Coldsmoking

Coldsmoking - is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to the smoke from burning or smoldering plant materials, most often wood. Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as whisky and lapsang souchong tea are also smoked.
In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but oak is more often used now and beech to a lesser extent. In North America, hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple, and fruit-tree woods such as apple, cherry and plum are commonly used for smoking.
Other fuels besides wood can also be employed, sometimes with the addition of flavoring ingredients. Some North American ham and bacon makers smoke their products over burning corncobs. Peat is burned to dry and smoke the barley malt used to make whisky and some beers. In New Zealand, sawdust from the native manuka (tea tree) is commonly used for hot smoking fish.
Historically, farms in the western world included a small building termed the smokehouse where meats could be smoked and stored. This was generally well-separated from other buildings both because of the fire danger and due to the smell of the smoke.
Cold smoking temperatures should typically be maintained below 30°C/86°F. In this temperature range, the food will not cook and will take on a rich, smokey flavour and develop a deep mahogany colour. Coldsmoked foods tend to retain a relatively moist texture.

Coldsmoking was is useful preservation tool, in combination with salt-curing or drying. For some long-smoked foods, the smoking time also serves to dry the food. Drying, curing, or other techniques can render the interior of foods inhospitable to bacterial life, while the smoking gives the vulnerable exterior surfaces an extra layer of protection. For oily fish, smoking is especially useful, as its antioxidant properties delay surface fat rancidification. (Interior fat isn't as exposed to oxygen, which is what causes rancidity.) Salt or brine curing serves two main purposes, Firstly it acts as an anticeptic and anti bactieial preventing the fish from spoiling and secondly, the process of salt curing renders water from the fish fillet reducing its overall writht and firming up the meat, improving the texture of the flesh,

| Coldsmoking | Hot Smoking | The Smoking Process | Wood Smoke Flavour | Preservation |