I learned how to make an awesome smoker for extremely cheap while watching Good Eats on the food network. Basically it is a large cardboard box with wooden dowels run through it that support a screen on which you lay the meat. In the bottom of the box you put a single burner hot plate, fill up a solid metal skillet with pre-soaked wood chips, cover with a pie plate and set the burner on high. All in all it cost me just under $20 bucks to build and turned out the best smoked salmon I've ever eaten.
Plans for the cardboard box smoker can be found here. It works better than you could imagine, don't knock it til you try it. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/article/0,1976,FOOD_9956_2245800,00.html
The key to smoking meat and keeping it moist while maximizing smoke flavor is to cure the meat first, then dry the outside of the meat in front of a fan. This causes the water soluble proteins which are brought to the surface during curing to form a pellicle, which is basically a protein coating. This prevents moisture from escaping and and provides an ideal surface for the smoke flavor to adhere to.
Day 1: Cure
Ingredients:
1 Cup Kosher salt
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
Black pepper (add as much or as little as you see fit)
Mix the 3 ingredients thoroughly then liberally apply to both skin and meat side of the fish. Wrap the fish tightly in foil, leaving a little room at the tail end of the fillet to allow juice to drain out. Put the fillet between two pans and stack on a phone book or two for compression, put in the fridge and wait 12-24 hours.
Day 2: Rinse, Dry, Smoke, Eat
Remove the fish from the refrigerator and rinse the cure off the fish then pat dry. In a cool dark room, set the fish in front of a fan for about 30 minutes until the surface appears matte and dry, almost looking like jerky. This matte surface is the protein coating that will hold the smoke flavor and prevent moisture loss during the smoking process. After dry, insert a meat thermometer into the fish and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. This took 5 hours for me, keeping the air temperature inside the smoker between 155 & 180 degrees.
Plans for the cardboard box smoker can be found here. It works better than you could imagine, don't knock it til you try it. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea/article/0,1976,FOOD_9956_2245800,00.html
The key to smoking meat and keeping it moist while maximizing smoke flavor is to cure the meat first, then dry the outside of the meat in front of a fan. This causes the water soluble proteins which are brought to the surface during curing to form a pellicle, which is basically a protein coating. This prevents moisture from escaping and and provides an ideal surface for the smoke flavor to adhere to.
Day 1: Cure
Ingredients:
1 Cup Kosher salt
1/2 Cup dark brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
Black pepper (add as much or as little as you see fit)
Mix the 3 ingredients thoroughly then liberally apply to both skin and meat side of the fish. Wrap the fish tightly in foil, leaving a little room at the tail end of the fillet to allow juice to drain out. Put the fillet between two pans and stack on a phone book or two for compression, put in the fridge and wait 12-24 hours.
Day 2: Rinse, Dry, Smoke, Eat
Remove the fish from the refrigerator and rinse the cure off the fish then pat dry. In a cool dark room, set the fish in front of a fan for about 30 minutes until the surface appears matte and dry, almost looking like jerky. This matte surface is the protein coating that will hold the smoke flavor and prevent moisture loss during the smoking process. After dry, insert a meat thermometer into the fish and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. This took 5 hours for me, keeping the air temperature inside the smoker between 155 & 180 degrees.
