Cold smoked salmon (36 hours) using a Pro Q smoke unit
Posted: 26 Mar 2012, 11:43
My parents bought me one of the Pro Q cold smoke generators. I was really skeptical about its ability to generate enough smoke over the claimed 12 hour period - but it works a treat. I do have difficulty lighting it sometimes & it might take 3 or 4 attempts to get it starting to smolder. But once it's working, it stays doing so. For the smoked salmon on the Kamado Joe pictured below, I got well over 12 hours from each batch of oak dust.
My tip would be to light it on the BBQ with any bottom vents closed, as any wind / draft at all seemed to extinguish the smolder at the lighting stage. I then actually left all vents closed, except for a tiny gap in the top daisy wheel.
Couldn't find the manufacturer's website but did find a how-to on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/v/43nMHZQukwE&hl=en
And here's a picture I took of the smoked salmon I did for Christmas day which had been cured in simple salt brine for a few hours & then cold smoked in the KJ for 36 hours using the Pro Q unit & 3 fills of oak saw dust! It was a complete mare to cut thinly as per shop-bought stuff, but I got there in the end!
We have also been using it to smoke steaks before grilling them. I did the first two for four hours & this was too much - far too smokey to our tastes. So I cut it to two hours the next time & they were lovely. Will try one hour next to see if that is enough or whether two hours is optimum. I turned the steaks over once half way through - not sure if I needed to but as they were only laid flat on the grill extender in the KJ I thought it couldn't do them any harm.
My tip would be to light it on the BBQ with any bottom vents closed, as any wind / draft at all seemed to extinguish the smolder at the lighting stage. I then actually left all vents closed, except for a tiny gap in the top daisy wheel.
Couldn't find the manufacturer's website but did find a how-to on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/v/43nMHZQukwE&hl=en
And here's a picture I took of the smoked salmon I did for Christmas day which had been cured in simple salt brine for a few hours & then cold smoked in the KJ for 36 hours using the Pro Q unit & 3 fills of oak saw dust! It was a complete mare to cut thinly as per shop-bought stuff, but I got there in the end!
We have also been using it to smoke steaks before grilling them. I did the first two for four hours & this was too much - far too smokey to our tastes. So I cut it to two hours the next time & they were lovely. Will try one hour next to see if that is enough or whether two hours is optimum. I turned the steaks over once half way through - not sure if I needed to but as they were only laid flat on the grill extender in the KJ I thought it couldn't do them any harm.