UK chef, new to smoking...

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jax13

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 9, 2014
24
10
Cheshire, uk
Hey folks, I've been browsing for a couple of weeks as a guest and have now joined to pick the brains of people more knowledgeable than me on the dark art of smoking!

I'm planning 2 seperate builds, a cold smoker from an a-maze-n generator and an old fridge plus a gas bbq modification to use as a hot smoker. The cold one will be the first build while winter finishes it's thing and spring takes over then the hot smoker build will be done in time for our ridiculously short bbq season!

I've been a chef for over a decade, love bbq cooking and run my own hog roast & bbq business doing weddings, christenings, parties and public events (village fetes etc.) if your interested in what I do then have a look at www.hotroasthogs.co.uk

I want to get into smoking because over here, smoked products are typically liquid smoked and not great quality or they come from small smokehouse and the cost for something simple like half a dozen rashers of bacon is more than a couple of pounds of brisket from the butchers!

I've already got a post in the fridge builds section if anyone can help me out with that one but there will no doubt be more questions as time goes on and I get more adventurous.

Hopefully, with my background I may be able to contribute to ideas and methods for some unique smokes and sauces but first things first... I need to get smoking!

I am interested in smoking garlic, chilli, cheeses, salts and meats but not really fish as I'm not that keen on seafood. I already make my own pastrami, corned beef, sausages etc. And I'm hoping that starting to smoke will give me a much wider range of things to produce.

I also hunt so have a steady supply of rabbit, pheasant and venison coming through and again, I'm hoping being able to smoke venison or duck will mean I can get more taste and variety out of my cooking.
 
Welcome to the forum Jax. You will find a lot of folks on here with experience in the areas you are interested in. A growing number on here are from the UK too. When my Internet speed increases from mostly "page cannot be displayed" to just plain dead slow later today I will say hi more fully.

Great to have you on board

Wade
 
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Hello and welcome from East Texas. This is a great site, lots of information and great people that are willing to throw in their two cents worth on about anything.   
[/h1][h1]  [/h1][h1]Gary[/h1]
 
Hello Jax and welcome to the forums!  You've found a great place to share ideas on all things smoked, cured, grilled, etc.  There are plenty of good people here who really know their stuff and genuinely enjoy helping one another.  Looking forward to your input around here, and just ask when you need anything...someone will surely have the answer.

Red
 
Hello Jax and Welcome to our addiction.  A word of warning: There is no 12 step program for this one!  Many good folk here with a load of experience that they are more than willing to share.  If you have specific questions just start a thread and someone with experience will be along soon to offer advice.  All info you can provide us with such as smoker type, location and so on will help us answer any questions you may have.  Spend some time doing some research on the forums, tons of advice and recipes already available there.  We look forward to your contributions.  Have fun.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
Welcome jax. This place is the only place I turn to now for info on smoking/bbq/curing. Everything ive made I consider a complete success thanks to these knowledgeable people.

Enjoy!
 
Hi Jax, big welcome to,the UK Forum!!

Seems we are all n the same business, we run a Hog Roast Company over here in the East Midlands, www.hot-to-trott.co.uk .

I am building a smoker from a Parry Plate Warmer with a Smokai Smoker, but I have also ordered an Amaze Smoker.

This is the link to my first post of the smoker, http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/152549/new-member-new-smoker-build#post_1091516

It's now almost finished, it's got a PID to control the cabinet temperature, meat probe to insert into meat so when meat is cooked, it turns off the cabinet temperature, also a count down or count up timer with a socket attached so the Smokai unit plugs in, you set the smoke time and it will turn off smoke automatically.

If you need any info or advice please PM me.

P.S I am also a fridge engineer so could give you some advice on the fridge side.

Smokin Monkey
 
The big pink pig was (if my information is correct) originally built by a pig farmer who needed a hobby! He was asked by a caterer if they could buy it so he obliged. Mk1 was apparently slightly bigger than mine and when he built this one, he changed a few things to make it work better. I've modified it a little bit more (changed door seal arrangement and altered the venting at the bottom and the burner mounts) but essentially it is run from a propane feed, split to a pair of fryer controllers and onto the burners.

The burners being individually gassed and piloted means they can be run independently of each other and with the flaps on the doors I can control temp from 100 to 200 degrees in 20 ish degree steps.

I am thinking about fabricating a smaller one to use as a smoker but I need to do the fridge and bbq conversions first and get some methods worked out for what I want before I invest in a full custom build!
 
The fridge I have got lying around is a plastic lined domestic job so unfortunately not suited to hot smoke however... I think I'm going to skip the mailbox generator idea for now and go with 40mm waste pipe for the intakes and chimney (as per one build I looked at) and put the amns inside on the bottom.

I am planning to mailbox mod an old gas bbq rather than the initial thought of using a slightly concave plate over the burners for generating smoke, this will leave it as it is now so I can still cook on it (it gets used daily through the summer as I work from home and use it for cooking lunch each day!)

I am now planning an epic hot smoker build on the uds principle but it's going to need time, planning and cash for the steel to fabricate it!
 
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