• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Learn to smoke

November 21, 2011 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized

The Secret Garden Club returned on November 20 with a session on techniques for smoking food. Taking in tea-smoking, hot-smoking and cold-smoking, Zia Mays explained the principles of each method, using a wide variety of ingredients, while MsMarmiteLover turned the smoked foods into a delicious smoky-themed tea for everyone.

Guests were welcomed with a vodka and smoked lemonade cocktail, before the fires were lit in earnest and smoke wafted into the air.

Smoking techniques
Tea-smoking is a method of hot-smoking, ie, the food is cooked at the same time as being smoked. It uses a mix of tea leaves, brown sugar, raw rice and optional aromatics as the smoking medium. With the mix set in a pan under a steamer, the smoke generated infuses foods in the steamer basket with a delicate, elusive tea-smoke flavour.

Secret Garden Club tea-smoking mix:
Half a (US) cup of Lapsang Souchong tea leaves (about 30g)
Half a (US) cup of brown sugar (about 75g)
Half a (US) cup of raw long-grain rice (about 75g)
This was used to smoke:
Trout fillets – marinaded for one hour beforehand in whisky;
Tomatoes – cut in half hemispherically and lightly roasted in the oven for 20 minutes before smoking.

Also good with chicken – use thin fillets to ensure they are cooked through, duck, quail. With tea-smoking, less is definitely more: over-smoke the food and you’ll be left with a distinct aftertaste of fag packet.

Hot-smoking over wood applies direct heat to soaked woodchips so that they smoulder gently. The wood and the food are both in a sealed unit so that the heat and smoke permeate the food to cook and smoke it at the same time.

Important: when smoking food with any kind of wood, it is vitally important that the wood is raw, and untreated. Any sort of treatment, coating, glue or varnish will give off potentially toxic fumes when smoked – NOT what you want coating your food. If the wood you want to use has been cut with a chainsaw, beware – there could easily be oil residues on the wood from the chainsaw. It’s highly satisfying to use wood that you have chopped or sourced yourself, but you must be 100% certain that the wood is free of any chemicals. 

We smoked vegetables in the hot-smoker:

  • Sweet peppers;
  • Pumpkins, cut into thin wedges and marinaded for two hours beforehand in a mix of soy sauce and maple syrup;
  • Chillies;
  • Tofu, cut into thick slices and marinaded for two hours beforehand.
  • Sweetcorn, on the cob;
  • Apples, following a baked apple recipe but with added smokiness.

Basic marinade for the tofu, pumpkins:
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp maple syrup
A dash of sesame oil
A dash of olive oil
Half a teasp of English mustard powder

The sweetcorn and baked apples were particularly successful. We’ve had variable results with tofu: firstly, try to get firm tofu so that it doesn’t disintegrate when you try to handle it. Tofu definitely needs to be marinaded first for a good two hours – and a more Japanese style marinade with mirin and wasabi would also work well here.

Cold-smoking is the technique we associate most with fish – think smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, smoked haddock – and meat – smoked bacon. However, it’s also used to smoke cheese (such as applewood-smoked cheddar) and bulbs of garlic. When you expose food to cold, or cool, smoke, the food does not cook, although the smoke will penetrate the food more thoroughly than when hot-smoked. 

