This type of smoking is especially common among lovers of tasty and juicy smoked meats that do not require long cooking. The main difference is the smoking temperature. It ranges from 45 to 120 degrees, and the process usually takes no more than two hours; in rare cases, the process can last up to 4-5 hours. After cooking, the food acquires a golden hue, becomes juicy and very aromatic - this is also one of the features of hot smoking.
And hot smoked dishes do not require additional drying or drying. They are immediately ready for use, which cannot be said about the opposite smoking method.
All you need to cook juicy chicken or mackerel right in your own kitchen is a small cylindrical smokehouse. This simple device is capable of preparing several kilograms of product at a time. Moreover, it does not require special intervention: you load the food, wood chips, put it on heat and that’s it. The device will do the rest itself.
Distinctive features of cold smoking
Cold smoking is a technologically more complex process; it requires additional processing of the product, in particular, good salting. In this case, the ambassador can last up to 2 weeks. The smoking temperature during this process does not exceed 30 degrees, so the processing process takes a much longer time - such smoking can take several weeks or more. But usually it lasts from 3 to 6 days.
Products retain more beneficial properties when cold smoked due to drying. Due to the effects of smoke, foods also become surprisingly tasty and aromatic. The color of products smoked in this way will be golden or cherry.
Preparing cold smoked products is not difficult if you use the right equipment. An excellent option would be cold smoked smoke generators. These devices are convenient and compact, and can be used even in city apartments.
Which method is better and more effective?
“Which way is better?” - you ask. It all depends on what goals you set for yourself. Each method has its pros and cons. If we consider the technical side, then, of course, hot smoking wins. It requires less time for the process of preparing products and for processing raw materials before smoking. To taste smoked fish, you don't have to wait long before the fish is salted and then smoked.
The main disadvantage of hot smoking will be the shorter shelf life of the finished dish compared to cold smoking.
Despite the fact that cold smoking lasts much longer, it has its undeniable advantages. The most important advantage is that minerals, amino acids and other substances beneficial to humans are perfectly preserved in products.
The long shelf life of the prepared dish is another very important advantage of cold smoking. On average it is 2 weeks. At the same time, throughout the entire storage period, smoked meats perfectly retain their beneficial properties.
You can find out a little more about smoking
Smoking food is the oldest method of preserving food for future use. The preservative in this type of heat treatment is smoke. It contains more than a hundred products of incomplete combustion of wood that have a bactericidal effect. Smoked products are gradually impregnated with these antimicrobial substances, which inhibit the activity of microorganisms. The preservation effect is further enhanced by the fact that smoke dehydrates the smoked product.
Smoking smoke also contains antioxidants that prevent the rancidity (oxidation) of fats during long-term storage of meat products or fish prepared for future use. What is the difference between cold smoking and hot smoking, and what are their advantages? Let's figure it out.
Differences between smoking methods
There are only two differences in cold smoking technology from hot smoking:
- duration of stay of products in the smoke atmosphere of the smokehouse
- smoke temperature.
With the cold method, smoke is supplied to the smokehouse at a low temperature, which is maintained within +18-20 °C. During hot smoking, smoke is generated at a temperature twice as high: +40-50 °C.
The method of quick baking in hot smoke is less commonly used; its temperature reaches +100-120 °C.
By the way, cooking on the grill, over coals in the fireplace or on the grill, baking in the oven - in fact, there are varieties of very quick smoking.
Hot smoke treatment does not last long: from 10 to 48 hours. The products turn out juicy, since all the moisture simply does not have time to evaporate. But they can also be stored for less time than cold smoked products.
When cold smoking, products are processed in a smokehouse for a longer period of time - from several days to months. In this case, there is practically no flame in the hearth; the wood only smolders, but does not burn. If an open fire occurs, it is extinguished immediately. With this method, the products lose a lot of moisture and are well saturated with smoke. They can be stored for a very long time.
Smoking with aromatic smoke
Food is smoked on smoldering shavings and chips of deciduous tree logs.
Each breed brings its own recognizable aroma to the products. Firewood should be cleared of bark before smoking meat or fish. Wet firewood is not used; only well-dried logs are suitable for this.
What kind of firewood and “flavorings” are best to use for smoking various products?
- Alder, oak, and maple wood are recognized as the best for smoking meat and sausages.
- Beech and aspen chips are good for cooking fish and cheese in a smokehouse.
- Hunting sausages are often flavored with a small addition of smoldering juniper twigs, and lard and cheeses are flavored with pine cones. They also give the sausages a dark cherry color.
