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Showing posts from January, 2012

Keep Calm and Smoke Food

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Calm down dear, it’s only a raw piece of Salmon that’s been cured and smoked with some old piece of wood from I don’t know where… And so about now you run a mile.   Home smoked Salmon is a wonderful thing tasting like nothing you’d ever buy from the shops, but before embarking on making your own home smoking quest it’s worth knowing the basic principles of storage, handling, curing and smoking and you’ll live to enjoy your smoked food for another day.    When buying fresh Salmon make sure it is fresh and that it has been kept refrigerated. It should have fresh smell about it somewhat counter intuitively not a strong fishy smell. Now, get it home quickly or keep it refrigerated on the way home with some frozen peas. Ideally one should aim to get fresh salmon in your fridge within 15 minutes.  Handling the fish is important too. Don’t over handle or bend the Salmon as this will separate and pull apart the flakes of flesh allowing in bacteria and too much salt when we come to cure it

The Smoking Gun from Polyscience

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Well, What can I say. I know it's winter and it's pretty colt outside one could be excused for being a little soft for not wanting to go outside in all weathers. Bring on The Smoking Gun from Polyscience and hey presto you're smoking food indoors. This small Gun allows the budding food smoker the luxuary of smoking small quantities of fish, cheese and nuts indoors. The gun comes with two tubs of dust. Apple and Hickory. They are a little small and the refills are a little pricey but this hand held, battery operated smoker produces enough smoke to give a light smokey touch to many dishes. The Gun comes with handy rubber tube which allows your smoke to be directed into a cling filmed bowl or container so you don't upset the smoke alarm fairy. Batteries are included in the package and it only takes 2 minutes to set up. If you're a real foodi and you like your kitchen gadjets then this is for you. If on the other hand you are a food smoking purist then this is not goi