wood chips for smoking

[hedgerowpete]

I want to have a go at smoking some meat over the humbug break, nothing fancy just a first attempt job,

so any way i managed to get given a couple of pieces of oak to use as my oak smoke chips, the down side is they are solid lumps of 200mm by 200mm by 100mm so what size does the chips have to be, i can either attack it with the elctric planer, which is small chips of the wood chiesels in which case they would be more like wood CHIPS, so whats the best size to use

 

[Tadpole]

I'd use the planer, as you want chips and sawdust to cool smoke something YMMV

 

[Large Sack]

Pete, just in case you fancy an alternative, you might try this instead.

Marinate the meat overnight in a boil proof plastic food bag. I use some smokey/petey scotch (Laphroaig works well), coarse/sea salt, pepper all rubbed into the chicken/salmon. Before smoking, the chicken should be cooked, but the salmon is ok without. I suggest poaching, hence the bag.

Now I always do mine outside...otherwise the bloody smoke alarms tend to go off. You have been warned To save mess, and a lot of scrubbing, line a wok or Dutch oven with thick foil or a double layer of thinner stuff, but large enough to hang over the edge. Spread loose tea leaves (this bit is the whole point) I use the smokey teas such as Lapsang Souchong. If you use tea bags...empty them out! some brown sugar, broken cinnamon sticks, a few star anise, cloves, and a ½ cup of any kind of uncooked rice.

I then place a rack over this (I use a small trivet) and set your cooked chicken/salmon on this. You can then either make a foil lid into a dome shape (more space seems to help get a fuller flavour) or if you have a large pan/dutch oven then just use the lid.

Cook on a high heat until you can smell the sugar burning, probably about 10-15 minutes. Now I'm not sure what the rice is for but I suspect it may be a dessicant to absorb any excess moisture.

Amazing tasting chicken and salmon...and not too much arsing about...plus it's do-able at camp!

Cheers
Sack

 

[hedgerowpete]

i like the idea of that, the one i was thinking of. was the cardboard box suppended over a tray of oak chips on top of the camp fire as a start, from then i was thinking of trying different woods, before deciding on what style of smoking i like, i might even try hot smoked sausages and bacon for breakfast if i get to go over to the scout ground at the end of april

 

[hedgerowpete]

does anyone know of any good links to food smoking forums and or how to home smoke food