Coldsmoking Digital Cookery School

No matter how many food smoking courses I host I'm always bowled over by the sheer enthusiasm and gusto of all my guests. That's all fantastic however, I can't help being surprised at people's reactions to how little smoke I actually use to smoke food. There's a common misconception that one has to use lots of smoke to impart a smokey flavour to your food when you smoke it. This isn't the case and anyone who's enjoyed the warmth from a smokey bonfire will attest. You can smell the smoke on your clothes long after the fire has gone.  Wood smoke is a very complex and pungent compound of many different chemicals with lots of flavour and aroma compounds mixed in.  Wood is essentially cellulose, Hemi-cellulose and Lignin. Cellulose and hemi-cellulose contain sugar monomers and Lignin is a very complex carbon based chemical compound which accounts for between 30% and 40% of the dry weight of wood. When combusted Lignin produces the main flavour and aroma compou

I specialise in creating smoked Salmon and smoked Cheese in my own smoke houses. I've been doing this for years and really enjoy passing this wonderful skill onto people who share my interest in food. I regularly host food smoking courses and currently have my summer dates up on the website. In addition to my own courses I also host food smoking courses for other high end cookery schools around the country. Why not join me on one of my summer dates. My courses start at 10am and run through to 4pm. There's lots of tasting and discussion on the different foods one can smoke and we spend a little time sampling various smoke aromas. We include lunch which is usually homemade soup in winter spring and autumn and salads throughout the summer. Delegates on the course can take photos and notes and go away with a 27 page guide on smoking food at home.  It's interesting to see people's surprise when they find out just how little smoke you need to influence the flavour of th

Sourcing wood for smoking food can be a very simple and rewarding task, especially after fresh autumn or spring winds suddenly make oodles of wood available. Most of the wood I’ve used for cold smoking has been sourced from pruning’s in one way or another. The best time for collecting wood is in the winter or ve ry early spring before the sap rises. The sap will add moisture and add time to the drying process. This can be avoided simply by choosing when to prune.  Having said that, I have had some great success with woods harvested in the summer, it just takes longer to dry out than wood harvested in the winter. A few years ago I bumped into a cheerful band of tree surgeon in a café on the A10 in North London. They had a load of fantastic oak logs on their truck which had just cut down in one of the local municipal parks. I asked him if I could have a few logs and they were more than pleased to help load them into the car. It didn’t even cost me a cup of tea. Once you know which wo

If you like this post please visit Facebook and like our page - Thanks. It’s true that the simplest things in life are sometimes the best, and Oak smoked air dried Duck breasts are no exception. I had the pleasure of preparing 4 of these wonderful duck breasts recently with the aim of bathing these little darlings in some lovely, traditional 0ak cold smoke. Well, what can I say! 18 hours in a salt/herb cure and after what seemed an infinite wait air drying in muslin, I finally had the pleasure of opening one of the treasures after drying it for 10 days. The suspense was killing me. Opening the package was just like birthdays and Christmas all rolled into one. A gastronomic delight to fill the senses! I have to say I was surprised at what I found. I was not disappointed! The Duck breasts had firmed up really well and had darkened considerably. The fat had also lost a lot of moisture and had yellowed on the surface. It even smelled of charcuterie which was reassuring to say t