How to make… a cold smoker

I’ve used mine to add flavour to all sorts – from venison and pheasant to pigeon and cheeses. Cold smoking flavours and preserves but doesn’t cook food. The food is placed away from the heat source so the smoke can cool before it reaches the item. The smoker temperature should be 30C or below for cold smoking.

All cold smoked food items need to be cooked before eating. Smoking meat or fish is more successful if a dry salt-based cure or wet brine is used beforehand. This also helps to add flavour, tenderises, and draws out impurities. The exception is cheese, butter and vegetables that cold smoke well but do not require salting beforehand.

The three required elements to make a cold smoker are a firebox to create the smoke, some ducting to move and cool the smoke, and a chamber to contain the food and smoke. The design is only limited by your imagination and using recycled items can help to keep the cost down.

Hardwoods should be used for smoking and there are endless combinations. Fine sawdust, shavings or chips make the best material to provide a continuous flow of smoke without easily forming flames. Alder, cherry, apple, oak, hickory, beech or ash are all excellent choices to create unique flavour profiles.

The following step-by-step guide will, I hope, provide you with the detail necessary to have a go yourself…