Smokin' Hot . . . or Cold

A practice as old as the consumption of meat itself, food smoking had its American heyday during Colonial times when most homes possessed either stand-alone smokehouses or chimney-based smoke holes.  With preserving perishables as their goal, these smokers not only extended the shelf life but also enhanced the flavor of such staples as fish, pork, wild game, nuts and cheese.  Today the foods smoked remain the same.  It is the homemade smokehouses that have changed.

On a summer fishing trip in Central Ontario Kyle Hunt (no relation to the author) learned the ins and outs of smoking pike using a discarded refrigerator.  After procuring the fridge -- which would serve as the smoking chamber -- from their trip’s host, Hunt and his fishing crew set out to construct the rest of their smokehouse.  They scrounged up an old Franklin stove to use as their smoke source, or fire pit, and a length of stove pipe to act as a smoke tunnel and carry smoke from the fire pit to the smoking chamber. 

A farsighted member of the expedition supplied a bag of apple woodchips and shavings for the fuel and smoke production.  As long as the men employed hardwood, any twigs, chips, or shavings could be placed in their fire pit.  While hickory remains the most common choice for smoking, fruit woods such as apple and pear do meld nicely with fish.  Apple additionally pairs well with bacon while cherry compliments the taste of duck.  No matter the type of wood, green or moistened bits work best as they generate the most smoke.  The goal is to smoke the food, not to cook it over a flame.        

Supplies in place, the men faced the task of transforming the abandoned kitchen appliance into a smokehouse.  “The refrigerator needed some minor adjustments including getting rid of the seals, cutting a hole in the side for the pipe and the addition of some wire to keep the door from swinging open.  The interior shelving in the refrigerator was well suited for the smoking process.  All in all, perfect materials for a smoker,” says Hunt, an avid fisherman and certified public accountant from Lancaster County, Penn.

Along with removing any plastic or rubber fittings, those converting a refrigerator would need to take out the motor and freezer compartment as well as any remaining door latches to prevent small children from becoming stuck inside.  Furthermore, they should cut or drill several small holes in the top of the unit.  These act as a smoke release.  If working with meat, they should install hooks at the top from which slabs of meat can be suspended and thus fully exposed to the smoke.  

Had the fishing trip’s host not owned a Franklin stove, the men could have inserted the fire pit inside the refrigerator.  In order to do this safely, they would have positioned a fire can – a small, metal pail in which a low fire had been built -- on the bottom of the unit.  They must not allow the fire to come in contact with any exposed insulation.  If proper care is not taken, the makeshift smokehouse could catch on fire.  Because the fishermen had an exterior fire pit, such issues were avoided.             

Once Hunt and his crew prepped the refrigerator and installed the pipe, they moved on to the fire pit.  They placed the Franklin stove at a slightly lower elevation than the refrigerator.  This angle would allow the smoke to drift up through the smoke tunnel and into the smoking chamber.  After attaching the stove pipe to the stove, the men started a small fire with kindling, followed by apple wood shavings and chips.  Once the fire had begun to smolder and a temperature of around 100˚F had been achieved, they laid the pike on the refrigerator’s interior shelves and allowed the fish to smoke there for several days.

“Before the smoking process began, the fresh pike – with head and entrails removed -- was placed in a solution, or brine, of salt, meat tenderizer, and a few spices for 24 hours,” Hunt notes.   

Prior to smoking, foods such as fish, ham and bacon are usually cured with a brining solution or by being packed in dry salt.  Curing further reduces the moisture content of the meat, slows the formation of bacteria, delays spoilage and adds flavor.  Smoking alone would only partly preserve the food, making the meat’s surface acidic, which, in turn, would discourage bacteria growth. 

Once smoked, the pike was wrapped and then refrigerated.  If frozen, the fish could be stored indefinitely.  Hunt has kept smoked pike in his freezer for as along as seven years.

Along with refrigerators, a 50-gallon, metal drum, garbage can or barrel may also function as an inexpensive smokehouse or “drum smoker.”  Those constructing a drum smoker must first thoroughly clean the inside with hot water, removing all traces of whatever the vessel held.  Residual paint, enamel or chemicals will not only result in unpleasant odors and tastes but also in food coated with poisonous compounds.   

Drum thoroughly cleansed, the aspiring smokers cut a small door near the bottom of the container.  This opening will provide both draft control and access to the fire can.   Door installed, they then drill or cut holes in the sides, near the top of the drum, so that food trays can be inserted through them.  If wishing to hang hunks of meat, they place a broom handle or hockey stick embedded with hooks across the top of the drum.  

No matter whether laying the food on trays or dangling it from hooks, the drum’s lid will need to be placed loosely over the top.  The cover will keep most of the smoke inside but will still permit a little to escape, thus continually circulating fresh smoke.

Unlike the refrigerator or drum smokers, shed-like smokehouses can be more costly and labor-intensive to build.  These structures do, however, have the benefits of increased smoking capacity, easy access, durability and a pleasing appearance.

Brothers Tom and Erich Dippold developed an affinity for smoked venison sausage while growing up in the northern Pennsylvania town of St. Marys.  As adults, their love of smoked meat spurred them and several other siblings to build their own wooden smokers.  Tom emphasized recycling in his approach and used salvaged steel doors for his 3’x 5 ½’ x 7’ building.  The doors were covered on the interior with galvanized roofing and on the exterior with spare aluminum siding.  Younger brother Erich, an employee of Straub Beer in St. Marys, utilized plywood to make his 6’ x 6’ x 8’ structure. 

