I’ve been learning how to cold smoke for many decades. I thought it would be hard to understand at first, but it’s not.
Like everything, it’s a process; however, it’s also a craft.
For some reason, people perceive it as really confusing. I hope to explain cold smoking and slightly demystify the subject below.
It’s also not like baking, roasting, or cooking in general. It has nuances and is multifaceted in some regards. These are what make it enjoyable to many for flavor or preservation factors.
With some essential equipment and knowledge, cold smoking can be incredibly satisfying.
I’ve got the how-to, different ways to make the cold smoke, areas to smoke in, and a step-by-step guide below.
Why Cold Smoke Meat
Cold smoking is traditionally used for preservation but also another complex angle of flavor. What I learned about cold smoking is that ‘less smoke is better than too much’. Over the decades of making cold-smoked bacon, I’ve reduced the cold smoking hours, with 6-8 hours being proper for me.
I’ve experimented with long 30-50-hour cold-smoked meats and visited/tried Montenegrian-style cold-smoked dry-cured hams, which are 30 days plus of cold smoking. These are very well preserved, though there is a point where the smoke overpowers the meat flavor completely.
Some, like Traditional Cold-Smoked Bacon, are often considered irresistible because of the salt, the sweetness of the meat (or the addition of sweetness), smoke, and fat!
Cold smoking can be about preserving for a longer time since it helps with antimicrobial protection. But it is about flavor. The variations you can get with some woods are crazy.
Compared to oak or pecan, Hickory has completely different smoke flavor profiles
Hot Smoking, whether with direct or indirect heat, is always about cooking the meat to a finished internal temperature.
Cold Smoking is about drying the meat with cool smoke around it for flavor and protection.
Here are reasons why cold smoking has been used for thousands of years, well before the fridge was invented.
Cold smoking is another form of drying meat. Dry meat leads to the preservation of the meat.
- The cold smoked salt-cured environment is not what unwant bacteria like, so, hence why it preserves meat for a longer period of time
- As opposed to hot smoking, cold smoking means fully penetrating the meat with smoke (and fully salt-curing the meat). Hot smoking generally means the surface is only smoked.
- It changes the flavor considerably while also intensifying it. I think this is due to the moisture reduction.
- Changes the color, often takes on a golden hue color, which I find very appealing
- The meat becomes quite firm due to the moisture loss during the curing & smoking
Covering many aspects of cold smoking meat and food, I made this video below also.
The non-cured options for cold-smoked foods will be elaborated on another page here. Cold-smoking foods that aren’t cured meat are an excellent way to learn and develop a feel for the craft of cold-smoking food.
Ingredients
Salt without additives is technically the only base ingredient for cold smoking cured meat.
Equipment
There are 2 aspects to cold smoking, a device to generating the cold smoke and a area/chamber to smoke in.
You have an area like a hooded grill that you could retrofit with a device, I’ll go over many of the options Ive used over the years and what I’ve researched also.
Devices for Cold Smoke
There is a simple approach, where you can use minimalistic materials, like a lump of charcoal or two with some woodchips sprinkled on it.
Through to that smoke generator that has an adjustable air pump to adjust the smoke level being pumped in.
Here is a review of the Smokai I did; it’s a solid, consistent, clean smoker. It’s a cold smoker. It can also boost smoke for a hot smoker or low and slow smoker.
DIY Smoker Options & Designs
Below, it will cover the simplest of smoking devices, which can be used in many smoking chambers, structures, or smokehouses.
Most designs I have seen have two chambers.
- An area where wood is smoking & smoldering
- food or meat area where meat can be hung or on racks
A pipe or some connection is made so the smoke can travel to the smoking food area. Because the fire/wood is in a different area, this keeps the temperature below the all-important 30°C or 86°F, generally speaking.
I came across one Dutch butcher many years ago. He had a huge metal storage tank with double doors. He would make a large pile of sawdust below the meat and light it with a blow torch. The temperature was always low because it was 6 feet below where the meat was hung, and it was winter.
The devices below can be used inside a smoking area, depending on their dimensions.
