Lost in the Philippines

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

Linus here,
Swedish living on a remote island in the Philippines for the past 10 years. Swine flu has hit our area once again so we cannot import any proper meat (even turkey for some reason) and corona has limited basically anything fun to do, so we decided to build a smoke house jut to feel remotely important (i like to tell my wife I'm "working" when all I'm really doing is watching fire and drinking beer with friends). Also, i miss the food of my home country tremendously much.

we built the smoke house based on inspiration from this website, and have also copied a couple of recipes.

Just wanted introduce myself and say a big THANK YOU to all you out there that are willing to share successes and failures, it has helped us out a lot.

Best, Linus

 

[motocrash]

Welcome Lord, that is a fine looking smoker.
Hopefully you can get some meat soon, meanwhile you'll have to keep smoking

HAH!

What kinds of smoking woods are available there?

 

[indaswamp]

HAHAHAHA!!!! Good one Moto!!

 

[indaswamp]

Great looking smokehouse Lord...welcome to SMF!

 

[chef jimmyj]

Welcome to the SMF Family. Interesting combo you got there. A Swede in the Philippines? There must be a little Culture Shock there. The smoker is very nice...JJ

 

[jcam222]

Welcome from Ohio Linus. That smokehouse is awesome. What kind of fish are those?

 

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

So, "Lord Montgomery von Agoho" is actually my dogs name. He started out as simply "Monty" and then we started promoting him and giving him new titles, might have gone a bit too far thou.....

Smoke house is built out of PH mahogany, we started by using coconut husk to generate smoke but they burnt too fast (15 min) and that was just way too much work as covid has made us quite lazy. Now we use Mango trees which is awesome, and I'm drying up some Lychee, to test in the coming week.

The fish is Tulingan, native here.... better known as Yellow Fin Tuna.... costs 3 dollars a kg....

Concerning a Sweden in the Philippines, ya I'm just as lost as you on that one..... live on an island with less that 80,000 people and all meat are from a "wet market" meaning no refrigeration...... its awesome to buy pork that's been out for 5 hours with flies feasting on them... gives a special.... je ne sais quoi....

 

[chef jimmyj]

Look at the Bright Side, you are building a Helluva Immune System eating meat from the Wet Market! Flies don't eat much and Tenderize the Meat....JJ

 

[Brokenhandle]

Welcome from Iowa! And nice smokehouse! Think if I was you I'd keep eating those Swedish fish and drinking beer... there's a pork chop in every can!

Ryan

 

[indaswamp]

I thought those fish looked familiar...though we can't keep them that size here, have to be 27" long. MMMM! smoked yellow fin tuna!

 

[SmokinGame]

Welcome, Lord Montie!

 

[JLeonard]

Welcome sir to the forums from Mississippi! Love the set up on your smoke house.
Jim

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
Looks like heaven to me!
I could eat smoked fish every night!
I bet it was delicious!
Al

 

[daspyknows]

Welcone from California. My ex wife is from the Philippines so spent some time there. Which island? Great seafood. That should work for the short term. Also, you can raise and slaughter your own lechon.

 

[Gentleviking]

Hi Linus, I'm brand new here and also living in the Philippines, wanting to learn the art of smoking and what Asian woods to use. I live up in the mountains, there is plenty of mango wood available. But looking online they says that it's toxic and should not be used for any type of cooking. I wondered which other wood you have found that gives a good flavour? Thanks Mark.

 

[pushok2018]

Welcome from NorCal! Really cool smoker! I curious if you cold or hot smoking your fish.... Did you use wet or dry brine?

 

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

Hi

Hi Linus, I'm brand new here and also living in the Philippines, wanting to learn the art of smoking and what Asian woods to use. I live up in the mountains, there is plenty of mango wood available. But looking online they says that it's toxic and should not be used for any type of cooking. I wondered which other wood you have found that gives a good flavour? Thanks Mark.

hi there,

I started out by using coconut husk and that was ok but they burnt out too quickly so there was a lot of time spent on fire management. Right now I’m using jackfruit and rambutan and they work quite well. I’m drying some calamansi wood so will be interesting to see how that works out.
best of luck.

 

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

Welcome from NorCal! Really cool smoker! I curious if you cold or hot smoking your fish.... Did you use wet or dry brine?

Hi,
the fish was put in a 7% salt brine for about 30-45 min, then smoked at 140 for a couple of hours.
we get a lot of blue marlin here that we can make into steaks, same brine solution but for 2 hours then smoke for hours at 120. Really really nice.

 

[Gentleviking]

Hi

hi there,

I started out by using coconut husk and that was ok but they burnt out too quickly so there was a lot of time spent on fire management. Right now I’m using jackfruit and rambutan and they work quite well. I’m drying some calamansi wood so will be interesting to see how that works out.
best of luck.

Thank you, that gives me some ideas. It seems all fruit wood and they are all available here in the mountain. I'll get some cut and seasoned so it's ready for when I've built my smoker.

 

[bbqaddict]

Hi Linus, I'm brand new here and also living in the Philippines, wanting to learn the art of smoking and what Asian woods to use. I live up in the mountains, there is plenty of mango wood available. But looking online they says that it's toxic and should not be used for any type of cooking. I wondered which other wood you have found that gives a good flavour? Thanks Mark.

There is plenty of local fruit trees to choose from just make sure it is a hardwood because they last longer. The trick is to have them properly dried and seasoned to avoid dirty smoke and an easier time in fire management. To name a few, if you have access to Acacia (similar profile to mesquite), Santol ( mild to moderate profile like hickory but can produce black soot if not properly managed it could be disastrous to your meat), theres Sampaloc, Star Apple (Caimito/Kaimito), Mahogany and Coffee. Supply can vary depending on your location but these are the usual ones you can get in Metro Manila. Yes, Mango wood has its disavantages mainly because you can not risk it if you are cooking for other people or commercially but there has been success stories of it and theys say the key is making sure it is properly dried to avoid the sap which has the allergen. As to imported wood there is now an increase in sources on local shopping platforms like Shopee and Lazada.

Like most of enthusiasts here I have struggled with local wood supply. Please dont get me wrong they are great when handled appropriately and should be used more especially if sourced properly in accordance with local ordinaces. As they say use the wood most abundant in your area and you have easy access to. What I use is White Oak imported from Eastern Europe by local importers in the restaurant scene. I usually stock up around a face cord most of the time when available and it last me long until there is another resupply. Its cheaper for me than to get the same amount in local wood because of the increase in demand in the city. Plus I like how Oak can be versatile in utility due to smoke profile can be neutral to mild so I stick to it most of time when using my offset. I use imported chips/chunks from the hardware for small cooks on the weber.