![Smoked Salmon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Smoked_Salmon.jpg)
Smoking is the process of
flavoring
A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gusta ...
,
browning, cooking, or
preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and ''
lapsang souchong
Lapsang souchong (; ) or Zhengshan xiaozhong () is a black tea consisting of leaves that are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. This smoking is accomplished either as a cold smoke of the raw leaves as they are processed or as a hot smoke of pre ...
''
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
are often smoked.
In
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
is the traditional smoking wood, but
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
is more often used now, and
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
to a lesser extent. In
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
hickory
Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexi ...
,
mesquite
Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas.
They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under grou ...
, oak,
pecan
The pecan (''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, ...
, alder,
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
, and fruit-tree woods, such as
apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
,
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
, and
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
, are commonly used for smoking. Other
biomass
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...
besides wood can also be employed, sometimes with the addition of
flavoring
A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gusta ...
ingredients. Chinese tea-smoking uses a mixture of uncooked
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
,
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
, and
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
, heated at the base of a
wok
A wok (; Pinyin: ; Cantonese ) is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan from China. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in China and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as ...
.
Some North American
ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
and
bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
makers smoke their products over burning
corncob
A corncob, also called corn cob, cob of corn or corn on the cob, is the central core of an ear of corn (also known as maize). It is the part of the ear on which the kernels grow. The ear is also considered a "cob" or "pole" but it is not fully ...
s.
Peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
is burned to dry and smoke the
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...
used to make
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...
and some
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
s. In
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, sawdust from the native
manuka (tea tree) is commonly used for hot
smoking fish. In
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, dried sheep dung is used to cold-smoke
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
,
lamb
Lamb or The Lamb may refer to:
* A young sheep
* Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep
Arts and media Film, television, and theatre
* ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut
* ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...
,
mutton
Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...
and whale.
Historically, farms in the Western world included a small building termed the "
smokehouse
A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...
", where meats could be smoked and stored. This was generally well separated from other buildings both because of the
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
danger and because of the smoke emanations; the smoking of food could possibly introduce
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. P ...
which may lead to an increased risk of some types of cancer; however, this association is still being debated.
Smoking can be done in four ways: cold smoking, warm smoking, hot smoking, and through the employment of a smoke flavoring, such as
liquid smoke
Liquid smoke is a water-soluble yellow to red liquid used as a flavoring as a substitute for Smoking (cooking), cooking with wood smoke while retaining a similar flavor. It can be used to flavor any meat or vegetable. It is generally made by Cond ...
.
However, these methods of imparting smoke only affect the food surface, and are unable to preserve food, thus, smoking is paired with other microbial
hurdles
Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...
, such as chilling and packaging, to extend food shelf-life.
History
The smoking of food likely dates back to the
paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
era.
Briefing: Smoked Food
The Herald, 2/19/2002''[Janes, Hilly ]
The Independent 10/10/2001 As simple dwellings lacked chimneys, these structures would probably have become very smoky. It is supposed that early humans would hang meat up to dry and out of the way of pests, thus accidentally becoming aware that meat that was stored in smoky areas acquired a different flavor, and was better preserved than meat that simply dried out. This process was later combined with pre-curing the food in salt or salty brine, resulting in a remarkably effective preservation process that was adapted and developed by numerous cultures around the world. Until the modern era, smoking was of a more "heavy duty" nature as the main goal was to preserve the food. Large quantities of salt were used in the curing process and smoking times were quite long, sometimes involving days of exposure.
The advent of modern transportation made it easier to transport food products over long distances and the need for the time and material intensive heavy salting and smoking declined. Smoking became more of a way to flavor than to preserve food. In 1939 a device called the Torry Kiln was invented at the
Torry Research Station
The Central Science Laboratory (CSL) was an executive agency of the UK government branch, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). It is now part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, which is in turn part of DEFRA. ...
in Scotland. The kiln allowed for uniform mass-smoking and is considered the prototype for all modern large-scale commercial smokers. Although refinements in technique and advancements in technology have made smoking much easier, the basic steps involved remain essentially the same today as they were hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
by method of application
Cold smoking
Cold smoking differs from hot smoking in that the food remains raw, rather than cooked, throughout the smoking process.
Smokehouse temperatures for cold smoking are typically done between .
In this temperature range, foods take on a smoked flavor, but remain relatively moist. Cold smoking does not cook foods, and as such, meats should be fully
cured before cold smoking.
Cold smoking can be used as a flavor enhancer for items such as
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
or
nuts, along with meats such as
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
breasts,
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...
