Article by David Johns

Smoking meat fish and vegetables has been very popular throughout history and many generations as can be seen by the sheer variety of smokers for sale. Many have discovered the great taste that smoking infuses into all types of foods. Smoking food can be used to flavour, cook or even preserve food. Nowadays there are lots of alternatives available for us if we want to enrich the taste of our food by smoking it. In fact the choice of home smoker can be daunting.

Let’s talk about the fuel the most common choice is wood or wood products. The hobbyist/backyard home smoker can use wood, charcoal, propane or even electric to fuel their cookers. The important thing to remember is that you need a smoke source, so you are going to need some types of wood, logs, chunks or chips to provide the smoke for your cooker In North America, hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple, and fruit-tree woods, such as apple, cherry and plum, are commonly used for smoking

Smoke is an antimicrobial and antioxidant, but smoke alone is insufficient for preserving food in itself, unless combined with another preservation method. In the past, smoking was used in combination with other techniques, most commonly salt-curing or drying. The main problem is the smoke compounds adhere only to the outer surfaces of the food; smoke does not actually penetrate far into meat or fish. In modern times, almost all smoking is carried out for its flavor

Cold smoking can be used as a flavor enhancer for foods such as, beef, pork chops, chicken breasts, salmon, scallops, and steak. The food item can be cold smoked for just long enough to give some great flavor. Some cold smoked foods are then, grilled, baked or roasted, or even saut

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