When, how and what to cold smoke

The best times to cold smoke are when the outside temperature is low. As the name suggests, to "cold smoke" it must be "cold". So autumn is a really ideal season for this.

People are generally familiar with cold smoked salmon, but you should know that you can cold smoke many other proteins and foods besides that. For example, you can cold smoke duck, beef, eggs, nuts, cheese, salt… the possibilities are endless!

Cold smoking was originally used as a method of preserving food. In fact, before there were refrigerators, people cold smoked their food so that the smoke would come into contact with their food and “chemically seal” it so that it would “last” longer. Most often, people dried, salted, and then smoked meats and fish.

If we go back to the time when people heated with wood, for example, people had a large stone hearth inside their house and hung pieces of ham or meat on which they had added their salt near the hearth so that the smoke would directly smoke the food and give it an aroma.

Over time, man realized that there were other ways to preserve food, but the unique taste that smoking created, on the other hand, always remained in his heart.

So today I'm here to not only talk about the basics of cold smoking, but also to give you some ideas of foods to smoke. Get ready, you'll finish reading this article with your head full of ideas! 🤩

What do you need to cold smoke?

In order to be able to cold smoke, there are a few essential elements that must be respected.

First of all, the outside temperature should be between 0 and 10 °C. This is important, because even though you don't light the BBQ to cold smoke, there still needs to be some heat around it. If it makes your process easier, you can even smoke your proteins at night, since it's cooler.

Next, the temperature of the BBQ should generally be below 80°F (even though a temperature between 70 and 80°F is recommended for "cooking" most foods). It all depends, in fact, on what you want to smoke. Nuts, for example, can be cold smoked at a higher temperature, between 120 and 130°F. Ultimately, your goal is for the smoke inside the BBQ to soak into your food to "cook" it. Also, if your BBQ is black, place it in a spot away from the sun so that the internal temperature of your appliance does not exceed 80°F during smoking.

There are also several ways to cold smoke. In my opinion, however, the best method is to use the famous Smoker Labyrinth BBQ Québec . The Smoker is a stainless steel maze with lots of holes. You put pellets in it, light them on one side (or both, depending on how slowly you want to smoke) and smoke your food. If you fill the Smoker and light the pellets on one side, they will smoke for about 12 hours. It could be 9 hours, it could be 15 hours, it depends on the air circulation inside your BBQ and its insulation.

Speaking of BBQ, you can use any kind of BBQ for cold smoking. One that I find really, really awesome, though, is the XXL Vertical Smoker with WIFI from Camp Chef . I can put a huge amount of food in it (this BBQ even has two types of grills, so I can smoke fish or almonds!) and I can even put my Smoker completely in its bottom, so really far from my food, and let the smoke rise quietly and do its job. (Of course, we don't light the BBQ, we use it as a container to circulate the smoke.)

Also, by the way, if your BBQ is not pellet and you don't want to be "stuck" with a 20 lb bag from home, I recommend you opt for the 5 lb bag from BBQ Quebec Sugar Maple Granules . Really practical, this "small" format will allow you to do several cold smokes and its resealable bag will keep your granules well.

If you want to use another type of pellet, those made from pecan, cherry or apple are very good choices (the former, with sugar maple pellets, give a more pronounced result and the latter a milder result).

What to cold smoke, and how?

As I mentioned earlier, there are a variety of foods you can smoke. So here are some of my recommendations and recipe ideas you can make:

Salmon

Personally, I like to smoke a wild salmon fillet. My favorite seasoning blend for salmon is this:

• ¼ t. (approximately) of Yukon BBQ Quebec X La ferme Monette dry marinade
• ¼ cup (approximately) Caribbean BBQ Quebec dry marinade
• ¼ cup (approximately) California BBQ Quebec dry marinade
• Quebec BBQ Cake Seasoning , to taste (smaller amount than ¼ cup)

Seriously, this mix creates a really fun little flavor mix and the result is delicious.

Once your mixture is ready, use it to completely cover your salmon fillet. Whether your fillet has skin or not, I recommend covering only 1 of its sides with the mixture so that the taste is not too intense.

Cover your fillet with plastic wrap if desired, then chill the salmon for 24 hours in the refrigerator. If you still prefer to season your protein on both sides, chill the salmon fillet for 12 hours instead of 24.

When the time is up, technically you can eat your filet as is (without the packaging, obviously 😉) because it has "chemically cooked", but I recommend smoking it on the BBQ because it will taste even better and you will be 100% sure that it will not contain bacteria.

Depending on how you like your food smoked, smoking can take 12 hours, or it can take 6. Go with your preferences and the intensity of flavor you're looking for.

Beef steak

The ideal temperature for cold smoking a steak is between 0 and 4°C outside (ideally a temperature below 4°C, even).

Once your piece of meat is smoked, vacuum pack it and put it in the fridge or freezer. It will be ready to be grilled on both sides later (without packaging), when you are ready to enjoy it. When you want a good steak with a smoky taste, but you don't have the chance to have or the time to use a charcoal BBQ, this method is really ideal.

Duck breast

Using a knife, make diamond-shaped incisions (diagonal lines in both directions) in the fatty part of the duck, then cover both sides of the piece of meat with BBQ Québec Explorer dry rub , taking care to "open" the cuts so that the dry rub penetrates inside them. Then sprinkle, still on both sides, with the BBQ Québec Jamaican Jerk dry rub to fill in the areas where there is no seasoning.