Although neither consulted store-bought plans, both followed a few standard steps.  Their first move was to set up a fire pit.  These pits may be as simple as a rock-lined hole in the ground, a fire-proof box, a metal stockpot or, in the case of Kyle Hunt, a Franklin stove.  Erich Dippold opted for an old metal drum with its lid still attached.  The cover acted as a door for loading fuel as well as a damper to regulate the draft and fire level.     

After cutting a hole about six inches in diameter and roughly one foot from the top of the drum, Erich attached approximately four feet of metal piping.  This was his smoke tunnel.  He then made a similarly sized orifice in the bottom of his smoke chamber to which he would connect the other end of the pipe.  

Tom constructed his fire pit with eight-inch concrete blocks.  He covered the pit’s opening with a piece of removable metal soffit.  This would protect the pit from curious animals and insects yet allow Tom access to the fire.   He then built a cinderblock chimney on top of the pit.  A brick laid on top of the chimney’s opening serves as the damper and is moved to adjust the level of the fire.

Similar to Erich, Tom left a space in the back of the chimney for his smoke tunnel, which consisted of seven feet of six-inch galvanized pipe.  As his smokehouse sat on a hill, he cut a same-sized hole in the side, rather than in the floor, of the building.  Both Tom and Erich used an elbow section of piping to connect the house and tunnel.  Likewise, they placed a sheet of metal roughly one foot above the smoke entry hole in the smokehouse.  The deflector stops the smoke from settling in one location, prevents “hot spots” and catches any meat that might fall from a hook.

The brothers each made a large entryway in the smoke chamber and inserted a door, affording access to and protection for the chamber.  The door additionally provides enough room for them to maneuver cumbersome items such as a whole pig, long ropes of sausage or a hundred of pounds of cheese.  

In order to hang meat and sausage, the men nailed wooden bars into the walls near the ceilings.  When working with venison sausage, they position hardwood poles on these bars and then drape four- or five-foot strands across the poles.  Tom also included a space for inserting wire racks on which he smokes Cooper and American cheese. 

For ventilation Erich put small, commercial vents at the top of two walls to allow smoke to circulate and escape.  Tom, on the other hand, simply did not make the house airtight so that smoke could filter out the top.

To measure the temperature inside the smoking chamber, Erich and Tom hooked up indoor/outdoor thermometers.  They inserted the probes inside the smoking chamber and mounted the digital display screens in convenient locations outside of the buildings.   

Smokehouses erected, they were ready to begin.  As smoking works best during colder weather, Tom waited until December to start while Erich postponed his venison sausage smoking until January.  Ideal outdoor temperatures range between 50˚F and 35˚F.

For those desiring commercial rather than homemade plans, books such as Chris Dubbs and Dave Heberle’s The Easy Art of Smoking Food (Winchester Press, 1977), Marian Faux’s Drying, Curing and Smoking Foods (Grosset and Dunlap, 1977) and Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design (Outskirts Press, 2006) by Stanley, Adam and Robert Marianski provide detailed instructions not only for constructing smokers but also on carrying out the smoking process.  Websites such as SmokeHousePlan.com also sell schematics.

 Anyone undertaking this venture must decide whether to engage in cold or hot smoking.  Cold involves keeping the temperature at or below 100˚F so that the food remains uncooked but absorbs the smoky flavor.  Cheese, shelled nuts, and fish are cold smoked.  Some sausages, such as chorizo, pepperoni, and venison, are also smoked in this manner before being hung to dry.     

The reasoning behind cold smoking cheese is a sensible one.  “If you make a mistake and let the temperature get too high, everything melts,” says Tom Dippold.

His brother Erich advises keeping the smokehouse’s temperature in the eighties when using cheese.  “If you smoke on a cold day, you can manage the heat better.  Otherwise, you have to really watch it,” says Erich, who has a 2’ x 2’ x 6 ½’, plywood smokehouse for cheese.

Laying blocks of American, Cooper and Swiss on wire racks inside their smokehouses, the two can prepare between 50 to 100 pounds of cheese at once.  This takes from seven to ten hours for completion.  As a general rule, the longer that the cheese, fish or meat remains in the smoker, the stronger the flavor will be.

Fish similarly fares better with cold smoking.  Higher temperatures cook its delicate flesh and dramatically change its texture.  When hot smoked, it achieves an internal temperature of roughly 170˚F; the USDA-recommended temperature for cooked fish is 137˚F.  This elevated thermometer reading results in a fish with a hard exterior and dry, flaky interior.

Along with increased flavor and intensity, a benefit to cold smoking is longer storage life.  Properly prepared, fish will keep up to several months in the refrigerator.  Cheese lasts even longer.

Hot smoking dictates temperatures of between 130˚ and 200˚F.  Within this range the meat is cooked and its flavor is intensified by smoke.  Unlike cold-smoking, which could take days, food prepped this way is ready within a few hours.  As logic dictates, the higher the smoking temperature, the faster the food will cook.  Meat that undergoes this process can either be consumed immediately or refrigerated and eaten within a week.

Books such as Warren R. Anderson’s Mastering the Craft of Smoking Food (Burford Books, 2006), Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s Charcuterie (W.W. Norton and Company, 2005) and Wilbur F. Eastman Jr.’s A Guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing and Smoking Meat, Fish and Game (Storey Books, 2002) provide instructions and recipes for hot-smoked foods such as duck, chicken, and pork loin.  Additional recipes are available online at such websites as allrecipes.com and recipegoldmine.com. 

Pre-historic man did it.  Crusaders did it.  Colonial settlers did it, too.  With a little effort and ingenuity anyone can follow in the footsteps of our ancestors and discover the pleasures of smoking his own foods.