thisNZlife

Good From Scratch

The right burn is a great way to enhance food flavours. Even dessert.

Words Michael Van de Elzen

Michael Van de Elzen is smokin’ hot... & cold

We use a cold smoker at our cooking school in every class. People love the flavour it imparts into different foods. There are two smoking methods.

Hot

This has a fire inside the smoke chamber. The hot smoke adds flavour, and also slowly cooks the food. Think bacon and brisket cooked in an American-style smoker that looks similar to a barbecue.

Check out Michael's hot smoked salmon with salsa verde – see pages 39 and 40.

Cold

Smoke is produced outside the chamber and pumped in. I have a UFO cold smoker, which works really well for me.

Cold smoker units are relatively inexpensive to buy, but many people make their own from old wine barrels, fridges, barbecues, and even cardboard boxes. Smoking imparts another dimension of flavour to food. Even simple cold-smoking of basic ingredients can transform them. These are a few of our favourites.

Butter

Cube butter and place it in the cold smoker for an hour, then add it to your baking. We’ve made smoked scones, smoked pastry for egg quiche, and smoked butter (with some sea salt crystals running through it) for homemade bread.

Mushrooms

Peel flat mushrooms, place on a tray, then cold smoke for 2 hours. Lightly oil, then roast in the oven. Chop up or blitz before tossing through freshly cooked pasta with heaps of parmesan.

Cheese

Take a plain block of cheese. Smoke it overnight to create a much fancier smoked version.

Sea salt

I love to smoke salt. It’s as simple as spreading the salt out on an oven tray and leaving it in the smoker for up to 10 hours. Store in a jar with a tight-fitting lid to lock in the smokey goodness.

Cream

I pour cream into a large roasting tray so the smoke can infuse over a wide surface area. Smoke for 1 hour. I use it to make smoked crème brulee.

The wood chips

The type of wood chip has a big effect on the end flavour. We have excellent native options such as manuka, pohutukawa, tawa, and rewarewa, and traditional options including apple, oak, beech, and hickory.

Look for a good supplier. We use Brosnahans as we mainly cold smoke, and I like large chips that are really dry. This means the fire smoulders and stays alight overnight. You can get wood chips from most barbecue stores or online.

Wood chip options

Different chips work best with different ingredients.

Mild and sweet woods

Used for: fish, meats, cheeses, vegetables Options: beech, apple, cherry, pear, peach

Medium woods

Used for: a more smokey hit in meat, vegetables, seafood

Options: manuka, pohutukawa, tawa, rewarewa, and oak, cedar and maple out of the USA

Strong smoke woods

Used for: gamebirds, venison, beef, pork Options: hickory, mesquite (both from the USA)

CONTENTS

en-nz

2021-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thisnzlife.pressreader.com/article/282102049656005

NZ Lifestyle Magazine Group