Kitchen Essential

Some time ago, I had a commercial association with a North Country farmer who, as an expanding sideline, had a smoked food business, supplying many first-class hotels, mainly in the western half of the country. He did not process smoked foods himself but had it custom smoked for him by people like myself. He was particularly keen to put smoked beef on the market — what type or how processed, he did not specify. The idea was left in abeyance for some time, as in any case I was fairly well occupied in smoking ducks, quail and pheasants for him, and it was not until the matter of smoked beef was raised by a first-class butcher of my acquaintance, who had enjoyed my smoked quail, that I pursued the matter further. Continue Reading »

The herring, which of course is what the kipper is before it is processed, is seldom the quarry of the sea angler in Britain. The Swedes and the Norwegians traditionally fish for herrings with hand lines from small boats at the mouths of their fjords, often making good catches, particularly when night fishing. Nevertheless, although as a British home smoker you are unlikely to catch your own herrings, if you live close to a port where these fish are landed, you may well decide to smoke your own kippers. If so, you will be able to make certain that you only obtain the freshest of fish. Continue Reading »

Shrimps can either be cold smoked whole or as peeled meats. For the former method, the shrimps should have the heads removed and are then washed and drained for 30 minutes. They are then brined for 30 - 60 minutes (according to preference) in 40% brine (1 lb 3 oz salt to 1 gallon water), then boiled in the brine or in plain water, again according to taste, for 30 minutes. The shrimps are then allowed to air dry on racks for 2 hours.

Smoking

The shrimps are then placed in the kiln and smoking is carried out for 1 - 1¹/2 hours at a temperature of 80^° F. The yield of smoked meats after shelling is approximately 36% of the whole raw shrimp weight. Continue Reading »

Ham is thicker than bacon, so penetration by either sweet pickle or dry cure takes longer: 3 days per lb should be allowed. If the brine cure is used, it is a good idea to inj_ectaround the bone with the brine pump before the ham i_stotally immersed in the pickle, after which it should be tur_nedevery 2 days and the brine must be stirred. The rule applies about temperature as in all protracted cures, namely that it is far safer to keep it around 35^° F. After the curing period, the ham should be washed and hung up to drain at a: and 38° F for 48 hours. Continue Reading »

It would be possible to write a whole book on sausages and still fail to cover the subject in its entirety. So many different types of sausage are made in so many different parts of the world. Recipes vary from county to county, from province to province, and from country to country and from continent to continent.

As this is the case, I do not propose to go too deeply into sausage making, but will describe one type only. For the large manufacture of sausages, special equipment is essential in the form of mincing machines, mixing vats and filling machines. Continue Reading »

There are three varieties of quail in Britain. There is the European quail which occasionally spends the summer and early autumn here, sometimes breeding successfully before migrating back to the continent before winter sets in. For many years, even before the Protection of Birds Act came into being, the quail has been a completely protected bird in Britain, which is no bad thing considering the persecution they suffer at the hands of our French and Italian neighbours. Continue Reading »

The Scottish town of Arbroath is famous for two things: the Declaration of Arbroath, when the King of the Scots and hissubjects told the King of England exactly what he could do with himself, and Arbroath smokies. These are manufactured from small haddock or whiting which have had their heads removed and their guts pulled out along with the head, the bellies being left intact. They are tied together in pairs by their tails and can thus be suspended over rods for smoking.

Traditionally, smokies were smoked in barrels set over fires and the final product had a dark, tarry appearance which cannot be achieved in modern mechanical kilns. Continue Reading »

The idea that it might be a feasible proposition to smoke pheasants was entirely my own. I am not a fisherman myself but I do shoot and cc^-isequently have a fair quantity of game through my hands every season.

We are quite fond of pheasants, but after a time we become tired of them. My wife has managed to purloin a recipe from the daughter of one of the hereditary Scottish clan chiefs, which involves doing a roast pheasant up, off the bone, with cream, garlic and button mushrooms and serving the result on a bed of savoury rice. Continue Reading »

There are three varieties of trout which might concern the smoker. Commonest of all is the rainbow. This fish is the mainstay of the commercial trout farm, reproducing easily and growing well under reasonable conditions. It is an ideal fish for stocking lakes and reservoirs, but will not normally stay put in rivers. It is an excellent sporting and eating fish with a delicate flavour and is delicious when hot smoked.

Some trout farms have the American brook trout. This fish is wider across the back than the rainbow, but shallower in the body. Its flesh is particularly firm and somewhat rubbery, and as such is a particularly good subject for the smoker as it does not easily suffer damage during handling. Continue Reading »

Razor clams should first be steamed for 10 minutes to open them. The meats should be shaken out and the clams should be cleaned by removing the stomachs and splitting open the necks. They should then be washed and cut into sections. The clams should be soaked in 60% brine (1 lb 14 oz salt to 1 gallon of water) for 5 minutes, then rinsed in cold water and drained on racks for 15 minutes. Continue Reading »

Red and roe venison can, for all practical purposes, be dealt with together. The treatment is identical, the only differenc_es being in brining and cooking times on account of the differences in size and weight. Only the haunches and saddles are suitable for smoking as the more frontal areas have n_ot sufficient depth of flesh; in fact the saddle of a roe has only just enough depth of flesh to render smoking a viable proposition.

