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The Smoking Gun - like a fan-powered bong for food

Alex

By Alex
in Kitchen Consumer

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Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

According to this report, Alinea's Grant Achatz "...asked inventor and collaborator Philip Preston, president of the manufacturing company PolyScience, to create a simple, portable method for making smoke to trap under glasses and serve to diners. The result was The Smoking Gun."

I'd be more interested in its touted use for blowing smoke into a ziploc-type bag to infuse food with smoky goodness. Has anyone tried this yet?

  • Like 1

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.  -Robert G. Ingersoll, lawyer and orator

 

Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. -George Jean Nathan, author and editor

 

A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which you realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.

-Dave Barry, humorist 

srhcb

srhcb

Posted
Posted

I think Popiel once offered something like this? :hmmm:

I seem to recall you could also use it to impart a cedar odor to clothes closets and deodorize cat litter boxes. :wink:

It's no longer offered, so apparently suplies really were limited! :huh:

SB (should have called "within the next hour" .... :rolleyes:

  • 3 months later...
rmillman

rmillman

Posted
Posted

I made one last year using a battery powered min-vac ($10 on ebay) and a trip down memory lane to a head shop for the pipe fittings.

I use it (for cooking) and have played not only with "woods" but also herbs and esstential oils.

Nice way to make a smoked cheese.

DesertTinker

DesertTinker

Posted
Posted
I made one last year using a battery powered min-vac ($10 on ebay) and a trip down memory lane to a head shop for the pipe fittings.

I use it (for cooking) and have played not only with "woods" but also herbs and esstential oils.

Nice way to make a smoked cheese.

Is this something like what you did?

rmillman

rmillman

Posted
Posted
I made one last year using a battery powered min-vac ($10 on ebay) and a trip down memory lane to a head shop for the pipe fittings.

I use it (for cooking) and have played not only with "woods" but also herbs and esstential oils.

Nice way to make a smoked cheese.

Is this something like what you did?

Exactly :biggrin:

dougal

dougal

Posted
Posted
I'd be more interested in its touted use for blowing smoke into a ziploc-type bag to infuse food with smoky goodness. Has anyone tried this yet?

I made one last year using a battery powered min-vac ($10 on ebay) and a trip down memory lane to a head shop for the pipe fittings.

I use it (for cooking) and have played not only with "woods" but also herbs and esstential oils.

Nice way to make a smoked cheese.

Is this something like what you did?

Exactly :biggrin:

rmillman - now having a fair idea of what you did to make the device...

could you tell us - please :smile: - a bit more about what you made using it ? And a maybe a little about how you successfully used the thing... ? Please? :smile:

And consider it understood that it was only suitable for small quantity use.

I'm wondering not so much about single portions of cheese under glass, (or smoke foams), but rather about its possible use for (cold smoking) domestic quantities of ham, bacon, fish...

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch ... you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

rmillman

rmillman

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have used this as a finish in presenting dishes (under glass/inverted bowl) where I wanted smoke aroma and less smoke flavor. This is particularly suited for using culinary herbs which add both a smoke and essential oil vapor to the preparation.

I have used it to add more substaintial smoke flavor to things such as bacon, tomatoes and confit dishes by placing what I want to smoke in a large zip-lock and then filling it with smoke. (BTW i stopped smoking bacon once I found https://bentonshams.com/order/index.php)

I use a cameron smoker for stove top use or a Bradley smoker when I want more substaintial smoke in preparing dishes or when I am smoking roasts, chickens, etc.

Edited by rmillman (log)
dougal

dougal

Posted
Posted

Thanks for that. :cool:

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch ... you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

  • 5 months later...
Marcle Pine

Marcle Pine

Posted
Posted

Not sure if anyone noticed - Polyscience no longer seems to sell 'the smoking gun'... the thing only lasts so long because you can't change the inside filters, only the ones in the bowl, and eventually it just stops producing smoke.

Marc Lepine

Atelier Restaurant

Ottawa

  • 3 months later...
terapinchef

terapinchef

Posted
Posted

We've had ours in the kitchen for about 2 weeks now. It has been used for probably less than two dozen plates. The bowl has burned away to nothing (why would you use a wooden bowl in the first place?) and the inside of the metal parts is clogged, but because they glued them together you can't go in and clean it out. Seems pretty cheap for being $50.....

rmillman

rmillman

Posted
Posted

Try a home made gravity bong (or a nicer manufactured glass one).

