The Art of Cold Smoking…
www.macsbbq.co.uk
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We suggest following the simple instructions below for your first
attempt at real BBQ, this will give you a good idea of how it all works…
Whole Chicken
What you will need:
Charcoal, BBQ/ oven mitts, newspaper, charcoal chimney starter,
lighter/ matches, clean water, herbs, spices, food.
The Fire
– Fill your charcoal starter with a good quality charcoal, place a sheet of rolled up
newspaper into the cavity at the bottom, make sure the starter is standing on a non-
combustible surface (you can stand it in the charcoal basket of your smoker), light the
newspaper. The charcoal should be ready to use in about 20 minutes. Pour the charcoal
into the charcoal basket.
Water Pan
– Fill the water pan about ¾ with hot water (by using hot water your
smoker will get up to the correct cooking temperature quicker) and place it in the
bottom stacker. Put the stacker on to the base unit.
The Food
– Once you have prepared the food and taken it out of the fridge, you can now
place it on the cooking grill just above the water pan. If you are cooking more using
another stacker (or two) you can now prepare these and put them onto the bottom
stacker. We advise you not to use more than 3 stackers at a time, as the higher you go, the
unit becomes unstable. Tip – As the food is the most important ingredient, make sure you
buy the best quality.
The Smoke
– Put the lid on to the top stacker, open the bottom access door and place
the wood chips or chunks directly on to the charcoal, be careful… it’s HOT! Close the
door.
MAKE SURE THAT THE VENT ON THE LID IS OPEN
if you close this vent it will
shut down the fire. If you need to adjust the temperature use the vents on the base
unit. Open it to get more heat, close it to bring the temperature down. Wood can be
added for more smoke during the cook, but if it’s your first time, just add a handful of
chips at the beginning…. If you find the food’s not smoky enough, add more on your
next cook.
The Best Bit
– After approximately 3.5 hours (cooking temperature of 200°F -250°F)
the chickens should be done. Check using a probe thermometer… the internal
temperature of the meat should be at least 165°F.
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Cook…
Cold Smoking
Cold smoking is used for foods such as Cheese, fish, sausages and vegetables. Most
foods will need to be cooked after the cold smoking process, before they can be
eaten. This rule does not apply to cheese or in some cases Salmon.
Cold smoking is a process that not only adds flavour, but also aids in curing certain
foods, when used in conjunction with traditional curing methods. Cold smoking is
usually done at temperatures below 90°F (32°C). This means that you must keep an
eye on the temperature in your smoking chamber, as if it rises above 90°F (32°C), this
may cause bacteria in the food to multiply rapidly, making the food unsafe to eat
(poisonous). So do not try to cold smoke on a hot summer's day.
It must be said, that “cold” smoking is a little harder to master than “hot” smoking,
and we would suggest buying a book that deals specifically with the methods used.
Home Smoking and Curing by Keith Erlandson is a good place to start.
Cold smoking is easy to achieve using the
ProQ™ Cold Smoke Generator
which can be
purchased separately from your dealer or directly from
www.macsbbq.co.uk
.
With cold smoking, it is important to monitor the temperature inside the unit at all
times, we suggest using a digital thermometer for this.
Cooking times will vary greatly depending on what food you are cold smoking, for
instance, cheese will only take an hour or 2, whereas a side of salmon may take 10 –
12 hours. Meat such as ham will take several days.
