Coldsmoking Digital Cookery School

If you like this post please visit Facebook and like our page - Thanks. Prague powder 1 and 2 look identical but have different uses. Both are used for curing meat but due to their make-up they do subtly different things. These salt based curing blends contain sodium nitrite and potassium nitrate and therefore need to be used with great care as a dry cure or in a brine solution.  Also known as instacure #1 or pink salt         Prague 1 contains salt and sodium nitrite in the ratios 15:1 that works out at 93.75% salt and 6.25% Sodium Nitrite. Prague #1 is used to cure meats that will be cooked before they are eaten. Things like sausage, bacon, gammon and hams are some of the more popular foods that Prague powder #1 can be used to cure. The Sodium Nitrite contained in the mix acts to kill serious bacteria like botulism which is a very dangerous pathogen and is anaerobic which means it can thrive without the need for oxygen. this makes Prague powder...

Our sausage making classes have got off the an amazing start this year with both classes selling out really quickly. Our format for running these classes have made them more of a practical workshop where ideas for new recipes get bounced around between our guests. We'd love to see you and have dates available throughout the year.   We keep the class size to eight people so as to make the experience a more personal affair. This also works on a practical level so the hands-on experience of actually making sausages is something you can really get your teeth into (so to speak).   We use fresh ingredients from our traditional butchers in Newport Pagnell and we have a variety of fresh herbs, spices and seasonings you can use when constructing your unique sausage.We always use the best quality pork shoulder as this has just the right balance between lean and fat to make the perfect sausage.   We start the class with a little theory where we look at wha...

Yesterday we made some delicious sausages. We made Pork and Leek, Garlic and herb and we also made a string of Turkish beef sausages called Sucuk (pronounced Soojook). This is the ingredients for the Sucuk. Cumin, Paprika, Garlic, Lemon Juice, Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Ground Black Pepper and Prague 1 My Able Apprentice sausage maker in action. Love Half Term The finished Sucuk hanging in the conditioning cabinet We also made some butcher's bangers afterwards Our total sausage haul for the day.

We'll be releasing a new book in the spring of 2015. The book is about preserving meat and fish and looks closely at curing with salt, drying and of course smoking.  Some of the subjects we will be detailing in the book are smoked trout, cold smoked salmon, salami, jerky, biltong. There is also a section containing curing and smoking game. Contact Sheet from the photo shoot  We were photographing some of the food shots last week and will be continuing this over the coming weeks. Simon Pask who is taking the shots is a top bloke and knows his stuff inside out. I'm sure this will come through in the finished images. Contact sheet from the photo shoot We'll be working on this book until October this year and hen it's a waiting game until it becomes a tangible thing. I thought retirement for me was going to be a time or rest and leisure but I couldn't have been further from reality. 

Back in our cave-dwelling days, food smoking was used to preserve food and then our ancestors discovered just how great it makes food taste. Turan has been a passionate smoker of food for many years, teaches courses all around UK and now crystallises his knowledge in food smoking; a practical guide. Within its covers he explains the basics of cold and hot smoking; delves into the principles of combustion (he's a career fireman in another part of his life so he should know!) and explains brining and dry salt curing. He outlines how to source wood for smoking and provides plans for building a cold smoker and smoke generators. He simplifies and demystifies the process of smoking food to enable you to produce wonderful smoked food in a sustainable, eco-friendly way. Enjoy! If you would like to purchase a signed copy of the book please visit smokedust.co.uk and drop Turan an email with your name or who you would like the book signed to. turan@coldsmoking.co.uk

If you like this post please visit Facebook and like our page - We also have a youtube channel Thanks. In part one we looked at the process of turning a herring into a kipper. We looked at the preparation of the fish, splitting the fish through it's back and the method used to brine the fish ready for the smoker. In this part of the blog we will discuss the smoking process, what's happening to the fish while it is being smoked and some of the finer points of smoking. In particular we will look at the cold smoking process, what this means and how to manage the process. First of all we will discuss the benefits of hanging your fish or laying them flat. Well, we've brined and dried the herrings and were ready to give them some time in the smoke. The smoking process will transform the humble herring into the wonderful kipper. We will be cold smoking the herring which means we will be using the qualities of the smoke to add flavour and utilise the ability for smoke...

If you like this post please visit Facebook and like our page - We also have a youtube channel Thanks. Kippers have come in and out of favour more times than flares and platforms but these days trying to purchase anything other than a vacuum packed dyed abomination can be a little difficult. It's true, there are lots of supermarkets out there with impressive wet fish counters but when it comes to kippers, there's nothing like a home smoked one to really set things alight.   The big question for many would be how the heck do I brine and smoke my own herrings to make a wonderfully home smoked kipper? Herrings each about 400g The process is not that daunting as one might think. The first thing obviously is to get hold of a supply of herrings. Thankfully these little darlings are available through the supermarket but do watch out that you only pick the freshest of the bunch. A good barometer for freshness is a nice clear eye and reddish gills. If the eyes are a littl...