Cold Smoker

I've been experimenting with making bacon from wild pork, so I needed a cold smoker. Rather than lighting a fire to create smoke, I heated wood chips in an old cooking pot. I made a lid for the pot to stop air rushing in and allowing the smoke to ignite. The smoke travels to the smoke chamber through a length of flue pipe, but because the bottom of the pipe is open to the atmosphere, cold air travels upward with the smoke which keeps things cool enough to not cook the meat. I made the wood chips by chopping some feijoa tree branches with a machete after removing the bark (some people advise this as some bark is said to impart an unpleasant flavour). I dried the wood chips in our kitchen oven as the wood was quite green. Feijoas are a delicious fruit which grow well in our back yard.

I've been using a dry cure for the bacon consisting of plain salt (not iodised), a little sugar and some crushed thyme and bay leaves. I did not use any special curing salts (containing nitrates or nitrites) so when I cook my bacon it turns grey instead of remaining a nice pink colour. I keep the bacon in the refrigerator while curing, and I slice the cured bacon and freeze it. I've just started to make salami (using a traditional cure without nitrites or starter culture), but having not eaten any of it yet it is too early to share what I've learned.