Subject: Re: FOOD SMOKING

From: [email-masked]
Date: 19 Jul 95 14:43:51 EST

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Galeazzo/Marina Branzoni) writes:
> 
> I would like to have an exchange of ideas with people interested in this
> king of hobby.  I have smoked pork ribs and fish using the recipes found
> on books, however, I was never satisfied for the ways they explained the
> brining ingredients, quantities, length of brining, smoking time etc. As
> an example, I have always looked for a way to smoke a salmon and having
> the finishing product like the one that you find in the gourmet shops.
> Does anybody have this knowledge and if so, is he ready to share his
> secrets and exchange ideas?  I am waiting....

Cold Smoking. Its the only way to smoke salmon. To do this you need a smoker
that has a smoke generator remote from the smoke chamber, connected by several
courses of metal ducting to act as a radiator to cool the smoke. The smoking
chamber itself must also have a heat source, propane or electric, to accurately
control the heat in the chamber. This heat is turned off for 90% of the smoking
cycle, and the salmon is cold smoked for 8 - 10 hours. Doing this, the meat is
cooked by the acid reaction with the smoke, not by direct heat and gives that
distinctive flavor that your looking for. I have a great book on smoking salmon
that I picked up when I was on vacation in Victoria B.C. it is the source of
90% of my knowledge on smoking fish in general. I'll try to remember to post
the specifics on this book tomorrow. Another book I highly recommend is from
the Sausage Maker, while mostly full of info on making and smoking sausage, it
has several chapters devoted to fish and other meats in general. A really
excellent source on the science of smoking. Their number is 1-716-876-5521.

Kai