![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Yesterday's smoke was was an experiment to see if I could get a leg of pork cooked and crackled.
I kicked off with a starter chimney packed with heat beads, and when they were fully burning dumped them in the Weber, followed immediately by a second measure of heat beads. When they were also burning I assembled the smoker and shut it down. The corked thermometer shot up to 200C, but eventually started to drop. While I waited for that to happen I rubbed the outside of the pork* with salt, then placed it on the lower rack - no water pan. Two cubes of ironbark wood added the smoke, and with the Weber shut down they lasted quite a while despite the heat. Over the next four hours I added four more lumps of ironbark. At the end of that time the meat was nicely cooked and the skin quite hard, but it did not crackle. 30 minutes in the oven at 200C finally got the crispy goodness that is pork fats.
The only way it could be better is if I'd stabbed the pork deeply and marinaded it overnight in a soy, ginger and garlic mix.
Next experiment, a cheap supermarket marinaded chicken.
I forgot to blog last week's smoked fish run. I picked up some really cheap frozen fillets of hoki ($6/kg) from Woolies. Once thawed it was soaked for a couple of hours in brine, then cold-smoked (approx 150F) for 4 hours. Afterwards I did a "quick" taste test. Only half the fish survived the test, and only because I stuffed myself silly with the other half. The only way it could be better is if it had been cod ($48/kg) I think I'll try a soak in something more exotic. Like soy.
*Boned leg of pork, rolled tight and tied into a meaty cylinder of porky goodness.
I kicked off with a starter chimney packed with heat beads, and when they were fully burning dumped them in the Weber, followed immediately by a second measure of heat beads. When they were also burning I assembled the smoker and shut it down. The corked thermometer shot up to 200C, but eventually started to drop. While I waited for that to happen I rubbed the outside of the pork* with salt, then placed it on the lower rack - no water pan. Two cubes of ironbark wood added the smoke, and with the Weber shut down they lasted quite a while despite the heat. Over the next four hours I added four more lumps of ironbark. At the end of that time the meat was nicely cooked and the skin quite hard, but it did not crackle. 30 minutes in the oven at 200C finally got the crispy goodness that is pork fats.
The only way it could be better is if I'd stabbed the pork deeply and marinaded it overnight in a soy, ginger and garlic mix.
Next experiment, a cheap supermarket marinaded chicken.
I forgot to blog last week's smoked fish run. I picked up some really cheap frozen fillets of hoki ($6/kg) from Woolies. Once thawed it was soaked for a couple of hours in brine, then cold-smoked (approx 150F) for 4 hours. Afterwards I did a "quick" taste test. Only half the fish survived the test, and only because I stuffed myself silly with the other half. The only way it could be better is if it had been cod ($48/kg) I think I'll try a soak in something more exotic. Like soy.
*Boned leg of pork, rolled tight and tied into a meaty cylinder of porky goodness.