- Smokehouse smoldering is also flavored with herbs (mint, wormwood, sage, thyme, etc.), spices, and nut shells. Aromatic additives should be added to the frying pan in moderation, otherwise the taste of the food may be spoiled.
- For especially piquant aromas, experienced smokers practice combinations of shavings of different species, add dry grapevine, and make balls from fine sawdust soaked in wine.
- Birch bark is not suitable for smoking because it emits a tar smell when burned. But the birch wood itself gives off a pleasant sweetish smoke.
- Excellent quality smoked products can be obtained using firewood from dried fruit trees (apple, cherry, pear, apricot, peach). They give products recognizable fruit and berry flavors.
Firewood from coniferous trees (spruce, pine, cedar) is not suitable for smoking; it will hopelessly spoil the products: when the resins burn, a lot of soot is formed, and a persistent smell of pine needles and turpentine is released, which permeates the smoked meat. Therefore, food takes on an unpleasant bitterness. In addition, poplar gives a sharp bitter taste.
Pseudo-smoked products
Under the guise of smoked meats, there are products on sale that have been soaked in an unsafe chemical composition called “liquid smoke.” Its use significantly shortens the procedure, but such products cannot be classified as delicacies.
This “smoke” liquid contains strong carcinogens and its use is prohibited in many countries. And we also recommend that you avoid purchasing products prepared in such a surrogate.
The process of smoking meat and fish has come to us since ancient times and is still practiced. People continue to use this cooking technology due to the excellent taste of the resulting products. Their incomparable aroma is achieved thanks to the smoke produced by the smoke generator for the smokehouse.
It is difficult to give up eating smoked foods. Given the simplicity of the process, it is easy to make devices for preparing various dishes with your own hands.
The technology may be as follows.
1. Hot smoking - cooking temperature up to 120°C.
2. Cold smoking - temperature no more than 35°C.
The cooking process requires a smokehouse - special equipment. You can buy it in a store, but you can do it yourself, since the designs are not complicated and have their own characteristics for each type of smoking.
Smoke generating material
To generate smoke, wood is used that does not emit harmful substances during combustion. This can be small chips, sawdust, briquettes or shavings. Stores sell bags of wood chips from different tree species. The most commonly used are alder and juniper. You can also use rowan, hazel, aspen, apple, maple, oak, ash, birch. Each breed creates its own scent. Some gourmets create their own mixtures.
When preparing a homemade composition of wood chips, the bark is removed from the wood before splitting. This must be done because it contains resins. This is especially true for birch and alder. Coniferous wood is not used for smoking because the resin is contained in the wood.
The size of the wood chips should not exceed 2-3 cm. For hot smoking, 200-300 g per 10 liter container is sufficient. The wood chips are scattered on the bottom of the smokehouse and slightly moistened.
Hot smoking
Since hot smoking requires elevated temperatures, the chamber with the product and the smoke generator are combined. The simplest option is a bucket, pan or barrel with an airtight lid. Wood chips are poured into the bottom of the container, after which it remains to be heated from below from the heat source. Without air access, the wood chips begin to smolder and emit smoke. Here it is important to create tightness and the required temperature conditions so that the products inside receive the necessary processing.
The simplest device can be made from a container in the form of a tightly closed pan. The tightness is created by screw tightening the lid and an asbestos cord laid under it. Inside there is a tray for collecting fat, a grate for the product, as well as pins for hanging it. The components can be assembled in parts, but you can buy the finished product assembled. There won't be much difference in price here. You can keep the price to no more than 1000 UAH.
A stationary smokehouse is installed on a personal plot when meat products or fish are regularly supplied. Before making it, drawings and sketches are first drawn up. The smokehouse is installed under a canopy, on the windward side of the house. It is better to immediately make a device for hot and cold smoking at the same time.
It is better to make the chamber from brickwork. It achieves a uniform temperature and produces a higher quality product than a metal one. The top cover of the chamber is sealed with asbestos cord or clay. A false ceiling with drains along the edges for condensation is suspended under it. This makes it possible to distribute the smoke more evenly.
To maintain smoldering, holes or slot-like slits are made in the lower part of the chamber. To remove excess smoke, the top is connected to a thin pipe. The heating mode is controlled by a thermometer.
The smoke in the chamber can be created internally or using a separate stove with an outlet pipe through which it is supplied to the smokehouse. It is better to make it from stone with your own hands. To increase productivity, you can additionally use an ejector and compressor. If you cool it, you can create a cold smoking mode. In this case, the pipe is replaced with a long one (more than 1.5 m).