,
pork chop
A pork chop, like other meat chops, is a loin cut taken perpendicular to the spine of the pig and is usually a rib or part of a vertebra. Pork chops are unprocessed and leaner than other cuts. Chops are commonly served as an individual por ...
s,
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
,
scallop
Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...
s, and
steak
A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, ...
. The item is often hung in a dry environment first to develop a
pellicle; it can then be cold smoked up to several days to ensure it absorbs the smoke flavor. Some cold smoked foods are baked, grilled, steamed, roasted, or sautéed before eating.
Cold smoking meats is not something that should be attempted at home, according to the US National Center for Home Food Preservation: "Most food scientists cannot recommend cold-smoking methods because of the inherent risks."
Cold smoking meats should only be attempted by personnel certified in
HACCP
Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP (), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs mea ...
..to ensure that it is safely prepared.
Warm smoking
Warm smoking exposes foods to temperatures of .
Hot smoking
Hot smoking exposes the foods to smoke and heat in a controlled environment such as a smoker oven or smokehouse. Hot smoking requires the use of a smoker which generates heat either from a charcoal base, heated element within the smoker or from a stove-top or oven; food is hot smoked by cooking and flavored with wood smoke simultaneously.
Like cold smoking, the item may be hung first to develop a
pellicle; it is then smoked from 1 hour to as long as 24 hours. Although foods that have been hot smoked are often reheated or further cooked, they are typically safe to eat without further cooking.
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
s and
ham hock
__NOTOC__
A ham hock (or hough) or pork knuckle is the joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot of a pig, where the foot was attached to the hog's leg. It is the portion of the leg that is neither part of the ham proper nor ...
s are fully cooked once they are properly smoked, and they can be eaten as is without any further preparation. Hot smoking usually occurs within the range of .
When food is smoked within this temperature range, foods are fully cooked, moist, and flavorful. If the smoker is allowed to get hotter than , the foods can shrink excessively, buckle, or even split. Smoking at high temperatures also reduces yield, as both moisture and fat are cooked away.
Liquid smoke
Liquid smoke
Liquid smoke is a water-soluble yellow to red liquid used as a flavoring as a substitute for Smoking (cooking), cooking with wood smoke while retaining a similar flavor. It can be used to flavor any meat or vegetable. It is generally made by Cond ...
, a product derived from smoke compounds in water, is applied to foods through spraying or dipping.
Smoke roasting
Smoke-roasting refers to any process that has the attributes of both roasting and smoking. This smoking method is sometimes referred to as barbecuing or pit-roasting. It may be done in a smoke-roaster, a closed wood-fired oven, or a barbecue pit, any smoker that can reach above , or in a conventional oven by placing a pan filled with hardwood chips on the floor of the oven so that the chips can smolder and produce a smoke-bath. In
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, this smoking method is commonly referred to as "barbecuing", "pit baking", or "pit roasting".
Types by biomass
Wood smoke
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
s are made up mostly of three materials:
cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...
,
hemicellulose
A hemicellulose (also known as polyose) is one of a number of heteropolymer, heteropolymers (matrix polysaccharides), such as arabinoxylans, present along with cellulose in almost all embryophyte, terrestrial plant cell walls.Scheller HV, Ulvskov H ...
, and
lignin
Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidity ...
. Cellulose and hemicellulose are the basic structural material of the wood
cells; lignin acts as a kind of cell-bonding glue. Some
softwood
file:Pinus sylvestris wood ray section 1 beentree.jpg, Scots Pine, a typical and well-known softwood
Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main diff ...
s, especially
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
s and
firs, hold significant quantities of
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
, which produces a harsh-tasting soot when burned; these woods are not often used for smoking.
Cellulose and hemicellulose are aggregate
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
molecules; when burnt, they effectively
caramelize
Caramelization is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting sweet nutty flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: caramelans (C24H36O18), caramelens (C36H50O25), and ...
, producing
carbonyl
In organic chemistry, a carbonyl group is a functional group composed of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom: C=O. It is common to several classes of organic compounds, as part of many larger functional groups. A compound containing a ...
s, which provide most of the color components and sweet, flowery, and fruity aromas. Lignin, a highly complex arrangement of interlocked
phenolic
Phenolic is an adjective and a substantive (noun) that may apply to :
* Phenol (or carbolic acid), a colorless crystalline solid and aromatic compound
* Phenols, a class of chemical compounds that include phenol
* Phenolic content in wine
* Phenol ...
molecules, also produces a number of distinctive aromatic elements when burnt, including smoky, spicy, and pungent compounds such as
guaiacol
Guaiacol () is an organic compound with the formula C6H4(OH)(OCH3). It is a phenolic compound containing an methoxy functional group. Guaiacol appears as a viscous colorless oil, although aged or impure samples are often yellowish. It occurs wid ...
