Could you save a fortune by smoking your own salmon?

EVEN the most boring dish can be turned into something spectacular if you smoke it, according to fans of the latest culinary craze.

Lakeland’s Smoking Gun lit the touchpaper last year and ever since, more and more of us have fallen in love with smoking our food at home.

Now Amazon is reporting that sales of home smokers have risen 200% in the past 12 months.

There are two methods: hot smoking, where food is cooked gently over wood chips, and cold smoking, where there’s no cooking and the smoke is used to preserve foods while slowly adding a smoky flavour.

Home smokers say it transforms everything from salmon to ice cream – and that it’s easy to do.

We tried five different smokers to see what each had to offer.

SMOKY COCKTAIL?

Smoking Gun, €83.99, www.sousvide.ie I’D NEVER realised my partner Richard saw himself as James Bond, until now. But there’s something about a gun – even a battery-operated one – to bring out the 007 in most men.

The gun comes with two pots of woodchips – one hickory, the other apple wood.

You fill the chamber with your chosen wood, light with a match, and, hey presto, you get a billowing cloud of rather smelly smoke which you aim at whatever you fancy from salad leaves (weird – I won’t be trying that again) to cocktails – best tried with naturally smoky spirits such as whisky or mescal, a Mexican drink made from smoked agave plants.

Fun aside, the results are pretty varied. I loved the smoked cheese. But the smoked chocolate bar just tasted singed.

And, as this is a cold smoker, it’s only good with ready-cooked food (such as roasted chicken) or food that doesn’t need cooking.

It would be great for a dinner party as long as your guests don’t mind going home smelling as though they’ve stood downwind of a bonfire. 3/5

GRILLER THRILLER

Cobb Barbecue Cooking System, €130, cobb-bbq.co.uk IF YOU’VE watched TV chefs The Hairy Bikers do a cookout on a windblown beach, you’ll have seen a Cobb in action. Bikers Si and Dave largely use the shiny metal grill with a domed top as a barbecue, but it can function as a hot smoker.

Following the instructions, I put a Cobble Stone (a type of coconut husk briquette made specially for this gadget, €15 for six at the Cobb website, or you can use ordinary briquettes) into the charcoal basket and added a handful of woodchips (the sousvide.ie website sells a range of these with different scents at €5.59 for a 500 ml pot).

I then tipped a little water into the well in the base and put the lid on while my raw chicken and salmon smoked.

I used The Cobb in my garden – the fumes were pungent. It’s lightweight at just 4 kg and the insulated design means the outside stays cool and you can plonk it on a garden table.

The results were brilliant. It took just 15 minutes to cook and smoke my succulent salmon steak and 25 minutes to turn out delicious chicken breasts.

The Cobble Stone briquette provides heat for up to two hours, so to test it, I also roasted and smoked a whole chicken. The smoky-flavoured, juicy meat was to die for.

Cleaning is a doddle too. The bowl, dome and grill all go straight in the dishwasher.

The one downside? This only does hot smoking, cooking the raw ingredients in the process, so it’s less versatile than some. 4/5

CALL THE BRIGADE!

Anuka Portable Electric Hot Smoker, €190, hotsmoked.co.uk I’M NOT a fan of this hot smoker – and neither are my neighbours. I’d barely started smoking my raw salmon and chicken when I got a panicked phone call asking if the house was on fire. I can’t blame them. Smoke was billowing and the smell of burnt woodchip was rather overpowering.

To be fair, the smoker – which was designed in New Zealand – is intended for use outdoors. But, as it’s electric, it needs power. So I had to keep my back door open to feed an extension lead through to the garden.

The trouble started virtually as soon as I poured a handful of woodchips in the base. I put my food on the rack inside the smoker, clipped on the lid and then set the timer for 30 minutes for my salmon steak (as recommended in the instructions).

Instantly, puffs of smelly smoke started wafting around the garden and through my house. By the time the unit pinged to announce the food was done (it also turns itself off, handily) my eyes were stinging, the dog was choking and the whole neighbourhood knew what I was having for dinner.

True, the salmon tasted lovely. But I didn’t dare risk smoking myself out of house and home by trying anything else. 1/5

STOVE HOTSHOT

Camerons Stovetop Smoker, €75, hotsmoked.co.uk THIS simple smoker (it’s basically a stainless steel tray with a lid and handles) could have come straight off the set of an old Western film.

But, while it would be perfect for knocking up cowboy chow on a campfire, it’s the only smoker I tested that’s designed to be used on your kitchen stove.

Following the instructions, I turn my hob to medium heat, scatter two handfuls of hickory chips in the base of the smoker, place my raw salmon fillet and chicken breast on the rack and slide in the smoker’s drip tray underneath to catch the fat.

I put the lid on and pop the smoker directly on the hob. It’s so primitive, I’m worried my kitchen’s going to fill with smoke.

But, there’s not a single puff — only the faintest whiff of aromatic woodchip thanks to the tightly fitting lid. It’s rather nice.

I test the salmon periodically (cooking times are hit and miss at first). After 25 minutes the salmon is ready, but the chicken takes 35 minutes.

The results are great – the meat is moist and infused with a delicate smoky flavour.

There’s minimal mess. I just throw the charred chips in the bin and pop the smoker in the dishwasher. On the downside, it only works as a hot smoker, so you can’t smoke cheese, chocolate or, of course, ice cream.

However, that’s outweighed by the benefits. It’s small enough to store easily, but large enough to smoke a turkey (you replace the cover with foil to seal in smells). It’s super versatile.

It doubles as a roasting tin, a steamer or – if you leave out the chips – as a stovetop oven. And it’s cheap as chips. I’m sold. 5/5

SERIOUS MACHINE

Bradley 4-Rack Digital Smoker, €599.99, oldmcdonald.ie IT’S the price of an average oven and the size of a fridge. But if smoking really does light your fire and you fancy smoking a whole chicken, several racks of ribs and an entire pork shoulder in one go, (yes, it’s really that big) then this might be for you.

This all-singing, all-dancing model was designed by Canadian fisherman Wade Bradley to smoke his own salmon, and chefs love it.

Mark Hix – whose Hix restaurants are so beloved of celebrities – has one in his garden.

Made of smart insulated stainless steel, this is so high-tech you just have to slap your food on one of the four oven racks, then put five special ‘bisquettes’ (which you buy separately — 120 for €44.99 or 48 for €23.49 — at oldmcdonald.ie) into the feeder tube attached to the side.

Each one loads automatically in turn and burns for 20 minutes.

Using the digital dial, you set the desired temperature, cooking time (if you’re hot smoking) and the smoking time.

For cold smoking, you simply set the smoking time. So, is it worth the astonishing price? It’s equally good at hot dishes – my succulent chicken breasts were to die for – and cold – the intense smoky flavour of my cheese was sensational and the whole process only took three hours.

There’s no billowing smoke, just the sort of gentle steam you get from a kettle. You are supposed to be able to use the smoker indoors, but my house smelt of kippers for several hours afterwards. Three days later there was still a whiff of it about my hair. 3/5