Would you like to add a touch of originality to your dishes? Nothing could be simpler than a Kokko! How do you do it? By smoking your food! We explain everything you need to know to become the king of barbecue smoking.
Originally, smoking rapidly perishable foods such as meat and fish was used to prolong their shelf life. In today's kitchen, this method of exposing food to smoke produced by burning wood - which can be varied to diversify flavours - is used to bring different aromas to dishes. Whether you're simply flavouring vegetables by smoking them for a few minutes, or slowly cooking meat in the American BBQ traditionthe kokko can be used to create any recipe. Let your creativity do the talking - your palate should appreciate it!
1- Switch on and adjust the Kokko
It couldn't be easier to smoke your food in the Kokko! Simply light it by placing a few crumpled sheets of newspaper on the bottom of the black cast-iron plate. Then add charcoal and firelighters if you wish. Light the newspaper and wait a minute before closing the Kokko dome. Then open the chimney and the hatch at the bottom to circulate the air and activate the charcoal combustion. After about 5 minutes, the charcoal should be red and ready for smoking.
By adjusting the opening of the chimney and bottom hatch, you can regulate air circulation in the Kokko. For smoking, the lid should be closed and the chimney almost closed, so as not to activate charcoal combustion. Only the bottom hatch remains open. Adjust its opening according to the desired cooking time and temperature. The more air that enters the barbecue, the faster the charcoal will burn. Before placing your food on the grill, wait for the charcoal to cool to the desired temperature, which you can check using the thermometer on the lid. Once the charcoal is ready, you'll need to cover it with sawdust or wood shavings, depending on the desired smoking.
2 - The different types of smoking
You can smoke anything and everything, but depending on the product and the desired result, the time and methods will differ. There are two types of smoking, and many tricks for varying tastes.
Cold smoking
Cold smoking is commonly used to smoke salmon or ham. The food is subjected to a cold smoke that does not cook it. The temperature should be around 20° to 30° maximum (25° for salmon). For successful cold smoking, the charcoal should be covered with sawdust.
For this type of smoking, it is advisable to be extremely vigilant about the quality and freshness of products, as they will not cook! It's also essential to prepare your food well before cold smoking. They should be salted (and spiced, if you wish) to lower their moisture content and facilitate the penetration of the smoke's aromas into the flesh. They should also be thoroughly wiped and dried before smoking. Depending on the fragility and thickness of the product, salting can take from 2 hours to an entire night.
After salting, fish can be rubbed with a little olive oil to prevent them from sticking to the grill or griddle.
Cold smoking is mainly used for smoking fragile products.
Among our cold-smoked recipes, discover :
Foie gras with smoked Espelette pepper
Hot smoking
Hot smoking not only gives products a different taste, but also enables them to be cooked. Smoking is carried out at a temperature of between 40° and 100°, depending on the cooking time required and the fragility of the products. For hot smoking, we use wood shavings, which are more heat-resistant than sawdust. For longer cooking times, wood shavings may need to be moistened to slow charcoal combustion. Hot smoking enables slow cooking, making meats tender and juicy. It's the ideal method for recipes inspired by American gastronomy, such as pulled pork or smoked smoked pork belly.
And unlike salmon, trout can be smoked hot. Discover our original recipe for trout smoked with apple wood.
Finally, for Kokko smoking addicts, fruit can also be smoked for surprising desserts, like our smoked fruit salad!
3 - The different types of sawdust and wood chips
The choice of wood type for sawdust or shavings is important, as it will determine the taste of the smoked food.
Which wood to choose?
Above all, sawdust or wood shavings must be 100% natural. Beech sawdust is most often used, especially for smoking salmon. Oak sawdust can be used for meat, and fir sawdust for hams and cold meats. Cherry sawdust, with its fruitier, sweeter notes, can also be used to give a different taste. Citrus sawdust or shavings, such as lemon or orange, go wonderfully with poultry or fish. On the other hand, avoid coniferous sawdust, which has a bitter taste. There are no predefined rules: the choice of sawdust and shavings depends on individual taste. It's also possible to make a mixture of different woods! Depending on the smoking time and temperature, you lay between 3 and 5 cm of sawdust on the charcoal.
Warning: 100% natural sawdust or wood chips should be made from relatively dry wood, as fresh wood with a high moisture content can be toxic when burned. We also avoid moldy, painted, varnished or treated wood, which is dangerous to health.
How do you scent wood chips or sawdust?
Once you have chosen the type of wood, you can add other flavours with aromatic herbs such as thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, etc., spices such as pepper, cloves, juniper berries... or even pine cones, as in this dish offlame-cooked and smoked eggplant with pine cones or fig leaves, as in this recipe for duck cooked in fig leaves and smoked figs.
Ready to smoke out your pantry? Discover all our original recipes for Kokko-smoked dishes to inspire you.
