A simple benchtop smoker

It has always been a messy business to smoke a small amount of fish, such as some tasty wings, a head or a few gurnard fillets.

It is hardly worth firing up the meths burner or barbeque and then cleaning out the smoker afterwards. Enter the trusty bench-top oven.

This particular one has an aluminium crumb tray in the bottom, which lies under the elements and is perfect for sprinkling sawdust onto. The lower rack holds the grill tray, which does a great job at catching the drips from the smoking fish. The top tray will hold six small to average fillets, or a good-sized head or wings.

I picked this one up from a popular online auction site for $50. The poorly fitting glass door has two functions: it allows smoke to escape, yet retains enough heat to do the job - and it lets you watch over your up-coming meal. I set the temperature on 150°C. The timer is set at 15 minutes, which means you don't need to stand over it, although I'm never far away.

One of my favourite snacks is a bunch of smoked gurnard wings. Not the brightly coloured fins, but the section between the head and the body that the legs are attached to. Most fishos usually biff these away with the head - what a waste!

Clean-up is a piece of cake, as the trays fit easily in the laundry sink (or dishwasher) and there is virtually no mess anyway. The first time I used it, it worked perfectly - and the second time and the third. I don't expect the manufacturer would endorse my use of their oven, but it works so well they should change its name to 'Bench-top Smoker'.

	This article is reproduced with permission of New Zealand Fishing News October 2008 RE-PUBLISHING ELSEWHERE IS PROHIBITED