Fish (and meat) will need to be salted, or brined, before it is cold-smoked. To salt, say, a side of salmon, cover completely in salt and keep it, weighted down, in the fridge for around 18-24 hours. Brining it creates a sweeter cure: make up a salt/sugar solution, completely immerse the fish in this and store, covered, in the fridge for around eight hours. (Smaller fillets may take less time.)
Simple brine
100g brown sugar
75g salt
1 litre water
Plenty of other flavours can be added to this, eg, fennel, onions, garlic, herbs.
Reasons for brining:
·         The salt and/or sugar in the brine help the preserving process;
·         Salting/brining inhibits bacteria which might otherwise multiply while the fish is being smoked;
·         Both salt and sugar add flavour to the fish;
Once salted/brined, rinse the fish well to get rid of excess salt, then dry it, ideally for a couple of hours or so, in a cool, well-ventilated place. Only then it is ready to smoke. We also smoked cheddar cheese and garlic bulbs – these do not need brining or curing but can go straight into the cold smoker.
With cold-smoking, the challenge is to generate smoke that is cool when it reaches your food. The ideal temperature range in the smoker is between 26 and 30 degrees Celsius (80-90 degrees Fahrenheit). If the temperature exceeds 37 degrees C (100 F), then the fish will get too warm. It will lose moisture and may start to cook.
An obvious way to do this is to burn your wood in one place, channel the smoke through piping so that it cools as it goes, and direct it into a smokehouse. But if you just want to try out some cold-smoking, this is quite a cumbersome operation. Remember also, your fire needs to burn wood only (see warnings about wood-burning, above), and your piping and smokehouse should be lined with non-reactive material.
Costs can be kept down by making your smokehouse from household items such as an old fridge (cut a hole in one side to take the piped smoke, or a filing cabinet (popular because the file rods are handy to hang fish fillets from), or even a cardboard box (remember, the smoke is cool when it reaches the box).
We demonstrated a method which is quick to set up, and uses everyday items so is handy for anyone who wants to experiment but isn’t sure that they want to spend time constructing a semi-permanent smokehouse. In this option, we use the smallest possible heat point to generate a comparatively large amount of smoke.
You will need:
A deep-based, or kettle barbecue, such as a Weber
A soldering iron
A tin can, eg a Baxters soup tin
Woodchips (see notes, on sourcing wood, above)
Silver foil
A standard outdoor thermometer (recommended)
A bag of ice (may not be necessary but have one on standby)
A power extension cable
Note: the soldering iron must have no solder on it AT ALL. This is your heat source and smoking lead is a very bad idea indeed. Best to buy a new soldering iron for about a tenner and use it exclusively for cold-smoking.
Many tins these days, especially supermarket own-brand cans, are lined. You should use an unlined tin. We haven’t researched exhaustively for suitable brands, but Baxters’ soup tins are unlined, and the soup’s OK as well.
While the tin is still full, make a hole in it at the end (we used a sharpening steel and a hammer), opposite the ring-pull if there is one. The hole needs to be just big enough to fit the tip and arm of the soldering iron. Empty and wash out the tin, and let it dry.
Carefully peel back the lid of the tin using the ring-pull about half way. Fill just over half the tin with your wood chips. Close the lid as far as possible, then push the soldering iron through the hole so that it’s fully inserted in the tin and the arm is in direct contact with the woodchips. This is your ‘firepit’.
Put the tin in the bottom of the barbecue. Lay the food to be smoked on the silver foil on the top rack. Gently ease the soldering iron cable out of the barbecue and plug into the extension socket. Place the lid on the barbecue as tightly as possible allowing for the fact that the soldering iron cable will prevent it from closing fully. Switch on the power to the extension cable. You should start to see wisps of smoke emerge from under the lid within 5 mins.

With tin, soldering iron and food positioned this way, the smoke around the food should stay cool enough to cold smoke properly. We recommend you place a thermometer on the rack next to the food and check the temperature regularly. On a sunny day, the outside temperature may make the barbecue heat up – and it’s not something to do in midsummer. Cold smoking this way is a wintertime occupation. If you do see the temperature rising much above 30 degrees, slide a bag of ice into the bottom of the barbecue. This should bring the temperature down to the safe range and keep it there.

While the woodchip tin is smoking, prepare a second one. The tins will last about 90 mins to 2 hours, so, when the first is exhausted, unplug the soldering iron, remove it and the tin from the barbecue, and switch the soldering iron from tin 1 to tin 2. Tin 1 can now be emptied and reused.
Timings
Cheddar cheese
Lightly smoked: 3 hours
Medium smoked: 6 hours
Garlic bulbs
Light to medium smoked: 6 hours
Salmon fillets
Lightly smoked: 12 hours

Secret Garden Club Smoking Workshop
Menu
Vodka and smoked lemonade cocktail
Tea-smoked trout and tomato, watercress salad
Smoked cheese and garlic toasted sandwiches
Smoked salmon with cucumber pickles
Marinaded smoked pumpkin slices
Marinaded smoked tofu
Smoked sweet peppers and hot chillies
Smoked glazed sweetcorn
Smoked baked apples with Jameson whisky 

