delicious UK – April 2018

deliciousmagazine.co.uk 103

PHOTOGRAPHS: ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

RECIPE RESCUE

OVER-WHIPPED CREAM

BE A BETTER COOK

delicious.

(^) KITCHEN
Smoking adds great
flavour to your food

• and you don’t need
  to build a smokehouse
  in the back garden,
  says Lucas Hollweg

THE BASICS

Hot smoking involves smoking at a

temperature of 80-120°C so the food

cooks as well as smokes. It’s usually safe

to eat the food without further cooking;

smoked mackerel is hot smoked.

Cold smoking bathes the food in ‘cool’

smoke (generally at below 30°C), so the

food is flavoured by the smoke but stays

raw and usually needs cooking. Smoked

salmon is an exception. It’s been cured

before smoking, so can be eaten as it is.

WHAT CAN YOU SMOKE?

If you can eat or drink it, you can smoke

it. Fish, meat, seafood, tofu, veg, butter,

cheese, milk, even water and cocktails...

WHAT ABOUT PREP?

Meat and fish benefit

before hot-smoking

moisture and add fla

For fish, sprinkle wit

salt on both sides an

5-10 minutes for sma

or 30 minutes-plus for large fillets/whole

fish. Rinse and dry before smoking.

For meat/poultry, mix equal amounts

of salt with light brown sugar (and any

herbs/spices you want: five-spice is

good for duck). Rub in and leave for

15-60 minutes, then rinse and dry.

ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT

Hot smoking is easy enough to do

yourself, but you can buy stovetop

smokers (such as the Cameron from

souschef.co.uk) and smoking bags

(from lakeland.co.uk). The latter seal in

the food next to a sachet of woodchips,

which infuses it with flavour as it cooks.

Cold smoking requires more kit, such as

an electric smoker. You can buy smoke

guns (lakeland.co.uk) that infuse food

with a hint of smoke in a few minutes.

HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE HOT SMOKER

You’ll need an old oven tray; pan or wok

with a close-fitting lid; kitchen foil; a

wire rack that fits inside the pan a few

woods give a mild, sweet result; oak

gives a mellow smokiness. You can also

smoke with hay or a mixture of rice and

tea leaves, such as lapsang souchong.

Put a few teaspoons of sawdust in the

pan, cover with foil and pierce a few holes

in the top. Open the windows. Heat the

pan until the sawdust starts to smoke.

Put the rack on top, then the food. Cover

the pan tightly with a lid/foil, then turn

the heat to its lowest until the food is

smoked to your liking – it can take time

to get it right, but don’t leave the pan

unattended. You can always finish

king meat/fish in

an/oven. Let the sawdust cool before

owing it away.

rks best for quick-cooking fish fillets

scallops, or small cuts of poultry

h as duck or pigeon breasts. →

HOME SMOKING

“Ifyoucaneatordrinkit,

youcansmokeit...”

COOK’S

TIP

Stirring butter

into cooked

risotto at the end of the

cooking time is a

traditional final step

known as ‘mantecare’.

Mixing in the butter adds

a richness that brings the

dish together to create

the right consistency and

mouthfeel. See our cover-

star risotto recipe on p22

THE

GOOD LIFE

When the consistency is right, whipped cream should

fall from the whisks in loose, cloud-like dollops. Whisk

it too much and it starts to stiffen. If that happens, don’t

try to stir in more cream or the mixture will get thicker.

Instead, stir in a splash of milk. The result will be less

stable than pure whipped cream but will be fine for

spooning onto a pudding. If the cream is so whipped that

it looks like homemade butter, you may as well finish

the job. Wash off the buttermilk with cold water, then

mix in salt to taste and spread on hot muffins.

t from quick curing

todrawout some

vour.

thcoarse

d leave for

all fillets

wire rack that fits inside the pan a few

centimetres off the bottom; sawdust.

What kindofsawdust?Chemical-free

hardwoods.

Appleand

fruit

una

cook

a pa

thro

Wor

and

such