So today was the day when I was going to start to get some answers. How big - not very, hmm interesting when compared with many 'build your own plans'; how easy to assemble - I did it twice to make sure that I didn't miss something out the first time around!
I set my newly constructed eco smoker in the corner of the wood shed. With food to hand, more on that in a bit, I carefully filled the maze of the smoke generator with whisky oak dust, lit the tea light and waited for it to catch before placing it in the bottom of the smoker.
Food wise I decided to start with some supermarket mature cheddar, a soft cheese that I found in the price reduced bin and some rubbish mass produced 'pork' (really!) sausages. The cheddar went on the bottom shelf as it would come out last, then the sausages on the middle shelf and the soft cheese on the top shelf. I also put in a couple of apples to see what they would taste like. Both cheeses were placed on muslin cloth to allow easy handling and to catch any drips / moisture.
My plan was:-
- Cheddar - at least 8 hours
- Sausages - 3 hour for half of them and 6 hours for the other half
- Soft Cheese - 3 hours
- Apples - 6 hours
The unit worked steadily all day and at roughly allotted times I duly removed particular items, placed them in food containers and put them in the fridge.
This evening we've tried out the food, asking different people of taste and pass comment
- Sausages - mixed views as in some liked the shorter smoked ones and others the longer ones. All agreed that the sausages themselves were rubbish and that the smoking actually added some flavour.
- Apples - I think that these will be an acquired taste...
- Cheddar - wow! This will not last long, in fact I may have to hide it otherwise it will all be gone very soon.
So beginners luck with some really good equipment. Next time I think that we'll try a variety of cheeses as well as some bacon.
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