When hot smoking, it is important not to create too high a temperature inside. The whole process is divided into 2 stages. First, drying is carried out at a temperature of 80-90°C for 25% of the total time. Then it is increased to 120°C and maintained at this level until the end. The product inside should be smoked, not boiled.
It is advisable to measure the temperature inside with a thermometer. If it is absent, you can roughly determine the heating by drops of water on the lid. It should evaporate, not sizzle. The temperature inside is maintained by changing the intensity of the heat source outside. An electric stove with stepwise heating power control is well suited for this.
During the process of mastering the technology, the container is periodically opened and the readiness of the product is checked. Once mastered, you won't have to do this anymore.
Cold smoking
The method involves more thorough preparation of the product. It must be well salted and dried. Wet raw materials require longer processing. Cold smoking lasts longer because it requires the use of chilled smoke. This requires some skill, since any change in design and cooking technology leads to different results. For example, the smoking process depends on the intensity of smoke production and the moisture content of the wood chips. The appearance of a golden crust and a special taste depend on this.
A distinctive feature is the separation of the smokehouse and the smoke generator. The latter contains a heat source, material for producing smoke, a cooling system and a compressor for supplying smoke to the smoking chamber. Energy production depends on specific conditions. At home it is preferable to use gas and electricity, but outdoors the heat source can be any.
To automate the process, it is best to use an electric heater placed in the wood chips or below. To produce smoke, it is turned on, after which the wood begins to smolder. At a smoke temperature of 35°C, the current supply is stopped by a signal from a temperature sensor located in the smokehouse. Without air access and in the absence of additional heating, combustion stops and the heater turns on again when the temperature in the chamber drops to a predetermined value. In this way, you can do without visual control for many hours. You only need to occasionally add material to produce smoke. Such devices are used when the smokehouse is constantly used.
Structurally, it is convenient to make a smoke generator from a profile pipe with a cross-section of 10x10 cm and a length of about 60 cm. The bottom is removable for easy removal of combustion products. There is also a hole drilled for igniting wood. A tight lid is made on top, and an ejector is assembled inside from water fittings and tubes. Through it, smoke is supplied by a stream of air into the smokehouse. The supercharger is an aquarium compressor with a capacity of 1.5 l/min.
You can make your own compressor from a computer cooler or a kitchen fan placed in plastic bottles. The ejector creates draft, due to which the wood chips are better ignited and their smoldering is maintained.
If you install an ash pit with a blower, a grate and a control valve, you can create a natural draft that ensures the supply of smoke to the smokehouse. Then the compressor may not always be turned on.
Cooling of the smoke is carried out by increasing the length of the hose to more than one meter. This reduces the temperature in the cabinet. When using additional cooling of smoke with running water, it is possible to maintain the specified thermal regime of cold smoking. This method complicates the design of the system. A simpler solution is to supply smoke through an inclined pipe buried in the ground.
If you connect the smoke generator output pipe directly to the smokehouse, you can perform hot smoking. In this case, they also use electric heating elements installed in the lower part of the cabinet. Thus, due to the length of the elastic hose and additional heating, different modes of smoking the product can be created on one device.
Conclusion
There is nothing better than a homemade smokehouse! Smoking technology is not complicated and anyone can master it. To do this, you need to learn the basic rules of smoking. Here it is important to choose the right modes and wood composition, depending on the product.
Under the influence of smoke, products are saturated with volatile substances obtained as a result of incomplete combustion of wood, which gives them a special taste and pleasant aroma. Meat products that have undergone such processing can be stored for a long time. That is why earlier, before the advent of refrigerators powered by electricity, meat and fish were prepared in this way.
There are two types of cooking fish or meat products using smoke - cold and hot smoking. At first glance, the difference is obvious - the temperature regime. But this is where the differences just begin. Let's find out the difference between cold smoking and hot smoking.
Temperature
The first difference between hot smoking and cold smoking is the temperature difference.
During hot smoking, not only exposure to smoke occurs, but also heat treatment of the product. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a temperature from 60 to 120 degrees and above.
In the second case, a lower temperature is maintained - 18-25 degrees.
Cooking time
The second difference between hot smoking and cold smoking is the timing of preparation of the products. It is logical to assume that exposure to hot smoke will take less time. It can take from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours, sometimes longer.
The cold smoke treatment process takes much longer. It will take at least 2-3 days, and in some cases more than a week, for the combustion elements to saturate the meat and for the excess moisture to leave.
