Cold Smoking

[cjs]

Now, here's something I only played with a little while I was still working at the hotel, but didn't get into it enough to really know it. Anyway, all this talk of smoking and such, I'm ready to play with it again.

Plate on line had some cold smoked potato salad ideas and also had a cold smoke duck with instructions that can be used in different ways.


From Plate on line.
SMOKED POTATO SALAD WITH MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE

Executive Chef Seth Siegel-Gardner, C-House - Chicago, Ill., USA 8 servings

Russian fingerling potatoes 2 Lb
Court boullion 1 gal
Mustard vinaigrette 1/4 C
Pickled onions or cocktail onions, sliced in thin rings 1/2 C
Herbs, fresh chopped 3 TBS

1. Peel and halve 2 pounds of Russian fingerling potatoes. Gently poach potatoes in a heavily seasoned court boullion until just cooked through.

2. Once cooked, drain potatoes from liquid and reserve to dry and cool thoroughly.

3. Cold-smoke potatoes with your favorite wood (we use mesquite) for about 20 minutes. Remove potatoes from smoke and reserve.

4. Deep-fry potatoes in oil heated to 350 degrees F until golden and crispy. Drain off excess oil, and then toss potatoes with pickled onions, mustard vinaigrette and herbs until well coated. Serve hot.

MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
2 Cups

Hard-boiled eggs 2 each
Whole-grain mustard 1 C
Sherry vinegar 1/4 C
Olive oil 2 C
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed

1. Place eggs, whole-grain mustard and sherry vinegar in a blender or food processor. Blend until mixture is uniform.

Slowly add olive oil to mixture while machine is running, to create a creamy, mayonnaise-like consistency. If vinaigrette seems too thick, you may add a tablespoon of water at a time to achieve desired consistency. Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper and reserve.
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and then how to cold smoke:

Applewood chips, soaked 2 C

1. Place wood chips in bottom of a 6-inch deep hotel pan lined with aluminum foil.

2. Set pan on stove top over 2 burners on high heat.

3. Place a 2-inch deep perforated hotel pan inside lined pan, and spread duck carcasses and pork hocks (or whatever we're smoking) evenly over perforated pan.



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sounds like fun, doesn't it????

[Mare749]

It does, but I don't think I would want to be doing this in the house. Do you think this method would work on an outdoor grill?

We have played with putting whole baking potatoes in our smoker. Fingerlings would be even better.

[cjs]

You know, it is so tightly wrapped with foil, that I don't remember the kitchen smelling overly of smoke. I would open the 'pkg.' outside tho, I think.

[Harborwitch]

When I cold smoke we get the chips really smoking, turn the heat down about 150 or 160 and fill the water bowl with ice cubes. The longer you need to smoke the food the more ice you'll need to use, and you'll probably have to get more chips smoking without raising the heat too much.

We have some thoughts on building a cold smoker using the smoker we use all the time, some metal vent hose, and our old bullet smoker (with no fire). I love to smoke cheese.

Another aside - we made a batch of mac & cheese and put it in the smoker right away (still hot from combining the sauce and pasta) and let it smoke under the pork roast that was almost done. After about 45 minutes it was pure heaven.

[DFen911]

I don't think my smoker goes lower than 200.

[cjs]

No, we can't use our hot smokers, Denise. The easiest way is to use a hotel pan for the chips and a perforated one for the items to be smoked.

[Gourmet_Mom]

This is intriguing. I don't have the equipment (hotel pan and perforated insert), but if I come across a set, I may give it a try. I think I need to work on regular smoking for now.

[Harborwitch]

Jean we cold smoke in the gas smoker frequently. I just get the smoke going really good, turn the heat way down (just enough to maintain some smoke) and use ice in the water bowl.

If you've done a regular smoke and have chips still smoking well you can turn the heat down and add ice to the water bowl and put in whatever you want to cold smoke as far from the heat as you can.

I don't know if this will work with electric smokers, but should work with charcoal.

[cjs]

I'll be darned - but, I can't get my heat down to below ~180 - 185°F.

So, what products are you able to do with this method? do you keep changing the ice cubes as they melt? I guess, you can only do something that would take the length of one batch of wood chips smoking?

We have a propane smoker, not an electric or charcoal. More details needed...

[Harborwitch]

We've done cheeses, and I think I cold smoked my salmon.

You have to get your chips smoking really good, turn the heat (gas) down as low as it will go. Fill the water bowl with ice cubes, and if needed add more ice. I am trying to remember - I think we wrapped the cheese in cheesecloth the salmon was on sliced fennel on a perforated aluminum sheet or like a cookie cooling rack with the closer mesh.

As I recall, we fired up a burner on the grill and heated another pan of chips to smoking hot so that we could swap out the chips. Most cold smoked cheese doesn't take that long - the salmon took longer.