Getting the hang of it

After dipping my toes into the water last week with a small piece of haddock, this week we upped the volumes, brining and smoking times. First off the brining. I used the same brine as last time - 2l of water, 240g salt, 40g sugar, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and a tsbp of pickling spice. The pickling spice was initially put into a cup and then just enough boiling water to cover the spice was poured in. After 10 minutes or so, i.e. after it had cooled down it was added to the rest of the ingredients. During this 10 minutes the other ingredients where whisked to make sure that everything dissolved. We did try and add a twist, the juice of half a lemon. It needs a better palate then mine to detect this once the haddock had been smoked!

The haddock was left in the brine for a couple of hours, held down by a sieve so that all the pieces of fish remained immersed below the surface of the brine. Once brined the haddock was removed, dried using paper kitchen towel and then placed skin side down on a tray. The tray was then placed in the fridge for about 10 hours to allow it to dry and form a sticky layer on the surface.

Last time I used Beech which produced a lovely mild taste. Yesterday into the smoke generator went some whiskey oak dust - looking for a stronger taste. I filled up the whole of the CSG, lit it and then left it to do its business overnight.

This morning we had kedgeree and it was very tasty indeed. There's some of the freshly smoked haddock left over for tomorrow evening's meal. It will be interesting to see how the taste has developed.

Starting to get a little adventurous...smoking pheasants and haddock

The first two 'smokings' took some sausages and cheese, no need to do any preparation, and put them straight into the smoker. As I mentioned in my last posting I was given some pheasant breasts last week, so a chance to push the boat out a little. It was also an opportunity to smoke some haddock, one of my favourite foods.

I made couple of brines - 2 litres of water, 240g of salt, 40g of sugar, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and a tbsp of pickling spice. I placed the pickling spice into a cup with enough boiling water to cover the spices. In the meantime I mixed together the other ingredients, making sure that the salt and sugar dissolved, otherwise it's water with some granules on the bottom of the container! When everything had dissolved I stirred in the pickling spices.

The pheasant breasts went in to its brine for an hour and a half, the haddock for 45 minutes. The haddock was then allowed to drip dry for a couple of hours. When the pheasant breasts' time was up, I dried them off using paper kitchen towel and then wrapped 2 in back bacon and 2 in prosciutto ham. Everything that I've read says to wrap in streaky bacon so that the fat helps to keep the breasts moist. Must admit that both versions tasted really nice! 

So off into the smoker - beech again. The pheasant breasts went in for a couple of hours and the haddock for four. 

I know that part of the pleasure is the preparation and smoking, but for me the enjoyment of eating it is the main thing. First the haddock - not strong enough for my liking but a very decent smoky taste that I wouldn't refuse anywhere it was served. Next time I'll use oak instead of beech. The pheasant breasts, whether in bacon of prosciutto, were fantastic! Cooked by pan frying for 5 minutes each side and then 10 minutes in the oven @ 180 degrees. Moist, with just the right hint of smokiness so as not to overpower the core taste. 

Filling the smoker

Everything that you read says to experiment and try things out. I wouldn't say that I was overly adventurous for my second outing with the cold smoker. After the first time I had a request from a friend to smoke some cheese for her, so not really the time to try new things. This time around it was a case of trying a different wood, beech, and that was it. Into the smoker went:-

8 Lincolnshire sausages - 6 hours

4 pieces of cheddar - 8 hours

1 piece of Shropshire blue - 8 hours

1 piece of Sainsbury's blue (really brave here!) - 8 hours

So to the results - the sausages were far better than last time, the base product needs to be good otherwise you're adding flavour to rubbish. The cheeses are really nice. Just smoky enough without over-powering your taste buds. With all of them you get the smoky taste and then the flavours of the cheese come through after.

The beech doesn't impart such a strong flavour as the whiskey oak which allows the other flavours to come through.

Next up brining for the first time and some pheasants!