Redneck cold smoker

Ryan Mooney

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The Gorge Area, Oregon
Propane hot smoker (not hooked up, it was on sale and makes a decent box anyway), an old hibachi, a bit of drier duct parts and a few pop rivets. Works pretty well when it's just a bit below freezing outside like today. I get a bunch of coals going in the hibachi and then start piling on the soaked chips.

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Not the most redneck thing I've ever made, but the bar for that is pretty high.
 
That works. An old coworker used to smoke cheese, basically lighting on briquette in the chamber in a little tin box and putting soaked wood chips on it, seemed to be enough smoke.
 
Looks to me like u got my wife's roasting pan there. Lol.
So is this cold smoke then?? Because if the propane side is not to be used are u getting enough heat to cook just from the hibachi.

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Rob, yep cold smoke. I'll have to move the fire closer to finish the ones that want some heat but I'm putting a bit of color on them first. I think I get about 10-15f temperature rise from the hibachi hookup.

The roasting pan is the water pan for the smoker, don't really need it for this type of smoking.

Darren, I've done about the same thing. It actually does work pretty well for "warm" smoking.
 
What are you smoking in the cold smoke? I'm aware of people using cold smoke for cheese. What else is it used for?
 
Not wanting to scare anybody and spoil this thread we all should be aware that smoked and coal or wood grilled food increases the chances of developing colon cancer. There is an area in Spain that smoked food like cheese, meat, jerky, sausages and other delicious things are very popular and consumed widely and statistics show that the incidence in colon cancer is 20% higher than in the rest of Spain. Lab tests and other investigations prove it.

So having a BBQ from time to time and eating some smoked salmon or meat should not be a problem but do not overexceed on it.
 
We sometimes cold smoked our salmon when we lived in Alaska. The salt in the brine was the only thing between you and food poisoning, since the meat was never really "cooked". After smoking for several days we stored it in the freezer, which helped kill any parasites. The rule of thumb was to keep the temp below 80 degrees F. Mostly we hot smoked the salmon at 110-130 degrees F, because it was faster and tasted better. Sometimes when we got distracted, we ended up with salmon jerky:D
 
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Vaughn, I'm cold smoking sausages, some of them are just cold smoked and then cooked separately later.. In this case doing kielbasa and presmoking some andouille. I raised the temperature to hot smoke the andouille but put it in early as a little extra smoke on it won't hurt any.

Toni, you are correct there are a number of carcinogens on smoked and cured meats (tar and other aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrates, amines, etc). A lot of other delicious foods have the same or similar compounds (golden brown french fries for instance are covered in them). In practice the danger from those is somewhat lower (and certainly longer term) than the risk of other food born pathogens from cold smoked meats. We do what we can to minimize the risk (cleanliness is paramount, although the smoker is redneck my thermometers are first rate so I know what temperature things are at, only using large bulk meat and carefully grinding it ourselves, etc) but it's still there. It's certainly something to be cautious with although I also have 5 lbs of dry curing pepperoni so low risk cooking isn't exactly what I always do, something about risk and reward I suppose.

Ted, today is hot smoked salmon day ;). Just like candy (especially with the salt and brown sugar dry brine I put on them).
 
Hmmm. Well, I don't cold smoke anything but I sure do use my wood smoker for briskets and burgers and sausages and chicken and all kinds of other stuff as often as pretty much the weather permits. I use cut offs from pecan, mesquite, and oak turnings. I have heard all the controversy about the carcinogens and all, but I just keep on keeping on. Guess I'm just a hard headed Texan and love smoking my meats. If I can keep a fire going in the firebox and keep the slab section around 200, then I'm gonna be out there. Yeeehaw!!!
 
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