Just like with salmon, then cover your duck breast with cellophane wrap (if desired) and refrigerate for 24 hours before smoking.

The eggs

When the temperature is at most 10°C outside, cook your eggs in boiling water for 10 minutes, until you have soft-boiled eggs. Peel the eggs, then smoke them for about 30 minutes to 1 hour on the BBQ with the Smoker.

The eggs will turn a little black (because their exterior will have absorbed the smoke), but will have a smoky taste. You can then put them in the fridge and eat them whenever you want. However, I recommend not marinating them in a container with vinegar so that they do not lose their good smoky taste. 😉

As for smoking the eggs, you can smoke them whole or, if you want a more intense smokey flavor, cut them in half. You can even remove the yolks first so they don't get smoked and stuff them with hot sauce before putting them back in the egg whites.

If you're looking for a quick protein recipe, you can wrap your smoked soft-boiled eggs in slices of prosciutto or ham. You can even add a pickle or cheese to your creation if you like. You'll see, the result will be really, really awesome. 🙌

Cheeses

Cheeses are also another classic of cold smoking. What is particularly good about cheeses is that you can use any cheese you want. Firm cheeses, soft cheeses… everything is possible.

Be careful though, it is better to smoke cheese when it is cold because otherwise it could melt. Or, if it is "hot", I recommend you take a firm cheese so that it "resists" the temperature longer. If you still want to smoke a very very soft cheese, like a brie, then put a small tray underneath it to obtain a smoked melted cheese.

As for the types of cheese you can smoke, let your imagination do the work. You can take 1608 from Charlevoix, halloumi with herbs (if you grill it after smoking it, you will really have the best of both worlds 😍), sheep's milk parmesan (smoke it a little longer, for between 2 and 5 hours so that the smoke penetrates well inside it; the result will be excellent in your spaghetti), sharp cheddar, mozzarella (your "pizza game" will change forever with smoked mozzarella, I tell you!), Oka, paneer...

The types of pellets I recommend for smoking cheese are pellets made from fruit trees, so apple, cherry or maple (yes, yes, for me, maple syrup is its fruit 😉) to obtain a milder result. If you are looking for a more "wild" taste, I recommend those made from hickory or mesquite.

Also, if you want the smoke to penetrate the inside, center, of your cheese, vacuum pack it after cold smoking it, then refrigerate it.

Salts

If you're like me and love salt, you're probably the type of person who has 26 different kinds of salt in your kitchen. Well, you can even smoke your salts and give them an even more unique taste!

For example, if you want to enjoy a steak that has a smoky flavor, but you don't want to cold smoke it, you can smoke your salt in advance and salt your piece of meat with that. Oh yes, your taste buds will be amazed!👌

The great thing about salts is that you can smoke them with anything: applewood pellets, hazelnut pellets, hickory pellets, mesquite pellets, or other trees. It's up to you. The same goes for the types of salts you can use.

The thing about salts, however, is that you'll have to do some trial and error before you arrive at your perfect combinations. The actual smoking, on the other hand, is pretty quick; it can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 1 hour, so be sure to taste your creations often during the process.

Nuts

Nuts are another food I really enjoy smoking. Like salts, nuts smoke quickly; I would say they take anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour, if you want a really strong flavor, to achieve good results.

What I usually do with the nuts is that I add them to a mixing bowl in which I have previously added a drizzle of a fat or a sweet substance and a little dry marinade. Then, I stir everything and let the nuts soak up the mixture. The drizzle can be a drizzle of olive oil, avocado oil, melted butter or maple syrup and the dry marinade is one that is quite fine, like BBQ Québec's Jamaican Jerk or a sweeter one.

Some nuts that are great smoked include: pecans, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and peanuts (they're delicious with a spicy dry rub!).

Squash

Smoking squash isn't really something you generally think about.

If you want to do it, what I recommend is to cut them like potatoes so that you can make sure that the smoke penetrates inside them, and then, once they are cold smoked, cook them hot. You will have incredible squash, I tell you!

Chocolates

The last option I suggest, but not the least, is to smoke chocolate. Seriously, it's something absolutely trippy.

In fact, when it's 10°C outside, you can pour a little maple sugar, honey, vanilla or salt on top of your 100% cocoa dark chocolate bar and cold smoke it on the BBQ. (I thought it was important to tell you the maximum outdoor temperature, because that means you'll be able to do it more often. 😜)

Smoking chocolate is particularly good for making unusual recipes (for example, you can put it in your ground beef, yes, yes!) or desserts. At the same time, let's be honest, chocolate is always good. 😉

In short

As you can see, everything is smoked cold.

If you want to cold smoke something that needs to stay cold, like meat, what you need to know is that it's important that the outside temperature is below 4°C. You can even cold smoke chicken if you feel like it, but make sure the temperature stays at 4°C or below at all times (an iGrill or probe thermometer , ideally a wireless one, is very important for this!).

Conversely, if your protein is going to be eaten raw, like fish, then it's best to brine it before smoking it. And finally, if your protein is going to be eaten hot, like steak, you should cold smoke it first and then cook it afterward.

And there you have it, it's that simple!

Now that you know all about cold smoking, go put some smoke in the air! 😁

Happy BBQ!