Recent posts

High protein recipes: roast tofu block

July 2, 2025

Sour cherry and rose ice cream recipe

June 28, 2025

Midsummer Supper Club 21st June 2025

June 1, 2025

Previous Post: « The Streisand Effect
Next Post: Tutorial: how to smoke: tea, hot, cold »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

msmarmitelover

I wrote this long read for @scotnational about the I wrote this long read for @scotnational about the anti G8 camp in Stirling to protest against the G8 in Gleneagles. I partipated in the camp & protest along with my daughter @siennamarla playing in the samba band, part of the Pink Bloc. The camp was an incredible experience- the possibility of a different type of politics, of horizontal democracy. It was also a lot of fun. But our protest was tragically overshadowed by the 7/7 bombings in London. We wanted to create a new world but by the actions of a few disaffected British Muslim terrorists our positive movement for change was drowned out by hideous violence against normal ordinary people. Here is my account. 20 years anniversary #7/7 #londonbombings #scotland #antig8 #protest #gleneagles
Cheap stuff. Since the pandemic money has been tig Cheap stuff. Since the pandemic money has been tight. I shop at Lidl and aldi for food, Vinted, Portobello and Primark for clothes. The first pic is gazpacho with a banderilla from Lidl. They often have Spanish weeks and other nationality foods at a bargain price. I love those huge cartons of gazpacho- I glug it down like juice, especially in the heat. The banderillas are sold by the jar. Second pic is me in a primark vest, cardi, with an Anthropologie sale belt and old denim shorts from 10 years ago. Sorry about the mess behind, I sold a piece of furniture, a desk I found on the street, painted enamel green with ‘bamboo’brass handles which I sold on eBay for £225 #needsmust #thrift
My tea book Msmarmitelover’s secret tea party is My tea book Msmarmitelover’s secret tea party is now out on the cookbook app @ckbk it’s now out of print but you can still buy some print copies via me or Amazon. However you can see all the recipes ( like my sour cherry icecream which I served last week) on this site which is like a Spotify for cooks. Arguably afternoon tea is a meal which the English do better than any other country. #cookbooks #afternoontea #supperclubs
Saturdays midsummer supperclub was mostly a bbq on Saturdays midsummer supperclub was mostly a bbq on the @biggreenegguk I divided the meal into fragrance families: vegetal, fougere (fern), green notes, fresh: asparagus, garden artichokes on the bbq, dolmades made from my garden vine leaves. Then citrus fragrances with yuzu, 🍊 🍋 bergamot glaze, salmon, smoked tofu steaks, vegan smoked salmon carrot. Next spice which in perfume is oriental spices: bbq mini aubergines with paprika seed oil, home ground garam masala, a tahini caper dressing. Then wood and resinous fragrances using rosemary oil brushed bbq mini peppers, pine syrup on labneh, mushrooms a la grecque with juniper, finally the floral family of fragrance with sour cherry and rose icecream, lavender shortbread  hearts and orange flower water meringue kisses. It was a lively warm evening- children were welcome. There was a bonfire, lots of wine and laughter. I buy welding gloves £12 from Amazon  to use with the bbq. I also use @pomoragoodfood oils #london
With my home grown artichokes, grown from seed for With my home grown artichokes, grown from seed for tonight’s supperclub.
Sour cherries from the garden for my midsummer sup Sour cherries from the garden for my midsummer supperclub in the garden this Saturday 21st June. Tickets available, link in bio. Also at this link: https://substack.com/redirect/5a700a44-49c1-4e6d-834f-8d4851f98f45?j=eyJ1IjoiMWUzYm4ifQ.njFJL9K8WpzSqVZ5HFSvq84gnJeUD7reFZV9LrDwYtI #midsummernightsdream #supperclub #og #sourcherry
Can’t wait to delve into this by one of my favou Can’t wait to delve into this by one of my favourite food writers @kitchenbee it’s got everything: kitchenalia, divorce and food. Did you know that what we call heartache is actually stomach ache? It’s now recognised that rejection actually causes physical as well as psychological pain. A study shows that pain relief medications such as paracetamol can alleviate heartache. Some of our emotional pain is autonomic: it’s referred to as polyvagal theory. #heartbreak #foodwriting #lovehurts #takotsubo #dopaminewithdrawal
Midsummer supper club 21st June. The theme is frag Midsummer supper club 21st June. The theme is fragrance and scent. Tickets are £45  and you can bring your own drink. Starts 7.30pm and the nearest tube is Kilburn on the jubilee. Parking is free outside. Exact address given on booking. https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsummer-supper-club-2025-scent-and-fragrance #london #supperclub