Venison should have hung a minimum of 1 week before brining, but on no account should it be allowed to go ‘high’. A haunch of roe will require brining for 3 hours in 80% brine, a saddle of roe 2 hours, whereas a haunch of red deer will require 6 hours in the brine and a saddle from the same animal will need 31/2 hours in the pickle. I am assuming that the red deer venison will come from ordinary hill beasts, and it is surely a matter of commonsense that a haunch from one of those monsters from Thetford Chase would require considerably longer in the brine. Continue Reading »

The traditional Scottish recipe for this, the largest of the British and Scandinavian game birds, states that as soon as possible after the bird has been killed, the crop should be removed, the feet cut off and the bird then buried for a fortnight, by which time one should have forgotten where the bird has been buried. This implies that the caper is pretty ghastly fare, but this is an exaggeration, and similar defamatory statements are often made about the black grouse and its female counterpart, the grey hen, which I and many others consider excellent eating. Continue Reading »

Woodcock are something of a delicacy at any time. They are not normally obtainable in any significant numbers and, roasted on toast in the traditional manner, are appreciated by sportsmen gourmets.

However, I can thoroughly recommend smoked woodcock, and one or two can easily be smoked alongside other species, such as pheasants or quail. When in good condition the woodcock is a fat, moist bird and will retain a good proportion of moisture during smoking. Continue Reading »

Hamburgers

Equal quantities of good quality beef and pork should be minced and bound with egg yolk and basic seasoning to form cakes. These should be placed on a wire rack, with a dripping tin underneath, in a smoke oven pre-heated to 200 - 225^° F. There should be plenty of dense smoke as the hamburgers will only be in the oven for about 30 minutes. They can either be left in the same position for the whole process, or can be turned halfway through. Continue Reading »

The traditional smoked foods of Britain and Europe are not normally eaten straight from the smoker. In all cases it is usual to allow the food to ‘mature’ for at least 24 hours after smoking, so that the best possible flavour can be enjoyed. Hot smoked foods are almost invariably eaten cold, as are some cold smoked delicacies such as salmon, cod roes and fillets of beef. Others, like kippers, cold smoked mackerel or finnan haddocks, not to mention ordinary smoked bacon, are cooked before eating, but even these products are not used straight from the smoker. Continue Reading »

I have already remarked that, owing to modern refrigeration techniques, it is no longer necessary to smoke food as a means of preservation. Many smoked foods will keep at least 3 weeks under ordinary refrigeration, and most will retain their quality for some months when deep frozen, if protected adequately against ‘freezer burn’. Ordinary polythene wrapping offers no such protection but aluminium foil does and, oddly enough, so does brown paper. When food is wrapped in aluminium baking foil, the foil should be squeezed around the object so that it becomes moulded to fit the contours of the food which is to be frozen. Offering better protection still is a heavy duty opaque polythene wrapping which is used in conjunction with a vacuum packing technique in modern poultry producing establishments. The majority of such establishments will, at a small cost, vacuum pack smoked fowl, from quail to turkeys and various smoked meats, from the home smoker. Continue Reading »

Notes on measurement

Two ordinary mercury-in-glass thermometers are required with a range of about 50-100° F. They must be inserted through holes in the wall of the kiln a few inches apart so that the bulbs project well into the smoke stream. One of the thermometers (the ‘wet bulb‘) has a muslin bag or sleeve tied round the bottom inch or two of the stem, so that it completely surrounds the mercury bulb.

Before a reading is taken, this bag is moistened by dipping in clean water, preferably distilled water, and after putting back in position, the reading of the thermometer is taken when it is steady after about half a minute. The ordinary temperature of the dry bulb should be read on the other thermometer at the same time as that of the wet bulb. The smoke should not pass over the wet bulb immediately before the dry bulb in case the air gets cooled by evaporation before affecting the dry bulb. Continue Reading »

Cold smoked trout

Many anglers fish lakes and reservoirs for large trout, usually rainbows. These fish are sometimes less than prime specimens. I am no expert on marine biology but under some conditions it would appear that the fish wish to spawn but are unable to do so. They produce normal quantities of spawn and milt, which as it is not utilized is absorbed into the system again. The fish turn an unpleasant colour and the actual flesh tends to turn pale, so the best possible destination for this type is the inside of a cold smoking kiln. Needless to say, prime fish, as always, will produce a superior finished product, particularly in appearance but this is still the best method to utilize poorer quality trout. Continue Reading »