Homemade food always tastes especially good. The dishes that the owners prepare at the dacha are especially pleasing to the family. Sometimes you want to eat some smoked fish or meat.
And although doctors do not recommend abusing this food, sometimes we can indulge in it. To prepare dishes, make a structure such as a smokehouse for your home.
It is installed in the local area or suburban area. Smokehouses can be cold or hot smoked. We will tell you how to make the last option. Before you start work, read articles on this topic, make drawings, find materials and tools.
How does smoking occur?
A homemade home smokehouse is a simple design for quickly preparing meat and fish dishes that you can immediately serve to your guests. To fumigate food, you need smoke and uniform heating. When smoking at home, monitor the temperature.
If you take everything into account when preparing, you will delight your loved ones with aromatic and tasty delicacies.
Smoking food in home smokers is a common practice.
Smoked meats have become a favorite dish for country picnics.
How to make a smokehouse at home, and how to cook smoked meat and fish?
First, learn about cooking methods. The hot smoking method differs from cold smoking in that it does not take much time.
The temperature range at which food is smoked is from 50 to 100 °C, the time is 1-2 hours. The food is cooked in a smoker while wood chips and shavings slowly smolder. The tree can be wet - then the meat will be juicier and more tender. Small dried branches are also suitable: they burn for a long time.
Different temperatures are suitable for cooking: it all depends on how far the food is from the smoldering coals. The taste is also affected by what kind of firewood you choose. Trees burn and smolder in different ways, the taste of their smoke is different.
Smoking chips are sold and are suitable for various dishes:
- alder - meat or vegetables;
- oak - pork, veal, etc.;
- willow - game, elk, venison, fish;
- cherry trees - vegetables and berries.
Step-by-step instruction
- Step No. 1. Two circles are cut out of a metal sheet. One is welded tightly.
- Step No. 2. The second circle acts as a door. It is necessary to first weld the hinges and handle to it.
- Step No. 3. The corners are welded from the inside, just below the center of the product. They will serve as support for the gratings.
- Step No. 4. The next row of corners (below the first) will become a guide for the pallet.
- Step No. 5. After welding a lattice from iron rods, place it in the structure.
All that remains is to place the product on the grill (a firebox prepared from bricks), light the wood and start cooking.
If the device is based on a pipe with a diameter of 30 and a length of 50 cm, then this design will provide a batch of meat, fish or poultry for a company of five to six people.
Benefits of smoking
The dishes smell delicious, and in a hot-smoked smokehouse made by hand, the owner can cook a lot of delicacies. At the same time, he will spend much less money, because such products are quite expensive in stores. Cooking yourself is much more enjoyable and interesting.
In order not to spend extra money, make a practical design from inexpensive materials.
If you don’t know how to make a smokehouse, then our tips will certainly be useful to you.
This method has its advantages, which is why it is still used:
- smoke destroys microbes and helminths living in meat;
- Vitamins are preserved in smoked meats if they are not fumigated at high temperatures;
- products are stored for a long time because the smoke “preserves” them.
The units are installed on personal plots or in the country. There are other advantages of home installations: dishes are prepared quickly (small fish fumigates in 30 minutes, poultry and lard - 40 minutes).
Milk flask
Milk flasks (cans) are made of food-grade aluminum, so they are suitable for safely smoking products. The flask has a cylindrical shape, so you can make a smokehouse out of it in the same way as in other chambers with a similar shape.
Sawdust is placed at the bottom of the flask, and a container is placed on top to collect fat.
Instead of gratings, due to the narrowness of the flasks, a cross is used, on which the fish are not laid out, but hung. They fasten it in this way: drill 4 holes below the neck of the flask and insert steel rods or wooden sticks into them.
The can is placed on bricks, a fire is lit under it and the smoking process begins.
Types of smokehouses
There are different types of home smokehouse for hot smoking, each of them differs in design. Masters advise choosing those materials that will be easier for you to work with.
There are three types of units:
- mine (vertical);
- tunnel (horizontal);
- chamber
Mine ones are the easiest to install. It is not necessary to make a platform for them. In appearance, the structure is similar to a hut, in the upper part of which food is hung. You cannot fumigate food in a hot-smoked mine smokehouse.
It does not regulate smoke production. When installing tunnel structures, craftsmen carry out a lot of work, including excavation. Find a place to install the device that resembles the required slope.
The source generating smoke in horizontal models is located in a semi-closed chamber. This design allows you to smoke meat in any weather. It is used for both hot and cold smoking.
The smoking chamber is quite primitive, but it is large: the height is one and a half meters, the diameter is a meter. During installation, find an inclined plane whose angle is 10-30°.
Materials for the smoking chamber?
On an industrial scale, additional flavoring additives and liquid simulating smoke are used for smoking. Regular consumption of store products can negatively affect the well-being and health of the consumer.
Experts say that such products contain a high amount of carcinogens. These substances provoke pathological processes in the human body.
A home smokehouse allows you to independently select materials for safe processing of food products. Particular attention must be paid to wood chips. The taste of the finished dish depends on it.
To manufacture such a design, it is necessary to adhere to standard drawings of smokehouses. In the vastness of the virtual space there are a huge number of options for home use.
