My opinion on the Nordic Ware smoker

On several occasions I've asked Loreto, author of Sabores de Colores, to make us a recipe with a tool she knows very well, the smoker. On those occasions she achieved incredible results! That's why, and because the smoker is largely unknown to many, and so many of you ask us for information about it, we thought it would be interesting for her to give you her opinion and explanations about it. I'll leave you with the account of her experience.

I can't deny that anything involving a cooking technique different from the ones we normally use catches my attention. That's why when I discovered the smoker it was love at first sight.

I was very intrigued by the ability to do smoking at home. I'd heard about it before and it's true that in northern countries they make do with anything — by anything I mean a cookie tin and a wire mesh to smoke — but I needed a little push and it came with the Nordic Ware smoker.

I know many of you are associating smoking with what we find in various products, usually fish, at supermarkets. I tell you that's nothing like it: with the smoker we can cook the foods we like most, whether meat, fish, poultry, eggs or vegetables, with or without steam, giving them a delicious smoky flavor.

The biggest fear I had while thinking up recipes was whether the flavors would be too strong, but that's far from the case: it will always depend on the wood chips, spices, or even tea that we use to smoke our products, which will influence the aroma of the final smoked result. For example, when I made the smoked pork loin we used apple wood chips, these released a delightful sweet smell when they burned, resulting in a very mild smoky flavor; and when we did the smoked salmon we chose pecan wood chips, with an absolutely delicious nutty note.

Recipe "How to smoke pork loin at home"

Features, maintenance and operation of the Nordic Ware smoker

The Nordic Ware smoker is quite light and we can use it both indoors and outdoors. On a glass-ceramic hob, an open flame or even on the barbecue. The important thing is to control its internal temperature for the correct cooking of the food, thanks to the thermometer it includes. And best of all, we don't bother anyone when we're smoking that product we like most (I'm in love with smoked duck breast, a true delicacy) since almost no smoke comes out of the smoker, we simply enjoy the delicious smell of the wood chips or spices burning slowly to generate the smoke.

When they designed the smoker they thought of everything, and when I say everything I mean everything: the trays where we'll place the foods to be smoked or the liquid to create a moist smoke are non-stick, so the food won't stick and cleaning it will be very easy, both by hand and if you're more of a dishwasher user.

I'll tell you a little about how it works — honestly it's very simple and there's no more to it than putting a tablespoon of wood chips, spices or tea at the bottom of the smoker. From there you must decide whether you want to do a cold smoke or a moist smoke (the latter is more typical in America; it's used mainly for vegetables or foods that tend to dry out like fish). If you opt for dry smoking, it will be the internal heat the smoker acquires when placed on the heat that cooks the food, and will smoke it with the smoke released by the chips when heated.

If you decide you want a moist smoke, you introduce the liquid into a lower tray that the smoker has. You can choose any liquid, whether water, wine, beer, juice... As that liquid evaporates with the heat, steam will be generated to cook the food, while the flavored smoke provides the smoky taste you added.

Explained this way, you can see the key is deciding which aroma you want your smoked foods to take on. Once you've placed the chips (and the liquid that will flavor them in case of making a moist smoke), we put the tray with our ingredients in the smoker and cover. We light the heat at medium and make sure the thermometer marks 100º C. It's important that the internal temperature is constant, so we'll regulate it by adjusting the heat. And that's it, now wait and enjoy the delicious smell that will fill your kitchen.

Arrangement of the wood chips at the bottom in the case of dry smoking (left); addition of the liquid in case of doing a moist smoke (right).

Times will depend on the food we're going to smoke. For example, 1.5 kg of pork loin would take 1 to 1¼ hours, a salmon loin previously marinated would take about 15 minutes, a whole chicken about 4 hours, duck or chicken breasts about 25-30 minutes… I always say it's important to have a time reference, but if in doubt you can open the smoker and check the doneness since a 1 kg chicken is not the same as a 2 kg chicken; I do it that way and there's no problem at all so fears aside.

Recipe "How to smoke spiced salmon"

As for the wood chips, in Claudia&Julia's store they have a variety in the barbecue section. Discovering the different aromas of each type is a delight.

For me, the Nordic Ware smoker has become an essential kitchen tool to prepare that kind of dish that leaves guests speechless and also to enjoy high-quality homemade smoked foods.