,
phenol
Phenol (also called carbolic acid) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile. The molecule consists of a phenyl group () bonded to a hydroxy group (). Mildly acidic, it req ...
, and
syringol
Syringol is the organic compound with the formula HO(CH3O)2C6H3. The molecule is a phenol, with methoxy groups in the flanking (2 and 6) positions. It is the symmetrically dimethylated derivative of pyrogallol. It is a colorless solid, althoug ...
, and sweeter scents such as the
vanilla
Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia'').
Pollination is required to make the p ...
-scented
vanillin
Vanillin is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a phenolic aldehyde. Its functional groups include aldehyde, hydroxyl, and ether. It is the primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean. Synthetic vanillin is now used ...
and
clove
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...
-like
isoeugenol
Isoeugenol is a phenylpropene, a propenyl-substituted guaiacol. A phenylpropanoid, it occurs in the essential oils of plants such as ylang-ylang (''Cananga odorata''), and is a component of wood smoke and liquid smoke. It can be synthesized from ...
. Guaiacol is the phenolic compound most responsible for the "smoky" taste, while syringol is the primary contributor to smoky aroma. Wood also contains small quantities of
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
s, which contribute roasted flavors. Many of the odor compounds in wood smoke, especially the phenolic compounds, are unstable, dissipating after a few weeks or months.
A number of wood smoke compounds act as preservatives. Phenol and other phenolic compounds in wood smoke are both
antioxidant
Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...
s, which slow
rancidification
Rancidification is the process of complete or incomplete autoxidation or hydrolysis of fats and oils when exposed to air, light, moisture, or bacterial action, producing short-chain aldehydes, ketones and free fatty acids.
When these processes oc ...
of animal fats, and
antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...
s, which slow bacterial growth. Other
antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...
s in wood smoke include
formaldehyde
Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section F ...
,
acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
, and other organic acids, which give wood smoke a low
pH—about 2.5. Some of these compounds are toxic to people as well, and may have health effects in the quantities found in cooking applications.
Since different species of trees have different ratios of components, various types of wood do impart a different flavor to food. Another important factor is the temperature at which the wood burns. High-temperature fires see the flavor molecules broken down further into unpleasant or flavorless compounds. The optimal conditions for smoke flavor are low, smoldering temperatures between . This is the temperature of the burning wood itself, not of the smoking environment, which uses much lower temperatures. Woods that are high in lignin content tend to burn hot; to keep them smoldering requires restricted
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
supplies or a high moisture content. When smoking using wood chips or chunks, the combustion temperature is often raised by soaking the pieces in water before placing them on a fire.
Types of smokers
Offset
![Offsetsmoker](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Offsetsmoker.jpg)
The main characteristics of the offset smoker are that the cooking chamber is usually cylindrical in shape, with a shorter, smaller diameter cylinder attached to the bottom of one end for a firebox. To cook the meat, a small fire is lit in the firebox, where airflow is tightly controlled. The heat and smoke from the fire are drawn through a connecting pipe or opening into the cooking chamber.
The heat and smoke cook and flavor the meat before escaping through an exhaust vent at the opposite end of the cooking chamber. Most manufacturers' models are based on this simple but effective design, and this is what most people picture when they think of a "BBQ smoker". Even large capacity commercial units use this same basic design of a separate, smaller fire box and a larger cooking chamber.
Upright drum
![Seanpuffycoalsdiagram](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Seanpuffycoalsdiagram.JPG)
The upright drum smoker (also referred to as an ugly drum smoker or UDS) is exactly what its name suggests; an upright steel drum that has been modified for the purpose of pseudo-indirect hot smoking. There are many ways to accomplish this, but the basics include the use of a complete steel drum, a basket to hold charcoal near the bottom, and cooking rack (or racks) near the top; all covered by a vented lid of some sort. They have been built using many different sizes of steel drums, such as , , and for example, but the most popular size is the common 55-gallon drum.
This design is similar to smoking with indirect heat due to the distance from the coals and the racks, which is typically . The temperatures used for smoking are controlled by limiting the amount of air intake at the bottom of the drum, and allowing a similar amount of exhaust out of vents in the lid. UDSs are very efficient with fuel consumption and flexible in their abilities to produce proper smoking conditions, with or without the use of a water pan or drip pan.
Vertical water
A vertical water smoker (also referred to as a bullet smoker because of its shape)
[Backyard Grilling: For Your Grill, Smoker, Turkey Fryer and More – Kate Fiduccia, Teresa Marrone](_blank)
p. 9. is a variation of the upright drum smoker. It uses charcoal or wood to generate smoke and heat, and contains a water bowl between the fire and the cooking grates.
