smoke house

 in view of covid and returning pkp, a lot of people went for panic shopping. my dad already predicted this earlier and guessing price will increase after this went for shopping spree a bit earlier. he returned with loads of salmon and other seafood. so what do we do with all these salmons? lets try making smoked salmon. 

using things from around my house we build the smoke house using zinc as the wall and metal pole as the pillars. 

now the smoke house is ready time to lay down the salmon. since this is just a test run we just put plain salmon and some of them rubbed with a bit of salt. the hanging thing is a metal collander tied using wire to the roof of the smoke house. i put some chillies to make smoked dried chillies. initially i want to hang meat but oh well, thats for another time i guess.

smoking started at 6pm and left until 7am tomorrow morning and voila the result. i used jackfruit wood as thats the only wood material i have around the house. oh yeah we did put in too much wood to burn and that causes the smoke house to be too hot and cooked the salmon too fast. we had to smother them with soil to prevent fire from coming up. note to self. use less wood

overall the experiment was a success. them salmon taste exactly like smoked salmon you buy from market. its a bit dry but that can be improved next time.

side product. the chillies i smoked became super dried and brownish in colour. probably because of the heat i think. went and blitz em to make chilli flakes. all went well except the blitzing part. the moment i opened the blender to transfer the chillies my eyes started to become watery and the next thin i know im crying like a little girl. not to mention the sneezing that ensues. the smell of the smoked chilies was so strong that everyone in the kitchen started sneezing. i had to stop breathing alot during the whole process to prevent further sneezing. also, not opening up the blender straight after blitzing helps to reduce the chilies particle from flying in the air.

i remmebered i used to love ewating smoked salmon with cheese but that was cold smoked salmon and i cant remember what cheese i ate with it. so far successful combination for the salmon is to go along with honey mustard or relish added with some chili flakes. tastes good.

i wish i can do cold smoked salmon but the idea is not viable in malaysia as this is a tropical country.