Smoking without a smoker?

paddywack · Jan 2, 2017

Hi guys

Could I get your advice on producing smoked bacon without out using a smoker?

The 2 ways I think maybe possible are (these are both uneducated guessers)

Using a dry cure with a added dry smoked flavouring of some sort, the problem with this is I can't source the dry smoked flavouring,

The alternative method is a wet cure with added liquid smoke, to help the cure penetrate I have a piece of equipment that will put lots of small holes in the meat,

Would either of these produce a passable smoked style bacon?

Has anyone tried to produce a smoke styled bacon without a smoker?

Any help/advice would be welcome,

Thanks in advance

SmokinAl · Jan 2, 2017

I've never tried it but I would think that adding liquid smoke to a dry cure would work better than adding it to a brine.

Your going to come out with bacon either way, but I think the smoke flavor will be more pronounced if you dry cure it.

Al

smokin monkey · Jan 2, 2017

Never tried either method you are proposing.

If the smoker is a problem, have a look at this link, cheap cardboard box smoker.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/99316/cardboard-box-cold-smoker

paul6 · Jan 2, 2017

You could use a smoke bag that goes in the oven . For Fathers day I received a Bacon kit from a company called Tender Belly and it included a Smoking bag for those who didn't have a smoker .

mr t 59874 · Jan 2, 2017

If you are referring to a smoker/oven, Google "handheld food smoker". It's one of the most versatile tools in my kitchen.

Tom

wimpy69 · Jan 2, 2017

Ive been happy with my Smokin-Gun. I've used it several times with just a oven bag for sliced slab bacon with good results.

crankybuzzard · Jan 2, 2017

A LOT of commercial bacon is showered with liquid smoke and not truly smoked in a chamber.

Al and Smokin Monkey have you moving the right direction if you don't want to spend any cash.

paddywack · Jan 3, 2017

Thanks for your reply Al,

The way I was thinking was all dry ingredients in together, all wet ingredients in together,

Putting the liquid smoke in with the dry cure sounds like it should make a passable smoked styled bacon,

Thanks for the idea,

paddywack · Jan 3, 2017

Smokin Monkey said:
Never tried either method you are proposing.

If the smoker is a problem, have a look at this link, cheap cardboard box smoker.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/99316/cardboard-box-cold-smoker

Thanks for the link,

paddywack · Jan 3, 2017

paul6 said:
You could use a smoke bag that goes in the oven . For Fathers day I received a Bacon kit from a company called Tender Belly and it included a Smoking bag for those who didn't have a smoker .

Mr T 59874 said:
If you are referring to a smoker/oven, Google "handheld food smoker". It's one of the most versatile tools in my kitchen.

Tom

wimpy69 said:
Ive been happy with my Smokin-Gun. I've used it several times with just a oven bag for sliced slab bacon with good results.

CrankyBuzzard said:
A LOT of commercial bacon is showered with liquid smoke and not truly smoked in a chamber.

Al and Smokin Monkey have you moving the right direction if you don't want to spend any cash.

Thanks for the ideas,

Going to try SmokinAl suggestion first and see how that turns out,

wade · Jan 8, 2017

When using liquid smoke in the curing process you need to be very careful how and when you apply it. Liquid smoke it is highly acidic straight out of the bottle and will cause the Nitrite in the cure to decompose if it isn't sufficiently diluted first. You should first complete the dry cure stages and then spray the DILUTED liquid smoke onto the surface of the cured bacon and allow it to dry before spraying on more. This will effectively mimic the effect of it being in a smoker for several hours. Once you have applied several applications of smoke spray and it has dried then place in a plastic bag (or vac pack) and leave in the fridge for the smoke flavour to penetrate.

It is important that the liquid smoke is diluted before it is applied in order to reduce its acidity (increase its pH). Something like 1 Tbs of liquid smoke in 500 ml of water should be sufficient. The amount of flavour in the bacon will depend on how many times you spray the meat and it will need to be a bit of trial and error.

Also make sure that you get a good quality liquid smoke - They are not all the same. Get one that is 100% liquid smoke and does not have any other seasonings or flavourings added. The one I use is Natural Hickory Liquid Smoke from Colgin

Here is a short video I made a while ago about applying common acidic ingredients directly to the cure. The effect of Liquid Smoke can be seen at the 3 minute mark. When Liquid Smoke is applied directly to the cure you can see that it immediately starts to decompose.

Edited - It should have said tablespoon and not teaspoon

noboundaries · Jan 8, 2017

Great post Wade! Thank you.

smokin monkey · Jan 8, 2017

Once again Wade, great video and good content.

pops6927 · Jan 12, 2017

Do you have a grill of any kind? Just use the grill with offset (indirect) heat at a temp of approx. 250°. Cure your meat then place on one side of the grill with heat on the other side. You can make a wood chip tray (small pie tin with wood chips covered with foil and holes poked thru the foil to let out the smoldering smoke). Like in a Weber grill, charcoal on one half and meat on the other half and control the temp with draft and size of pile of coals.

Also, if you want a very small investment, purchase a smoking tube from www.amazenproducts.com and some pure wood pellets, does wonders in your grill! Check it out! And, you can cold smoke cheeses and vegetables, even toothpicks, in a cold grill with the tube or tray A-Maze-N unit! Todd Johnson, owner of the company, is a Super Moderator here on SMF and provides ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC Customer Service - a truly great guy!

wade · Jan 13, 2017

Using "real" smoke would certainly be my choice too. With all the hassle of trying to use liquid smoke you may as well use the real thing. Steve posted a link to a cardboard box smoker earlier in the thread and that would be a really efficient way of doing it. As part of one of my training courses I show people how to make one at next to no cost.

The wire cake cooling racks cost £1 each - the bricks were from the garden. In case you were wondering the white colour is part of the brick itself and is not dirt or mold.

1 Bricks and Racks.jpg

wade
Nov 1, 2016

For the smoke generator I use a cheap kitchen sieve (also £1) which has had the centre pushed back through to form a circular mesh trough. fill 7/8s of the way round with sawdust or pellets and light one of the ends. This gets placed underneath the bottom rack.

5 Seive Starting.jpg

wade
Nov 1, 2016

7 Seive in place.jpg

wade
Nov 1, 2016

The upturned cardboard box (free) then has a hole cut in the bottom at one end to let the air in and another at the top at the opposite end to let the air and smoke out

4 Whole box.jpg

wade
Nov 1, 2016

20161028_180650.jpg

wade
Nov 1, 2016

Place whatever you are smoking on the uppermost racks and then simply drop the cardboard box over the top.

Pops6927 said:
Also, if you want a very small investment, purchase a smoking tube from www.amazenproducts.com and some pure wood pellets, does wonders in your grill! Check it out! And, you can cold smoke cheeses and vegetables, even toothpicks, in a cold grill with the tube or tray A-Maze-N unit! Todd Johnson, owner of the company, is a Super Moderator here on SMF and provides ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC Customer Service - a truly great guy!

Also I totally support what Pops says about Todd. We even get fantastic support from him and we are in the UK. I regularly use both his pellet and tube smokers and they are great.

paddywack · Jan 21, 2017

I've been working a lot of hours over the past couple of weeks, so I've not had much time to check the thread,

After reading the advice, and the trouble with using the liquid smoke I agree, build the cheap smoker and if the results are as good expected, buy one.

A special thanks to Wade, for some great advice and the video,

Again thanks for the suggestions,

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