The water bowl serves to maintain optimal smoking temperatures
and also adds humidity to the smoke chamber. It also creates an effect in which the water vapor and smoke condense together, which adds flavor to smoked foods.
In addition, the bowl catches any drippings from the meat that may cause a flare-up. Vertical water smokers are extremely temperature stable and require very little adjustment once the desired temperature has been reached. Because of their relatively low cost and stable temperature, they are sometimes used in barbecue competitions where propane and electric smokers are not allowed.
Propane
![Propane smoker](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Propane_smoker.jpg)
A
propane
Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...
smoker is designed to allow the smoking of meat in a somewhat more temperature controlled environment. The primary differences are the sources of heat and of the smoke. In a propane smoker, the heat is generated by a gas burner directly under a steel or iron box containing the wood or charcoal that provides the smoke. The steel box has few vent holes, on the top of the box only. By starving the heated wood of oxygen, it smokes instead of burning. Any combination of woods and charcoal may used. This method uses much less wood but does require propane fuel.
Smoke box
This more traditional method uses a two-box system: a fire box and a food box. The fire box is typically adjacent or under the cooking box, and can be controlled to a finer degree. The heat and smoke from the fire box exhausts into the food box, where it is used to cook and smoke the meat. These may be as simple as an electric heating element with a pan of wood chips placed on it, although more advanced models have finer temperature controls.
Electric smokers
The most convenient of the various types of smokers are the insulated electric smokers. These devices house a heating element that can maintain temperatures ranging from that required for a cold smoke all the way up to with little to no intervention from the user. Although wood chunks, pellets, and even in some cases automatically fed wood pucks are used to generate smoke, the amount of flavor obtained is less than traditional wood or charcoal smokers.
Trench
![Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary b74 606-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b74_606-1.jpg)
In this method the firebox is a narrow trench cut down a slope pointing into the prevailing wind. The middle part of the trench is covered over to make it into a tunnel. At the upper end of the trench is a vertical framework covered to form a chimney within which is placed the rack of foodstuff. At the lower
upwind
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
end of the trench is lit a small smokey fire, and sustained day and night until the foodstuff is cured.
Commercial smokehouse
Commercial
smokehouse
A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...
s, mostly made from stainless steel, have independent systems for smoke generation and cooking. Smoke generators use friction, an electric coil or a small flame to ignite sawdust on demand. Heat from steam coils or gas flames is balanced with live steam or water sprays to control the temperature and humidity. Elaborate air handling systems reduce hot or cold spots, to reduce variation in the finished product. Racks on wheels or rails are used to hold the product and facilitate movement.
Pellet smokers
A pellet smoker is a temperature controlled smoker that burns wood pellets made of dried out sawdust, about an inch long and 1/4 inch wide. The wood pellets are stored in a gravity-fed hopper that feeds into a motor controlled auger by the temperature regulator. This auger pushes the pellets into the fire pot. An ignition rod within the auger ignites the pellets where a combustion fan keeps them smouldering. The motor and the combustion fan regulate the temperature of the smoker by feeding it more pellets and increasing airflow in the auger. Above the auger is a heat shield to disperse the direct heat before it reaches the heat box to allow the wood smoke to keep the heat box at an even temperature throughout. The heat sensor inside the heat box relays the current temperature inside the box back to the temperature regulator that controls the fan speed and pellet hopper motor, which either increase or decrease the amount of pellets in the auger or the amount of air available to the fire to maintain the desired temperature for the cook.
The popularity of this type of smokers is on the rise after many BBQ pit-masters started using them for competition barbeque.
Preservation
![Omul Fish](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Omul_Fish.jpg)
Smoke is both an
antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...
and
antioxidant
Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...
, however it is insufficient alone for
preserving food as smoke does not penetrate far into meat or fish; it is thus typically combined with
salt-curing or
drying
Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be considered ...
.
Smoking is especially useful for oily fish, as its
antioxidant
Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...
properties inhibit surface fat
rancidification
Rancidification is the process of complete or incomplete autoxidation or hydrolysis of fats and oils when exposed to air, light, moisture, or bacterial action, producing short-chain aldehydes, ketones and free fatty acids.
When these processes oc ...
and delay interior fat exposure to degrading
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
. Some heavily salted, long-smoked fish can keep without refrigeration for weeks or months.
Artificial smoke flavoring (such as
liquid smoke
Liquid smoke is a water-soluble yellow to red liquid used as a flavoring as a substitute for Smoking (cooking), cooking with wood smoke while retaining a similar flavor. It can be used to flavor any meat or vegetable. It is generally made by Cond ...
