Smoking of food is a method of exposing foods to smoke, usually from wood, in order to give the food more flavour and a memorable taste. It’s a simple method, but allows for extra flavours to be put into a meal, and to make things more interesting on the palette.

You often see smoked food with meats, cheeses and fish, and you might think it’s something only a professional cook can do, or something you might only find in an expensive restaurant. You might think it’s time consuming and expensive too, but these are all myths.

There are two types of food smoking; hot smoking and cold smoking. Hot smoking allows the food to be cooked at the same time, and exposes them to smoke and heat. At high temperatures, you still get the smoky flavours put into the meal, but you cook it at the same time. Flavours aren’t quite as strong as cold smoking. Cold smoking is done at much lower temperatures and just covers the food in a rich, smoky flavour. The food maintains its moistness and gains a mahogany colour – it won’t be cooked however, so this is a much longer process.

However, as complicated as it all might sound, it’s all very easy to replicate from the kitchen of your own home. These days there are many companies who produce Food Smokers which can be used by anyone. They do all the work for you and are completely simple and safe to use.

Companies like Bradley Smokers have created Food Smokers which only require you to follow simple instructions, and then food can be smoked for up to eight hours without you having to intervene. You might also think that smoking food might cause food to be unsafe to eat, or for smoke to be produced from the machine and go throughout your home. Again, new companies have created food smokers entirely with the home in mind. Smoke is completely maintained within the machine, meaning you don’t have to worry about ventilation or smoke being carried through the house. The smoke applied on the food is minimal too, so is completely safe for consumption with just the extra great smoked taste having been applied.

Being aimed for use in the home, these food smokers are compact and affordable, able to fit snugly in the kitchen, and not hit you hard in the pocket. As well as Bradley, there are many companies which produce food smokers, so it’s worth a look around at alternative products before deciding on which product to buy.