Cold Smoking.

Cold smoking is used to cure, rather than, cook the food. Foods that are usually prepared in this method include fish, ham, bacon and cheese. It must be said, that “cold” smoking is a little harder to master than “hot” smoking, and we would suggest buying a book that deals specifically with the methods used. Home Smoking and Curing by Keith Erlandson is a good place to start.
Cold smoking is done, as the name suggests, at low temperatures, below 30 °C (85 °F). For this reason, not all days are ideal for cold smoking, so colder periods of the year are best.
For some meats, such as fish or seafood, a brine is used before the food is smoked. A brine is usually a water, salt and sugar solution.

Cold smoking.

1. Get 4 or 5 charcoal briquettes going in a chimney starter, once they have a grey appearance, place them in the fire bowl (you won’t need the charcoal basket for this type of smoking).
2. Cover the briquettes with wood dust (a cupful should do it), this will allow the wood to smoulder, plus reduce the heat given off by the briquettes. Like this, it should produce smoke for about 1 hour.
3. Place the water pan in its usual position, just above the fire and either fill with water or leave dry, this will depend on the ambient temperature, as you may need cold water to help keep the temperature inside the unit down below 30 °C (85 °F).
4. Place the food on the cooking racks and put the lid on (do not close the lid vent, it must remain fully open).
With cold smoking, it is important to monitor the temperature inside the unit at all times, we suggest using a digital thermometer for this. Cooking times will vary greatly depending on what food you are cold smoking, for instance, cheese will only take an hour or 2, whereas side of salmon may take 10 – 12 hours. Meat such as ham will take several days.

Brines.

Brines are generally used on white meats such as fish or poultry and are used to produce a juicier and more flavourful end product. The brining process will enhance food that is to be either “Hot” or “Cold” smoked.
Before you start brining, there are a couple of basic rules to follow:
1. Containers – As a brine is basically a salt solution, the containers need to be clean and made from a non-reactive material. Plastic tubs or Stainless Steel or glass containers are fine.
2. Before putting your meat into the brine, the temperature of the brine must be about 3 -4 °C (38 - 40°F) this temperature needs to be maintained throughout the process. The best way to achieve these temperatures is to either refrigerate, or by adding ice cubes to the brine mixture. A good quality digital thermometer will help with monitoring this.
3. Make sure the meat is fully covered by the brine.
4. Brines cannot be reused.

Basic Brine Recipe.

¼ cup of Kosher salt.
¼ cup of Brown sugar.
4 cups of water.
In a medium bowl, combine the salt, sugar and water. Stir vigorously until all the salt and sugar has dissolved. Then pour this mixture over the meat, poultry, or fish that you are preparing. Soak for several hours, or overnight. You may need to increase the quantities in order to ensure that the meat is fully submerged.
* You may wish to add some herbs or spices to the basic recipe.