Cold smoking cod

[TheNakedWhiz]

My English wife (yes, the wife who....) wanted smoked cod just like they had back in England. Cold smoked and yellow. I chose the Komodo Kamado over the BGE for this since the distance between the heat/smoke source and the fish would be the greatest. Plus, I figured the KK's greater mass would take longer to heat up than the Egg. And also, the KK allows me to insert and remove my little fire holder through the lower vent so that I didn't have to move racks to replace the charcoal or add more wood slices.

Essentially, I used the same method that I use for cold smoking cheese. I light a few briquettes and add slices of smoking wood on top. Using such a small fire meant that I could keep the temperature low without resorting to a second cooker and a piece of dryer vent hose feeding the KK. In the end, using this method I was able to keep the temperature at the level of the fish at 93-94 degrees when the outside temperature was 82 degrees. (I also put up the umbrellas to keep the sun off the black KK.)

In the end, it turned out pretty good except that the end product wasn't exactly what the wife (yes, the wife who....) remembered. I'm working on that part with Clive, my UK culinary advisor. (Clive plays the cello, so Clive must know everything!) Next time, I am going to try putting a little rack beneath the briquettes in the foil pan to improve the airflow. The fire required quite a bit of tending. Also, I'm going to raise the fish using a raised grid to get it higher above the ice pan so that more smoke can get underneath the fish. I had to turn the fish over halfway which meant smoking twice as long.

[ThreeDJ16]

Re: Cold smoking cod

My English wife (yes, the wife who....) wanted smoked cod just like they had back in England. Cold smoked and yellow. I chose the Komodo Kamado over the BGE for this since the distance between the heat/smoke source and the fish would be the greatest. Plus, I figured the KK's greater mass would take longer to heat up than the Egg. And also, the KK allows me to insert and remove my little fire holder through the lower vent so that I didn't have to move racks to replace the charcoal or add more wood slices.

Essentially, I used the same method that I use for cold smoking cheese. I light a few briquettes and add slices of smoking wood on top. Using such a small fire meant that I could keep the temperature low without resorting to a second cooker and a piece of dryer vent hose feeding the KK. In the end, using this method I was able to keep the temperature at the level of the fish at 93-94 degrees when the outside temperature was 82 degrees. (I also put up the umbrellas to keep the sun off the black KK.)

In the end, it turned out pretty good except that the end product wasn't exactly what the wife (yes, the wife who....) remembered. I'm working on that part with Clive, my UK culinary advisor. (Clive plays the cello, so Clive must know everything!) Next time, I am going to try putting a little rack beneath the briquettes in the foil pan to improve the airflow. The fire required quite a bit of tending. Also, I'm going to raise the fish using a raised grid to get it higher above the ice pan so that more smoke can get underneath the fish. I had to turn the fish over halfway which meant smoking twice as long.

Hey Whizzy, did you see the really cool method Firemonkey came up with for doing jerky at low temps? Cannot remember where it is at (someone can find it), but basically the CEL stacked on a metal rod and light it at the bottom....nice! Maybe that could help you out with less fire tending?

-=Jasen=-

[TheNakedWhiz]

I'll have to see what I can find. Thanks!

[jdbower]

Since DJ's too lazy to look 5 threads down...

viewtopic.php?t=2929

[ThreeDJ16]

Since DJ's too lazy to look 5 threads down...

viewtopic.php?t=2929

I have retired from such trivial tasks!

[TheNakedWhiz]

Very interesting, but way too hot. But maybe there is food for thought there....

[Firemonkey]

You could keep it much cooler with just one stack of extruded. But for what you are doing, why not just a hotplate on the floor of the grill with a pan of wood on it?

[TheNakedWhiz]

I think a hot plate would heat the cooker up more than a piece or two of charcoal. AB used a hot plate in his flower pot and had it up to 250 or something like that. I imagine if the hot plate is hot enough to make the wood smoke, it would overheat the cooker. I tried a little experiment with one piece of KK EC yesterday in a little pan with a little grate in it, and it did better than what I had done earlier in terms of the amount of attention it required. It still got a little too hot, but I didn't have the pans of ice in the cooker. If I wait until next winter, I'll have this licked, LOL!

[ThreeDJ16]

I think a hot plate would heat the cooker up more than a piece or two of charcoal. AB used a hot plate in his flower pot and had it up to 250 or something like that. I imagine if the hot plate is hot enough to make the wood smoke' date=' it would overheat the cooker. I tried a little experiment with one piece of KK EC yesterday in a little pan with a little grate in it, and it did better than what I had done earlier in terms of the amount of attention it required. It still got a little too hot, but I didn't have the pans of ice in the cooker. If I wait until next winter, I'll have this licked, LOL![/quote']

Curious of your damper settings? Maybe opening the top damper all the way and just restrict the inlet to a tiny crack? Did you use that little pan in the ash area? Hell, today with a black cooker you don't need any charcoal.....matter of fact you would have needed an AC to get it down to 85!

-=Jasen=-

[TheNakedWhiz]

I had the dampers wide open. I figure there's enough oxygen in that monster that you aren't going to throttle the "fire" with the dampers. I also figured that having more airflow would keep heat from building up. Now, the new CyberQ II says it can control the temperature down to 32 degrees. However, keeping that tank of liquid nitrogen filled is expensive, lol. But, I think with ice and perhaps avoiding hot days, I can manage. (By the way, I did have umbrellas on the deck shading the cooker from the sun.)