There was an article in T7S feb issue about smoking, they recommended a smoker made in Devon
http://www.coldsmoker.com/I have cold smoked myself or at least it feels like that, fish, Cheese, Garlic and chicken and hot smoked fish and chicken.
The Hot smoker is one purchased from GAC i think it is the Ron Thomson one, there are a number on the market of a similar design. This one uses a couple of meths burners. You basically get a stainless steel container which you place the smoking material on the base. close the container light the meths burners wait for it to smoke then place your food in the container. Depending on the size of the food it takes about 15 - 20 mins to cook. I have good success with mackeral and trout and chicken. they stay moist and have a good flavour. I use whisky barrel shavings but have experimented with coriander and cumin seeds and hive some rosemary bushes trashed by the winter to try once i have dried them out. Speyside cooperidge do bags of whisky barrel shavings.
In terms of preparation it brined the mackeral (salt and brown sugar mix) for about an hour the remove pat dry add a dram of whisky then sprinkle with paprika. They are good to eat sraight away and freeze well, I like these with fresh tomato salsa, good bread and red wine or beer (nimbus blonde or innis and gunn).
The chicken went in with no prep they were the thin fillets. This year they may get the chilli, garlic treatment before going in.
The trout had about half an hour brining and i did these with the coriander and cumin added to the shavings they tasted good.
Pros - They are not expensive. It is easy to set up and small enought to take on a trip. Cooks well but consider using foil to help clean up.
Cons - It is small so can only do a few at a time I did 20 odd fillets of mackeral it takes about the same time as a bottle of red evaporates. You dont have great control.
Cold smoking
I built my own smoker it looked like a coffing but worked, this one fell to bits after about six years (I blame the workmanship) and I now have a small garden shed donated from a trawler skipper who now works offshore. the hardest part for me is getting the shavings to smoulder once you have that sussed you leave it do smoke and check it ever half hour or so.
For cold smoking i prefer to dry cure using salt and brown sugar. this next bit is based on one of those flabby overweight bows of around 10lb. depending on the size of fish you might want to adjust the time left in the salt. Cover the whole fillet (skin and flesh side) and leave overnight or longer I like the flesh to be firm the longer you leave it the more moisture will be drawn from the fish.
Wash off the salt mix and place in your already smoking smoker and leave to smoke.
The tricky part is knowing how long to leave it most of my fish have had arounf 4 - 5 hrs but alot of articles suggest longer. It is all about trial and error and my first few attempts were pretty awful.
After you have smoked the fish it is important to leave for 24 hrs I wrap in cling film and leave it in the fridge. After this time slice thinly and enjoy. Joking aside the large rainbows are excellent for this as they are not as lean as their will counterparts and I find it does help draw the smokey flavour into the flesh.
The Bradley Smoker Hamish has will both hot and cold smoke and you have a good deal more control over the process they also have a wide selection of smoking materials. At some point I'll get one of these probably after i have burnt the shed down.
Hope that is of use