How to sketch
Experts advise drawing up diagrams yourself if a homemade country smokehouse will look good in the local area, and you want it to complement the exterior.
But if you don’t see the need for this, then look at the finished sketches: this way you will avoid mistakes. However, still make calculations for the dimensions of the main smoking chamber.
Sometimes minor changes are made to the scheme. A DIY smokehouse is convenient due to its compact size.
Smokehouses for cold fumigation of food are usually larger, but they produce juicier dishes that are stored for a long time. The design of mini-smokehouses is simpler and more concise.
Manufacturing
Stores sell machines for smoking meat, but if you don't want to spend money, we'll give you tips so you know how to make a smoker at home.
Making such a design will be an interesting and exciting activity, because there are many options and methods. The device is made from various materials. We suggest considering the simplest options.
From a barrel or bucket
Make a smokehouse from an iron barrel: this solution is the most affordable. To begin, cut off the bottom of the container and attach a grid (or reinforcing bars) to it at 2 levels.
Place a tray below. At the very top, food is hung on hooks. To make a smokehouse, a metal bucket is suitable. Insert 2 stainless steel grates inside.
One of them is placed at a distance of 10 cm above the bottom, and the other 5 cm above from the other mesh. Place up to 2 cm of wood chips on the bottom of the bucket. Place the bird or fish on the grill. Now cover the mini-smoker with a lid and put it on fire.
You can fumigate food in a bucket: it will be ready in 15 minutes. after the smoke appears. Remove the bucket from the open fire and wait until it cools down.
This design works without electricity, so it is well suited for outdoor trips or evening picnics in the country. At the same time, you can save energy.
Gas cylinder
It is not difficult to make a smokehouse from a gas cylinder; for this you need:
- Unscrew the valve from the gas cylinder, first making sure that there is no gas left in it. This can be done using a pipe or ring wrench. After the valve is removed, leave the cylinder to ventilate in fresh air for several days.
- After removing the valve, you need to fill the cylinder with water: this will help displace the remaining gas. It is best to repeat this manipulation three times.
- In the container, cut a hole for the chimney and two holes for connecting the cylinders. This can be done with a hole saw, but it is better to use a plasma cutter.
- Cut the door along the cylinder.
- Make a system for regulating the flow of air and smoke. To do this, weld a plate with triangular holes to the chimney. Attach another similar plate to the top of the smoke chamber.
- Weld the smoke chamber with the stove.
- Install the door. Weld a steel strip (35 mm) along its edges. Weld a handle to open the door.
- Install gratings inside the cylinder, welding iron corners to secure them.
- Install a tray at the bottom of the chamber to collect fat.
Place the cylinder, light a fire under it, and start smoking.
Advantages of a home smokehouse
We briefly described how to make a smokehouse with your own hands. This task is within the capabilities of any owner who is accustomed to using tools and wants to prepare delicious poultry and fish dishes.
Your family and friends will appreciate your efforts and will happily enjoy the smoked meat. Experts advise making a smokehouse yourself for the following reasons:
- Price. Smokehouses that are on sale can be simple in their design or supplemented with functions. But the prices for such devices are usually high. A DIY smokehouse will not require you to spend a lot of money. To make it, simple materials and inexpensive tools are suitable.
- Fast production. The work is carried out quite quickly. Much depends on what type of design you choose. It can take a day to make your own smokers, but some units can be completed in a couple of hours.
- Convenient use. Smokehouses are easy to maintain with your own hands. You can cook delicious meals without having to spend a lot of effort.
- Long service life. Units made according to the advice of masters from reliable materials will serve you for many years.
- Quick installation. The designs are extremely simple, so they are easy to assemble.
Adviсe
Additional recommendations:
- To light the smokehouse, shavings of branches left over from pruning trees or old firewood are suitable. The pleasant smell comes from the smoke from pear, cherry and apple trees.
- Large logs are needed only to obtain coals. Place the wood in the stove and light the fire. Then install the tray with shavings.
- To create thick smoke, close the valve on the pipe when coals appear. At this time, the chips will begin to smolder and smoke will appear.
- For good smoking, follow simple rules. Large pieces take longer to smoke, small pieces less. The main thing is that the smoke flows constantly while the bird or fish is cooking. Add wood chips to the tray and the temperature will remain approximately the same.
- Keep it in moderation. Long fumigation will spoil the taste of smoked dishes. Check from time to time to see if the food is ready.
- To speed up smoking, boil the lard in salted water.
Smoked meats will diversify your daily and holiday menu. Prepare delicacies yourself and surprise your guests with delicious dishes. Your friends will appreciate the piquant aroma and pleasant taste of homemade bacon or river fish.
Create a cozy atmosphere in your garden. The smoker will serve you for a long time and will work properly if you clean and wash it regularly. Experts advise making such cameras from durable materials.
Small or portable
Structurally, it is made in the form of a sealed box made of stainless or ferrous metal with a thickness of 2-3 mm. A baking tray is placed inside to drain the fat. It is somewhat smaller in size than the box to allow the passage of smoke. Then the grate for food is installed.
A fire is built at the bottom of the box. After closing the box, combustion products begin to smolder, smoke comes out through a small hole in the lid or in the wall of the box. The temperature inside is 90 0C and above.
Smokehouses: photo gallery
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