Preliminary preparation
The third difference between hot and cold smoking is what kind of primary processing is required before the product can be smoked.
For the cold method, you must first prepare the product before smoking it. For example, fish must be salted for several days. Salting meat will take much longer.
The hot method of pre-treatment does not require. Marinating or salting meat or fish is a matter of taste; there are various recipes. So, for example, in one of our articles you will learn.
Features of smoking technology
The cold type of smoking requires a thin smoke, which can be obtained as a result of smoldering sawdust, chips or shavings. For a small smokehouse, special fuel is used, which is sold in stores.
For hot fire, it is better to use firewood from birch or fruit trees, cleared of bark. The bark imparts bitterness when burned.
Cold and hot smoked smokehouses also have significant differences. In the first case, the hearth and the chamber itself are distant from each other and connected by a chimney. The chamber should not heat up, and the smoke, passing through the chimney, has time to cool down.
In the second case, on the contrary, the smoking chamber is located directly next to the hearth. It should be tightly closed, not letting air in from the outside. Knowing this principle, you can make hot and cold smokehouses yourself.
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Quality of the finished product
During cold smoking, moisture is lost, but fats and other beneficial substances are retained. The structure of meat or fish becomes more dense and does not fall apart when cut into pieces. The taste is more piquant, with a distinct smoky aroma. As a result of smoking, the surface dries out, forming a brownish crust. Smoked meats are stored for more than a month. Sometimes they are additionally dried or dried to increase shelf life.
With the hot method, the product turns out tender, soft and juicy. It is immediately ready to eat. But it is not stored for long: at a temperature of +2-4 degrees - no more than a week.
Which is better - hot or cold?
Sausages, pork, poultry or fish have different qualities and nutritional properties. Therefore, which smoking is better - hot or cold - is decided in each individual case, depending on what you want to cook.
Cold smoking has the advantage of preserving more beneficial substances for the body. This method is good for cooking sausages, salmon or other fatty fish. The food has a longer shelf life. For example, cured meats exposed to cold smoke for a long time can last up to three years. It must be kept in a dry and cool ventilated area. High humidity creates conditions conducive to the development of fungi and mold; this should not be allowed.
VIDEO: TOP 10 mistakes when cooking meat
What is the difference between fish prepared in different ways?
When preparing fish using hot and cold smoking methods, the difference in the finished product is not only in taste.
With the cold method:
- pronounced smoky taste;
- drier pulp;
- the skin has a characteristic brown tint;
- The average storage duration is a month.
You will learn about how to smoke correctly, what the procedure is, how to salt and what to do, in the article “”.
With the hot method:
- fish retains more moisture, making its flesh softer and more delicate in taste;
- golden skin;
- can be stored for no more than a week.
Cooking smoked pork
For many, one of their favorite dishes is smoked pork ham or brisket. How does hot smoking differ from cold smoking in the process of cooking pork?
The main difference in preparing meat for smoking:
- Before hot smoking, the pork is pre-marinated. The duration of soaking depends on the composition of the marinade and the recipe.
- For cold smoking, pieces of pork are first salted for two weeks in a cool, dark place.
- In the first case, smoked pork is stored for no more than a week, and in the second case - up to 6-7 months.
Thus, we conclude that cold smoking, although it is longer and more complex, has clear advantages. The products retain nutrients, have a bright taste and a long shelf life.
But it is also worth considering that smoke contains harmful substances. It, of course, destroys pathogens and bacteria that cause rotting, but it can also cause harm to humans. Doctors have repeatedly stated that during the combustion process, carcinogens are released, which, when entering the body along with food, provoke cancer. There are no clear conclusions on this issue, but adherents of hot smoked products are considered a risk group.
Many people use liquid smoke as an alternative type of smoking. It is harmless to the body, as it does not contain carcinogens, but is inferior to traditional methods in terms of the taste of the finished products.
Smoked sausage - harm or benefit
Talking about smoking and not touching on the topic of sausage is a crime. A good half of our compatriots cannot imagine their table without it. This includes tomorrow, lunch, sometimes even dinner, not to mention snacking on sandwiches with smoked sausage. Is it as harmful as competent and not so competent experts are trying to prove to us?
In fact, the harm of sausage made from meat is very relative. Its huge advantage is that it contains a huge amount of easily digestible proteins. They promote digestion, improve peristalsis (oddly enough) and normalize the secretion of gastric juice. Of course, in this case we are talking about a high-quality product, where the sausage is made from pork and beef, and not from plant and dietary fiber.
