Kitchen Essential

Don’t use these in the microwave

Metal or anything with metal trim or decoration. This includes pie tins and your dinner service if it’s got any silver or gold bits. Metal causes sparks in the microwave.

Hard plastic (melamine) and some Tupperware - these may absorb microwaves so food doesn’t cook properly in them.

Glued containers - dishes or containers that have been repaired with glue, or have handles glued on should not be used as the glue will melt and leave a huge mess. Continue Reading »

Dry salting and other methods

In addition to the strong brines which I favour for use in most of my own smoking and curing operations, and the sweet pickle brine already described for use during other processes, I will also outline alternative brining methods and seasoning techniques, and dry salting methods for fish curing which you may prefer since dry salting removes more water from the fish during the curing process than does brining. The smoking process can then be shortened, as the fish only needs to make half the total required weight loss during actual smoking as the other half has already been lost during dry salting. Continue Reading »

As I have already mentioned, the addition of salt to the raw material is an essential part of the smoke curing process. The product is either completely covered in dry salt for a period, or soaked in brine of varying strengths according to what is being processed.

Dry salting is favoured by the commercial fish smoking concerns, particularly in the case of salmon, as the dry salt attracts moisture from the tissues of the fish, causing a weight loss of up to 9% during this part of the process. It follows, therefore, that the time the fish will need in the smoking kiln will be much reduced, as about half the weight loss required in the finished product will already have taken place. So the whole process can be speeded up, and of course in any commercial enterprise time means money. To home smokers, speeding the process is not important, as in any case they will be conducting the operation partly as a hobby. I have no hesitation, therefore, in recommending the use of brine as opposed to dry salt (but see ‘Dry Salting and other methods’). 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 »

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 »