) can be purchased to mimic smoking's flavor, but not its preservative qualities.
Competitive smoking
Competition BBQ Smoking is becoming increasingly popular among smoking enthusiasts, especially in the Southern American States, where BBQ enthusiasts come together over a weekend to cook various cuts of meat such as a whole hog or beef brisket to become the best at BBQ.
Organisations such as
Kansas City Barbeque Society
Kansas City Barbeque Society is a competitive cooking organization based in Kansas City, Missouri, famous for Kansas City BBQ. It is the largest competitive barbecue organization in the world, with more than 15,000 members. It was founded in 1985 ...
run competitions all over America.
Health concerns
Regularly consuming
smoked meat
Smoked meat is the result of a method of preparing red meat, white meat, and seafood which originated in the Paleolithic Era. Smoking adds flavor, improves the appearance of meat through the Maillard reaction, and when combined with curing it ...
s and
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
may increase the risk of several types of
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
and
cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...
.
List of smoked foods and beverages
![Katzs deli corned beef](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Katzs_deli_corned_beef.jpg)
Some of the more common smoked foods and beverages include:
; Beverages
*''
Lapsang souchong
Lapsang souchong (; ) or Zhengshan xiaozhong () is a black tea consisting of leaves that are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. This smoking is accomplished either as a cold smoke of the raw leaves as they are processed or as a hot smoke of pre ...
''
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
leaves are smoked and dried over pine or cedar fires
*
Malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...
beverages
**The malt used to make
whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden c ...
**
Rauchbier (smoked beer)
;Fruit and vegetables
*
Capsicum
''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family Solanaceae, native to Americas, the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit.
Etymology and names
The generic name may come f ...
s:
chipotle
A chipotle (, ; ), or ''chilpotle'', is a smoking (food), smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican cuisine, Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex cuisine, Tex-Mex and So ...
s (smoked, ripe
jalapeño
The jalapeño ( , , ) is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. A mature jalapeño chili is long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scovi ...
s),
paprika
Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from ''Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder an ...
*
Prune
A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum (''Prunus domestica''). Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. A prune is the firm-fleshed fruit (plum) of ''Prunus domestica'' varieties that have a high solu ...
s (dried
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
s) can be smoked while drying
*''Wumei'' are smoked
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
fruits
*''Iburi-gakko'' are a smoked
daikon
Daikon or mooli, ''Radish, Raphanus sativus'' Variety (botany), var. ''longipinnatus,'' is a mild-flavored winter radish usually characterized by fast-growing leaves and a long, white, root. Originally native to continental East Asia, daikon ...
pickle from
Akita Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
;Meat, fish, and cheese
*
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...
**
Pastrami
Pastrami (Romanian: '' pastramă'') is a food originating from Romania usually made from beef brisket, lamb, pork, chicken sometimes from turkey. The raw meat is brined, partially dried, seasoned with herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed. ...
(pickled, spiced and smoked
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...
brisket
Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectora ...
)
*
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
**
Bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
**
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
**
Bakkwa
Bakkwa, also known as rougan, is a Chinese salty-sweet dried meat product similar to jerky.
Bakkwa is made with a meat preservation and preparation technique originating from China. The general method of production has remained virtually unc ...
*
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
*
Chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
*Sausage
**Salami
*Jerky (food), Jerky
*Smoked fish, Fish
**Eel popular in eastern/northern Europe
[Anthony Bourdain. A local's obsession with smoked eel. "No Reservations". http://www.travelchannel.com/video/a-locals-obsession-with-smoked-eel-11676.]
**Traditional Grimsby smoked fish (cod and haddock)
**Haddock and Arbroath smokies (haddock)
**Buckling (fish), Buckling, kippers and bloater (herring), bloater (herring)
**Smoked salmon, Salmon
**Mackerel
**Bivalves including oysters and mussels.
*Smoked egg, Egg (Egg (food), eggs and fish eggs)
*Smoked cheese, Cheese
**Circassian cheese, Adyghe Qwaye (Circassian)
**Gouda (cheese), Gouda
**Gruyère cheese, Gruyère
;Other proteins
*nut (fruit), Nuts
*Tofu
;Spices
*Paprika
*Smoked salt, Salt
See also
* Braising
* Canning
* Drying (food), Drying
* Jerky (food), Jerky
* List of dried foods
* List of sausage dishes
* List of sausages
* List of smoked foods
* Smoked fish
* Smoked meat
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{Authority control
Smoking (cooking),
Barbecue
Cooking techniques
Food preservation
Culinary terminology