Making a Home-made Hot Smoker

In reality, when making a hot smoker to cook fish your are really steaming the fish to cook it, the smoke that is also produced simply flavours the meat. The process is relatively simple and you can make a hot smoker very easily.

Personally I use a large cooking pot that I picked-up in West Africa. But any metal vessel with a lid of sufficient size will work. Good options are stew pots or casseroles (simple steel ones can be picked-up cheaply). You will also need a dish to hold water that's smaller than the cooking pot and a wire rack to place the meat to be cooked on.

I use a foil pie dish for the water vessel (these are cheap and can be discarded later); but the kind of deep dish that Chinese meals come in also work well. For the wire rack I use an old wire mesh case from a chip pan. I cut the handle off the end of the basket and this fits quite nicely over the foil dish.

The beauty of a hot smoker is that you can add your own flavourings. To cook, fill the water dish with water then add your choice of flavourings (apples, herbs, oils, chillies etc). Place this in the centre of the cooking vessel then invert the wire basket over the top.

Of course, you need to create smoke and for this you will need sawdust or wood chips. Softwoods, particularly pine can give the meat an unpleasant aftertaste, but just about any other wood is excellent. Apple and pear woods are truly excellent and impart a very pleasant flavour. Oak is, of course traditional and beech gives a flowery aroma almost as pleasant as hickory.

In France vine trimmings are often used for fish such as John Dory and haddock. In China a mix of green tea and herbs are used instead of wood chips. Early Grey is excellent as well, because of the bergamot scent (unless you have a bergamot bush, of course).

To cook, arrange the wood shavings (or flavourings) around the water vessel then arrange the fish on top of the wire basket (3cm thick steaks are good, but fillets also worked well). Heat up a barbecue (the smoker produces lots of smoke and is not suitable for indoor cooking) or a gas burner then place the smoker on top and add the lid. Use quite strong heat (the internal temperature of the smoker needs to reach 80°C).

You will find that the sawdust will begin to smoulder, producing lots of smoke. Typically fish fillets will cook in about 6 minutes and 3cm thick steaks will cook in about 12 minutes. A whole, small, chicken will cook in 40 minutes.

Just not, if you are doing this for the first time then the smoke will blacken the outside of the food, yielding a burnt appearance. Don't think that this means the food is over-done, it's only a surface coating. As always, test the food either with a food thermometer or by pricking the thickest part of the meat with a fork to ensure the juices run clear.

About the Author

Dyfed Lloyd Evans is the creator and main author of the Celtnet Recipes website, where you can find many more recipes for hot smoking meats an vegetables as well as recipes for smoked ingredients.