Cheers Chet. Hope you get better soon.

Gratz ... 51. you look about 10 years younger than me on the namm vid. How did you do that i'm 37.

Where is that fountain of eternal youth.

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No no and no

Get well soon Chet

Happy birthday gratz

Happy B-Day Gratz! I hope it is a good one!

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Hello Hello,
Kinda Cool seeing what mambers do as part of there daily grind in there peice of the World.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Happy birthday Gratz! 51 - that's very young! And Niki's right, you look a heck of a lot younger still. Have a good one!

***

And now I'm going to hijack this thread, because I was very interested to read this:


Big Jay, my grandfather set up a smoked food factory in the late 1950s and did very well at it (in fact, the only thing he ever made money at in his life). I have fond early memories of that establishment and its fabulous tastes and smells.

A few years ago we part inherited/part bought my grandparents' house, and with it came their Norwegian wood burning stove, which includes an "attic" section through which the smoke passes on its way to the chimney, and which is specifically intended for smoking food.

As you can imagine, I have a great desire to put that thing to full use and recapture some of those childhood memories.

However. The books I've got on smoking food make it seem incredibly challenging. Very complicated recipes for brining fish, for example, and also very specific timings and temperatures for the actual smoking - which are wildly unachievable with this wood burner we have. It's basically hot, not so hot, or out.

Plenty of seasoned applewood available - but I'm finding it hard getting started. Any words of advice, especially of a demystifying kind? Can you tell me that it's really much simpler than it seems?

Any pointers gratefully received.

Cheers - C

Ceri, my rhythm guitarist/vocalist is quite knowledgable regards smoking food. Now i've never tasted his grub but he has a reputation among the band for a good feed. Lovely bloke who attains excellence in all he does. I've no reason to think he doesnt know his onions so to speak.

I'll plump him for a bit of info then get you intouch with him if you like.

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No no and no

I'd be delighted, thank you!

My grandfather bought this woodburner/smoker when he retired and sold the factory. I expect he imagined he'd be carrying on the food smoking at home.

I can't remember him actually using it for that purpose, however. Maybe he found it as impractical in real life as I seem to. Love to do something with it, though...

...Hey, even by our standards, this one's off topic, isn't it?

Cheers - C

Jay, that is extremely interesting, and very nice of you to post it. Thank you.

The bit that's troubling me is the actual smoking part, because of the nature of my woodburner. I'll try and get a photo of it up, maybe tomorrow, and you'll see the issues better than I can describe.

Mind you, perfectly ready to buy some other equipment if this thing just won't do. But it apparently works for the Norwegians, so...

Far as applewood is concerned, my inheritance included many apple trees and I have a goodly stack of various sized logs from getting those trees back in shape - so wood is no problem.

Just for the hell of it, to give you a hint of the backstory... My grandfather was a film cameraman (cinematographer, they grandly call themselves nowadays), working in documentary (with the young David Attenborough, amongst others). In his 50s his eyesight deteriorated a little, not badly but enough to be worrying to someone in his line.

So happened that he spent a winter filming on board fishing boats operating out of a habor in the SW of England. He got very interested in what was done with the fish that was landed and was surprised to find that a proportion of it was sent by train hundreds of miles all the way to Scotland to be smoked. He wondered why it wasn't sent to a local smokehouse: because there weren't any south of the border, was the answer.

So, needing a new line of work (the eyesight) he did a stack of research and built a smokehouse. It was called Devon Smoked Foods and was very successful, supplying famous shops such as Harrods, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason, as well as sending their produce all over the world, mail order.

The people he sold the business to, early 1970s, didn't do so well and it closed. But he definitely started something, because there are now two other very good smokehouses in the area, www.dartmouthsmokehouse.co.uk and www.mikes-smokehouse.co.uk.

And soon Ceri's Smoked Grub, if you and Niki can get me up and running...!

Advice very much appreciated.

Cheers - C

Great summary of the smoking process Jay! If I may add just one bit of info: placing a tin of water (I usually place it in the center of my coal bed) helps keep your fare tender (especially when dealing with leaner cuts of meat) during the long sits in the smoker.

I like to keep temps as close to 175 as possible and prefer Pecan wood, as a matter of personal taste.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Good treatise on the process, Jay. I enjoy smoking meat and do it several times a year.

Try smoking cornish game hens. You will be delighted!!

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Ignorance IS bliss - and I am the happiest person here!

Ceri you could put an oven thermometer in the smoke box and guage what temperature it gets to when you have the woodburner fired up. That will give you a starting point for any future cooking. If there is a damper anywhere on the stove pipe it should be possible to control the heat in the smoke box with that.

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I played on stage once, they kicked me off when the band arrived

Fellas, I'm imagining a kid signing up for the Fender Forum to talk about guitars - and then finding all of this going on. "What the f-f-flip...?" Hee hee hee!

OK, time out from what I should be doing (this is much more fun). This pic shows the woodburner in question, a traditional Norwegian item called a Jotul. You can see the firebox is long and thin for putting logs in lengthways. The smoke then travels up through a slit in the ceiling at the front, just inside the door, and then along through that smaller top "attic" section in order to exit by the stainless steel pipe at back-right. The flat top actually is a lid which lifts off to give access to the compartment where food is meant to be placed on racks:


I do indeed have various thermometers, including a magnetic surface thermometer that operates in the appropriate temperature range.

There are two problems. First is that once the fire is going it is not a good idea to lift that lid off: food really needs to be put in there first, and removed after the fire has gone out. Which is contrary to the books I've got on the subject.

The second problem is this is a very simple woodburner. I can stoke it up to get it a lot hotter, or stop down the air supply (an inlet on the front door) to cool things down. But the idea of saying we need, say 175 degrees - well it just ain't achieveable with this crude machine. Hot, medium or cool: that's about the best I can make it do...

BTW: perhaps you can see nice pictures of raindeer the Norwegians have moulded into both sides of this thing. And on the front is an inscription which I've had translated more than once and promptly forgotten. If he's passing I wonder if Mr Bluestube can remind me what this says:


Anyhow. If I can't get this burner to smoke fish for me - why then I'll buy something else. I love smoked food, and am delighted to find others here do too!

Cheers guys - C