It gives you better control over the smoke and the amount you add to a dish.

  • 2 months later...
mbergs

mbergs

Posted
Posted

I just received my smoking gun. The pieces seem to come apart, so hopefully I won't have any clogging problems. Also, by happy coincidence, I have an identical wooden bowl that came with another smoking device I bought way back in college.

My first project is to try to recreate the smoky but raw oysters I had at minibar -- any advice is welcome.

WiscoNole

WiscoNole

Posted
Posted
Try a home made gravity bong (or a nicer manufactured glass one). 

It gives you better control over the smoke and the amount you add to a dish.

How would you use a grav for this? Put the plastic bag over the hole that you would normally inhale and push the vessel back down into the water to blow it out through the top?

  • 7 months later...
Ronaldoebt

Ronaldoebt

Posted
Posted
Not sure if anyone noticed - Polyscience no longer seems to sell 'the smoking gun'... the thing only lasts so long because you can't change the inside filters, only the ones in the bowl, and eventually it just stops producing smoke.

Do you know the material they use in the filter ? Because i want to build a smoke gun for me, since here in Brazil they don´t sell this kind of product... ??

Rio de Janeiro,Brasil.

docsconz

docsconz

Posted
Posted

At he Starchefs ICC this past September, Polyscience had a new version of this that was not yet out on the market at the time. I will have to check if they have released it yet. It looked to be a great toy, even better than the original.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

  • 6 years later...
ChrisM

ChrisM

Posted
Posted
On 3/26/2007 at 9:57 PM, Alex said:

According to this report, Alinea's Grant Achatz "...asked inventor and collaborator Philip Preston, president of the manufacturing company PolyScience, to create a simple, portable method for making smoke to trap under glasses and serve to diners. The result was The Smoking Gun."

I'd be more interested in its touted use for blowing smoke into a ziploc-type bag to infuse food with smoky goodness. Has anyone tried this yet?

 

ChrisM

ChrisM

Posted
Posted

Great post my friend 

I purchased a smoking gun last year. I've run out of wood and I'm looking to source a supply. Who do you buy your wood from?

Many Thanks

Chris 

Coogles

Coogles

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, ChrisM said:

Great post my friend 

I purchased a smoking gun last year. I've run out of wood and I'm looking to source a supply. Who do you buy your wood from?

Many Thanks

Chris 

 

Just search for "smoking sawdust" on Amazon and several products will show up, this is the one I use with my smoking gun.

ChrisM

ChrisM

Posted
Posted

Hello All

Chris as an FYI I found the manufacturer of the chips the actually came with my Smoking Gun

Smokinlicious.com 

I placed a call this morning and found an professional staff ready to assist. These guys will ship anywhere including Canada. I ordered Hickoru to do Bloody Mary cocktails and also some Sugar Maple. These guys boast an all natural chef quality cooking wood. A+ for knowledge and service thus far. That being said a can't attest to the quality of the smoke yet.

I will provide my test results if you like.

Very excited here like a kid at Christmas 

ChrisM

Alex

Alex

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

In the Food Funnies forum, liuzhou just posted about the weekly "Inspect a gadget" series in The Guardian, by Rhik Samadder. And lo and behold, the September 30 article was about the Polyscience Smoking Gun. He loved it.

 

Quote

Scallops served in a smoke-filled cloche are particularly Instagram-friendly, a trio of sexy molluscs emerging from dry ice like Destiny’s Child at the MTV awards. A hose attachment is included, so you can direct a fine stream of smoke under a bedroom door to freak out a loved one.

 

  • Like 1

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.  -Robert G. Ingersoll, lawyer and orator

 

Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. -George Jean Nathan, author and editor

 

A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which you realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.

-Dave Barry, humorist 

Kerry Beal

Kerry Beal

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, Alex said:

In the Food Funnies forum, liuzhou just posted about the weekly "Inspect a gadget" series in The Guardian, by Rhik Samadder. And lo and behold, the September 30 article was about the Polyscience Smoking Gun. He loved it.

 

 

Edited by Kerry Beal
wrong thread (log)

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