like this...
I started with a tap.
Then added all the other metal bits that would fit on it.
I don't really need a tap here, but it will make a good heat sink to take any heat out of my smoke, and dump it into the air.
Then I added a plastic fitting that will take a tube I found.
Then for some reason I cut the stainless steel mesh out of a kitchen strainer.
Next I drilled a hole in the lid of a cheese spread jar. (I don't know why I have a cheese spread jar), and jammed the tap kit through it.
I also drilled another hole for the "air in" tube.
I mounted the tap in a vice, and made a foil cup to hold the wood chips.
I used Blu-tack to block any holes where the tube met the lid.
I also connected the air hose into the second hose.
I connected a tube to the tap assembly and poked it into a hole in the bottom of this collection jar.
This is where the food, or in this case the salt to be smoked will go.
The sieve was jammed in place at the top of the jar, and filled with large sea salt crystals.
The lid will just rest lightly on this jar to allow the smoke to flow through it freely.
This jar might be replaced with a large olive oil tin or something to smoke other stuff like fish.
So then I lit it, and turned on the air pump.
The air pump pumps air into the glass jar with the wood chips, and the only escape for the air pressure from that jar, is through the pipe under the smouldering wood chips and into the jar with the food in it.
And screwed on the glass jar over the top.
The problem was the air pump didn't put out enough air.
It worked a bit, but there was nowhere near enough smoke.
As soon as the jar was screwed on, the glow died down to a tiny ember.
But it did work and it did make cold smoke.
This is how much was leaving the tube.
It looked like this when thae tube was stuck into the food filled jar.
If you look closely, you can just make out the smoke escaping from the loose fitting lid covering the jar with the salt.
Nowhere near enough, but close enough for a proof of concept.
All I need is a better air pump.
120 Things in 20 years still doesn't know why cold smoke will help make home made preserves, but when I did a search for smoked salt, I see 23,100,000 people have mentioned it already, so I think I can safely say it wasn't an original idea.
So I did.
And it looked like this...
Then added all the other metal bits that would fit on it.
I don't really need a tap here, but it will make a good heat sink to take any heat out of my smoke, and dump it into the air.
Then I added a plastic fitting that will take a tube I found.
I also drilled another hole for the "air in" tube.
I used Blu-tack to block any holes where the tube met the lid.
I also connected the air hose into the second hose.
This is where the food, or in this case the salt to be smoked will go.
The lid will just rest lightly on this jar to allow the smoke to flow through it freely.
This jar might be replaced with a large olive oil tin or something to smoke other stuff like fish.
The air pump pumps air into the glass jar with the wood chips, and the only escape for the air pressure from that jar, is through the pipe under the smouldering wood chips and into the jar with the food in it.
The problem was the air pump didn't put out enough air.
It worked a bit, but there was nowhere near enough smoke.
As soon as the jar was screwed on, the glow died down to a tiny ember.
This is how much was leaving the tube.
If you look closely, you can just make out the smoke escaping from the loose fitting lid covering the jar with the salt.
Nowhere near enough, but close enough for a proof of concept.
All I need is a better air pump.
120 Things in 20 years still doesn't know why cold smoke will help make home made preserves, but when I did a search for smoked salt, I see 23,100,000 people have mentioned it already, so I think I can safely say it wasn't an original idea.
Making smoked foods - Cold smoke generator
You can preserve a stack of stuff by smoking it, but I don't know how to make cold smoke. Or at least I didn't.
But this will work.
Sometimes I like to do stuff that's already been done, but without seeing how other people do it.
This is one of those times.
I used to make hot smoked chicken wings in a BBQ kettle or whatever you call such a thing in your part of the world. It's a BBQ with a large domed lid. It's like a grill with a big lid. Whatever...
I would get some heat beads (artificial coal like BBQ fuel that are about the size of a golf ball) and set 3 next to each other with a third on top. This arrangement would allow a heat of only 50 or 60 degrees c but would stay alight.
I'd soak some wood chips in water for a while and then wrap them in foil so they would be starved of air and wouldnt burn. Then Id put the foil package against the heat beads, and would be rewarded with a stack of smoke to impart all the yummyness that smoke does.
But I want to be able to make some cold smoke. I'm not sure why, but I've heard of it.
Rather than just looking up how to do it, I thought I'd invent something.
The result is this...
Picture a glass jar with a plastic lid. (I pictured a peanut butter jar)
Drill two holes in the lid and invert the device from it's native, and more normal peanut butter aspect. (turn it upside down)
Make a foil bowl and hug it into a heatproof tube set through one of the holes. It wont matter if it doesn't seal very well. (I think)
No, I';m sure. It wont matter if it doesnt seal very well.
Now add an air line from your aquaponic system's, or aquarium's air pump into the other hole in the lid.
Fill the foil bowl with wood chips, and light them so there is at least a small bit glowing, then screw on the lid, and start the air pump.
Add a plastic tube to the "cold smoke out" tube, and run that to a container with fish or whatever laid out.
This will.... should.... give an adjustable flow of cold smoke that will keep going for ages, and allow total control of your cold smoke preserved fish or whatever.
The air will come in and build (slight) pressure in the jar. The only way out, will be through the glowing wood chips.
It will work.
I'm going to try to make smoked sea salt. That way I might be able to add smoke flavour at will to whatever I want.
120 things in 20 years lovingly includes things that may well have already been done.
But this will work.
Sometimes I like to do stuff that's already been done, but without seeing how other people do it.
This is one of those times.
I used to make hot smoked chicken wings in a BBQ kettle or whatever you call such a thing in your part of the world. It's a BBQ with a large domed lid. It's like a grill with a big lid. Whatever...
I would get some heat beads (artificial coal like BBQ fuel that are about the size of a golf ball) and set 3 next to each other with a third on top. This arrangement would allow a heat of only 50 or 60 degrees c but would stay alight.
I'd soak some wood chips in water for a while and then wrap them in foil so they would be starved of air and wouldnt burn. Then Id put the foil package against the heat beads, and would be rewarded with a stack of smoke to impart all the yummyness that smoke does.
But I want to be able to make some cold smoke. I'm not sure why, but I've heard of it.
Rather than just looking up how to do it, I thought I'd invent something.
The result is this...
Drill two holes in the lid and invert the device from it's native, and more normal peanut butter aspect. (turn it upside down)
Make a foil bowl and hug it into a heatproof tube set through one of the holes. It wont matter if it doesn't seal very well. (I think)
No, I';m sure. It wont matter if it doesnt seal very well.
Now add an air line from your aquaponic system's, or aquarium's air pump into the other hole in the lid.
Fill the foil bowl with wood chips, and light them so there is at least a small bit glowing, then screw on the lid, and start the air pump.
Add a plastic tube to the "cold smoke out" tube, and run that to a container with fish or whatever laid out.
This will.... should.... give an adjustable flow of cold smoke that will keep going for ages, and allow total control of your cold smoke preserved fish or whatever.
The air will come in and build (slight) pressure in the jar. The only way out, will be through the glowing wood chips.
It will work.
I'm going to try to make smoked sea salt. That way I might be able to add smoke flavour at will to whatever I want.
120 things in 20 years lovingly includes things that may well have already been done.
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