Pellet Tube & Maze Style Smoke Devices
You will find these work very similarly to each other. You light one end, and it starts smoking—pretty simple. However, because it isn’t a controlled form of burning, it can be a little hit-and-miss. For example, sometimes I find the pellets stop burning.
Keeping an eye on this method is key. It would help if you also remembered fire needs oxygen, so how you set these devices up needs to consider this factor.
I use a pellet tube on the gas grill to enhance my cooking, such as steaks or eggplant. Alternatively, I leave the gas grill heat off and use the enclosed area to cold-smoke some food.
A pellet tube or maze might not generate enough smoke to fill a smokehouse or larger cabinet. I guess it does depend on the design.
Smoke Generator (Venturi Effect)
This has a significant advantage over many electric smoker accessories or the above maze or tube smokers. It has variable controllers, so you can control how much smoke is generated and how it burns.
Depending on the wood you use, this means you have more control over the cold smoking project.
These can come in a range of sizes. I find they can create a good amount of smoke. I’ve played around pumping smoke into my gas grill BBQ, portable smoker, and kettle BBQ.
Some smoke generators can handle larger chips and chunks of wood, while others are more suited to pellet wood fuels. I’ve tried using the unrecommended wood sizes a few times, but it becomes annoying because you have to relight or clean out the tubes often. If I were you, I would avoid this experimental behavior.
This is a ‘cool’ (cold smoke) invention. I have been using it for many years. My smoke generator came with a drill bit. You can then make a hole and use a nut and thread to mount the smoker in many different locations.
A small air
The key to smoke generators working effectively is to use good, dry wood that’s right-sized for the device. Some generators prefer chunkier-sized wood, while others prefer some dimensions or pellets.
If your looking for the 'ducks nuts' (that means a very good bit of equipment). A smoke generator can be used as a cold smoker, or adding smoke to indirect cooking which equates to a form of 'low & slow' bbq or making smoked ham and some much more.
The inventor of smoke generators was Smokai, it's a simple device that uses the venturi effect and a variable air pump to control the amount of smoke you are pumping.
I have a range of cold smoking options, and the Smokai is my favorite.
By far the smokai is the most efficient cold smoker I've come across because you have control.Â
It also burns very clean, which flavors the food exceptionally well. I've been using smoke generators for over 10 years, and this one is the ducks nuts.
Check out this review I did of the Smokai Smoke Generator here.
Expert Tips
For cure meat to be cold smoked, these are the most important points I can give you from what I have learned:
- Make sure you have fresh, good, high-quality meat
- Weighing before curing and working out the finished weight
- Make use of adequate refrigeration when processing meat
- Accurately salt cure or salt wet brine the meat
- Choose wood that won’t be too strong
- Have a smoke generator or cold smoking device for consistency
Keep Your Cold Smoking out of the Sun – The sun can heat a chamber up, so I always try to find a shady spot to smoke cold on the porch. The sun will swing across the sky, so consider this when positioning your cold smoking session.
Weight Loss with Cold Smoking
It seems to vary between meats, especially fish like trout and salmon. As soon as fish are out of the water, they start losing weight, so the weight loss you want to achieve varies.
Since cold smoking is just another form of drying.
I aim for at least 15% less than before curing for fish. Many commercial smokehouses target 30% weight loss.
For Cold Smoked Bacon (I wrote an article about that here), I aim for at least 25% weight loss. I have generally seen 20-30% in books as a guideline.
When the humidity is high, the cold smoking will take a lot longer, but unless you’re using commercial equipment, weighing the meat is the next best thing to work out how effective and how long the cold smoking should be for.
This book covers all the aspects of cold and hot smoking, so I got the idea to think more about humidity from it.
What Does Cold Smoking Mean?
Cold Smoking preserves and flavors food. It is achieved through airflow and a temperature below 30° C/86°F. Humidity is also vital for cold-smoking meat. If meat is being cold-smoked, it must be fully salt-cured before cold smoking.
What Foods Can be Cold Smoked?
Red Meat, Fish, Poultry, Offal, Vegetables, Spices, Salt, practically any food imaginable.
Tom Mueller
For decades, immersed in studying, working, learning, and teaching the craft of meat curing, sharing the passion and showcasing the world of charcuterie and smoked meat. Read More