Nah I'm not talking about Team Smudge vs Team Pink Squall but.... on a thingy on Telly One about smoking and curing. Boring and pretentious it was ... but some real groovy stuff as well. Best of all was a guy (Bam Bam) at Houhora who had turned a concrete water tank into a smoker.

Some good ideas ....

Smoking Causes Lung Cancer.... Don't Do It!!!!!

Seriously though... you can't beat those el-cheapo jobies from the Warehouse, for speed (10-15 mins) or versatilty (take camping)..... not to mention the mouth watering results you get.... biggest problem with them though you can only really do two or three fish at a time..... how bigs the whanau anyway???

Tomsta,

It would be differcult packing the 44 into a back pack, still they all have there purpose, pro and cons.

My smoker takes about 3 hours to do a full load, that would be about 6 snappa around the 3-4 lbs.

I'm thinking about dumpping the racks  for the hangging method, I could fit more in and I've herad they turn out better.

Try any wood as long as it's not citris fruit or a "sappy" wood. Some like a mix with manuka others like to use just apple, hickory or other kiwi wood.

Overseas they think nothing of tossing in a small handfull of tea leaves as well.

I find brining the fish first to make a better result but you need to do this for 24hrs. Not great if you want a quick smoke and eat with mates on the same day.

A smoker that fits on top of the BBQ is also a great idea.

Don't forget to have a 300mm square sheet of fine mest and stick it into a corner of the smoker with breadcrumbs spread on it. The missus loves that for the stuffing with smoked chickens or to put around the smoked fishcakes made from head meat (cheek) from the larger snapper.

Try smoking flounder, shellfish, crackers, peanuts, even boiled eggs. They all taste great and get a heck of a discussion going. We've lost count of how many of our extended family have a smoker now. I think theres only a couple that don't.

Even smoked piper tasts good!

Ross

Ya'll need to check out the Texas Style Cold Smokers. On the web

Yut they maeke sum gud faood. Juss aesk a cowboye.

Damn hillbillies actually got something right!

Hellfish - do you have a web address for that. I have a Geoff Thomas smoker which has been excellent but is beginning to succumb to the ravages of salt and heat.

Yeah bender try this one:

http://www.smokering.net">www.smokering.net

If it has naked ladies, I don't know anything about it.

Spoilsport!

Most disappointed no naked ladies but thanks for the site addy. These guys are serious!

Anyone tried grape vine and leaf for smoking, heard it mentioned awhile ago.

Will have to give it ago.

Cheers

Used to put the smoker straight on the barby as well until we got one with a lid with a tilting warmer rack inside. Now all I do is lay the fish on the rack put a baking tray of sawdust on the grill with one burner going, shut the lid and that's it!

Best results with a lower heat for 1 hour+

I like the idea of smoking a few breadcrumbes. I have 6 fish in the freezer ready for a cold smoke. Add some a coupla chickens, sausages and mussels.

Mouth's watering already

Here one for the 'camping' fans who like cold smoking. Build a collapsible alloy pipe frame approx 2.0 - 2.5m high (size big enough to hang 10 or so fish, can be round or square) and then make a canvas tent to go over it. Make the tent with a series of small vent holes around the top.

Set this up on the side of a hill and then dig a trench approx 200mm wide and 300mm deep approx 1 m long down the hill starting from under the downhill edge of the tent. Cover the top of the trench with a piece of timber etc so that it becomes a tunnel. Dig a fire pit at the downhill base of the trench and light your manuka etc smoke fire in the fire pit. If set up properly the smoke will travel up the tunnel and through the smoking tent. Typically need to smoke for 12 - 18 hrs depending on how you like your fish. We used to do this years ago when camped at Paua (Parengarenga) for a week. Meant that we could cold smoke the fish, wrap them individually in newspaper, and then have heaps of smoked fish to take home at the end of the trip without it going off.

For the smoked trout fans, you can do the same thing on the river bank if you carry enough canvas to wrap around a temporary manuka stick frame in a teepee type shape (smoke hole at the top of the teepee). Use the same idea with the trench down the hill etc etc. In this case I usually light the fire a bit closer to the tent and do a semi-hot smoke to speed up the process as I am only smoking 1 or 2 fish at a time. If the teepee starts to get too hot at any stage, just lightly soak it with water from the outside whilst smoking.

The bigger the trout the less inclined I am to smoke it. Generally the smallest trout smoke beter, like Kahawai the bigger fish lend themselves to other cooking recipes.

Ross