Oil portraits of me painted at Burning Van festiva Oil portraits of me painted at Burning Van festival by artists @cristina_vercesi (left) and YouTube sensation and Royal Portrait gallery exhibiter @alex_tzavaras. It was an utter privilege to sit for these wonderful artists- a real highlight. I’m taking them home and framing them. It was easy to sit still for 90 minutes with the amazing DJ set @leonidas_lovetoparty More deets later. #portraiture #festivals #oilpainting
Went with influencers to @standrewslakes in Kent w Went with influencers to @standrewslakes in Kent with @ourfinland @lakelandfinland @pcagency to experience Finnish food such as Karelian pies with egg butter, cinnamon buns, blueberry pies, and pea soup which they have with mustard and sour cream. We did zip lining, kayaking, saunas, whipped ourselves with birch sticks, ate in a gorgeous wooden bbq shed @arctic_cabins at the end of all this activity we were all tired but happy. @miramakeup @holidaywiththeheathers @amie_jane__ @onehungryasian @iamtimchung @travellingtuesdays @helimendetravels @charlotteemilyprice #presstrip
@camille.osullivan @camilleosullivanpics and @grah @camille.osullivan @camilleosullivanpics and @grahnort @wiltonsmusichall god this woman is talented. She did a solo show of The Rape of Lucrece. Her voice! #theatre #shakespeare #london
My latest article on Hungarian cuisine, a unique m My latest article on Hungarian cuisine, a unique meeting of east and west, for @ckbk It's a blend of Ottoman, Eastern and middle European, Austro-Hungarian empire and cowboy food. #food&travel #foodanthropology #hungary
Made Fermented Cucumber dill pickles from @nickvad Made Fermented Cucumber dill pickles from @nickvadasz book The Pickle Jar. At @katzsdeli in New York they sell half sours and full sours. I reckon these are 3/4 sour. The white mould is fine btw. These are delicious #pickleperson #fermentation #guthealthy
London in bloom: wisteria, cherry blossom, lilac, London in bloom: wisteria, cherry blossom, lilac, plum blossom, 🌸 you don’t need to go to Japan for the Sakura season- it’s all here- london at its most beautiful. #london
Bluebell walk on Wanstead flats. The scent is incr Bluebell walk on Wanstead flats. The scent is incredible: similar to lily of the valley. These are actual English bluebells - a deeper colour & more delicate than Spanish bluebells which are rather invasive. #london #walks #april #bluebells
Snapshots from portobello rd market. Portuguese fo Snapshots from portobello rd market. Portuguese folar de pascua bread from Lisboa patisserie,  a gorgeous mosaic table from Fez, my favourite antique shop @muirshindurkin, Alice’s shop, an Easter hat, the best wisteria I wrote a substack on portobello road: https://open.substack.com/pub/kerstinrodgers/p/where-to-go-in-portobello-road-the?r=3873k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true #london
I visited @tokyobagellondon with my granddaughter I visited @tokyobagellondon with my granddaughter yesterday to try one of their viral wobbly bunnies. We also tried the multi layer Oreo pancake cakes, the onigiri shaped croissant. My sister had the black sesame latte and I had yuzu tea. I spent £35 in a short space of time as each dessert was £5 but it was a fun experience. Ophelia said ‘lovely flowers’ which shows a degree of sophistication for a 2 year old. I preferred the strawberry to the coconut flavour . #londondaysout #grandmacore #easter
A quick high protein lunch of ratatouille with smo A quick high protein lunch of ratatouille with smoked tofu.  @pomoragoodfood olive oil then an aubergine cut into thick slices then quartered. Fry till translucent then add the chunks of red pepper. 2 fat garlic cloves sliced thinly, a block of smoked tofu in chunks, 2 bay leaves, a small handful of maldon salt. A courgette cut into thick half lengthways- then sliced into half moons. I might chuck in a handful of pantelleria capers in vinegar to give some acidity. Serve hot or cold. #sololunch #protein #vegetables
Inspired by @nickvadasz book The pickle Jar I used Inspired by @nickvadasz book The pickle Jar I used his dill pickles to make one of my favourite recipes for lunch - a potato, sour cream & pickle soup. Recipe on the blog. #soup #pickles
One of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. Cook wh One of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. Cook whole button mushrooms in olive oil, lemon juice, a little white wine vinegar, salt, bay leaves, whole coriander seeds, thyme, and white wine if you have it to hand. I used @pomoragoodfood olive oil. You can eat it straight away or leave it to marinate longer and eat the next day. #vegetarian #vegan #mushroomrecipe
Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2025 msmarmitelover