In addition, cooked smoked sausage does not contain cholesterol, but contains all the fats that were originally in the meat. Fats remain unchanged during the cooking process, which has a beneficial effect on a person’s overall well-being. In this case, it is best to eat cold-smoked sausage, which retains as much nutrients and microelements as possible. Of course, such sausage is not a vitamin, but it is indeed a very healthy product.
You don’t have to read everything we talked about, just watch the video
Surely everyone has tried smoked products. It can be meat, fish, poultry: despite their distinctive features, all smoked products have something special that is unique to them. Some say it’s the smell, others say it’s the unique smoked taste, but one thing is clear - smoked products are different from all other types of food processing. What is smoking and how does cold smoking differ from hot smoking?
Smoking is a method of preparing food in which the main effect occurs through smoke. Sawdust and wood chips that are thrown into the smokehouse produce smoke, which saturates the food with volatile substances released when it occurs. Products prepared by smoking can be stored much longer than those that have been fried or stewed. It is for this reason that earlier, before the advent of refrigerators, preference was given to smoking - it helped keep food fresh and prevented it from spoiling.
Currently, there are two main methods of smoking products: hot smoking and cold smoking. Each of these methods has its own positive and negative sides. Which one to choose (cold or hot smoking) is decided by each individual.
At first glance, the difference between hot and, as the name suggests, lies in the temperature regime. However, in addition to temperature, there is also such a parameter as cooking duration.
Hot smoking requires at least a temperature of 60 to 120 degrees and 3-5 hours of time, depending on the volume and weight of the products. For cold smoking, you need a much lower temperature, which ranges from 18 to 30 degrees, while the cooking time sometimes exceeds 2.5-3 days.
You can smoke products both in “classic” smokehouses and using small electric models, using a special flavor called “” instead of natural sawdust.”
What to choose: hot or cold smoking?
It is clear that both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, just as they have their supporters and opponents. Before answering the question “which method to choose, hot or cold smoking,” you should understand what kind of result you expect. If you want something more delicate, then products are better suited, while for lovers of “vigorous” smoked meats with a pronounced taste and aroma, cold smoked products are suitable.
From the point of view of technical execution, it also has its own distinctive features. Speaking of preparation, hot smoking is definitely simpler. Hot smoking, compared to cold smoking, takes much less time; It also takes less time to prepare meat, fish or other products. After hot smoking, the products can be eaten immediately. Among the disadvantages, it should be noted the short shelf life of products, which is only 7-9 days, and the temperature should not exceed 5 degrees. But the shelf life of cold smoked products is about two to three weeks, and the temperature range is wider, from 0 to +12 degrees.
To summarize all of the above, which method is preferable? It seems that the answer to the question is still ambiguous, and everyone will choose for themselves, based on individual taste preferences.
How to store it correctly?
In any case, it is important to understand that for products, not only the method of preparing the products plays an important role, but also the method of storage. After all, a large amount of food is often smoked at once, and it is physically impossible to eat it at one time, and you also want to save it for several times.
So, for example, with hot smoking, the shelf life of products is no more than 4 days, and the reason for this is that the product becomes perishable. But if you wish, you can increase the lifespan of the food if you store it in a well-salted cloth. To do this, just make a solution by mixing 1 glass of water and 2 tbsp. salt, mix thoroughly and place a cotton cloth in it. Keep the cloth in the solution for 15 minutes, remove, squeeze out and wrap the smoked product. Store at a temperature from 0 to +5-6 degrees maximum.
As for cold smoking, things are a little different. Products prepared in a cold smoked smokehouse can be stored for up to 3-4 weeks, and even longer in the refrigerator: up to 3 months.
Also, for storing smoked products, there are a number of simple rules that are recommended to be followed:
- Before storing food, you need to wait for it to cool down. Do not put meat or fish in the refrigerator if they are still hot or warm.
- Do not store smoked products in areas where there is a high level of humidity, as humidity creates a microclimate that promotes the development and spread of numerous types of fungus and mold. The product spoiled in this way becomes covered with a whitish coating and acquires an unpleasant odor.
- Products that, for one reason or another, have begun to smell unpleasant are also not recommended for consumption. Unfortunately, this happens to a large extent due to improper storage conditions, so if this fact is discovered, you need to stop using them. If the product is suspicious in terms of odor, you need to cut off a small piece and smell it from the inside - most often, the cause of the unpleasant odor lies inside, not outside.
By following these simple rules, you can protect yourself and your loved ones from consuming low-quality products and threatening your health. In addition, following storage rules will help keep food fresh, aromatic and very tasty longer.
