Always have an adult helping you with any project, to keep you safe.
Especially with projects like this where cutting tools such as scissors or a knife are needed, not to mention the fact that we use matches to light the sawdust.
I've been meaning to post this for a while! (everytime we open the fridge door I remember I need to blog this).
I've already posted a picture of some finished cheese we smoked, but you never got to see the inside of our first smoker, ..home-made of course.
I expect you can see the empty Nesquik containers keeping the lower shelf steady?
OR the cooling racks "borrowed" from the kitchen?
& the new tumble-drier heat vent hose which lets the smoke escape safely & out through a window?
Or the wooden dowel holding up the top rack? (you can't see the bamboo skewers at the back, there are 2 of them holding lots of cheese up!
Or the fact that the smoke cabinet is in fact a cardboard crisp box (quavers multipack of 30)!!!? from our local supermarket.
Yup, we made it on the cheap as a project to smoke cheese & fish ages ago.
Dad said that if we hadn't had the new tumble drier hose around then we would have simply made a chimney to the outside from something else, such as pringles cans with the bottom taken out & gaffer taped together & cut to point the smoke outside with angle cuts.
In other words, EVERYTHING was recycled from somewhere else, & it cost exactly £0.00 to make.
the dowel (wooden rod) was strong enough to hold fresh salmon from & smoke it hanging top to tail, but in the picture we are smoking salt, soy sauce & lots of cheese.
Smoking food preserves it (making it safe to eat for longer) as well as adding a nice smokey flavour depending on how long you let it sit & smoulder for.
We use proper "deli" food safe sawdust, often beech & oak dust from a proper supplier so we know it hasn't got nasty chainsaw oils or swept up from the floor.
If you have a bbq you could try cold smoking cheese (but not in the middle of summer) when the temperature is low, we use a special smoke maze (cold smoke generator) from mac's BBQ, & around 10-12 hours burn time costs us about 14p per smoking session.
If you were smoking food in the wild you would make a wigwam shape enclosure to keep the smoke inside (made with long green stalky plants & grasses, but making it our way this is simple, cheap & tidy, & might earn you a skills badge!
Why not make a food smoking box from recycled items?
..hint, it's got to support the weight of food & not leak smoke, so you will have to seal any door with tape, or tie it shut, & seal any holes you make for the food supports.
simple engineering, but a challenge to find the best materials for free!
My dad has said that if we make a project of it at cubs then we could use our 2 cold smoke generators & sawdust, to test them out with & smoke some edam or cheddar, if we are careful & look after them!
what do you think?
see HERE for mac's guide to how we did it!