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The Smoking Gun


ElsieD

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I got The Smoking Gun for Christmas and I am not sure whether or not to keep it. I have been watching YouTube videos and whatever else I could find and am concerned about the amount of smoke it produces. I do not have an exhaust fan, so are my smoke alarms likely to go off every time I use it? I could use it outside but I live in Canada and that would be impossible in the winter. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

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I think it depends on your smoke alarms. I had to remove the one in the living room of my apartment because I couldnt even sear a steak without setting it off :(

It SHOULD be ok to use in your house unless your smoke detectors are as crazy as mine were. The amount of smoke produced realy shouldnt make your kitchen any more smoky than someone smoking a cigarette would in terms of thickness of the smoke.

Edited by Twyst (log)
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Twyst, do you have a smoking gun or is your comment more applicable to smoke alarms in general? Ours are very sensitive and monitored by a secunity company.

Yes, I own and use a smoking gun regularly. My kitchen often times gets a lot more smokey from sauteing than it does from me using the smoke gun, but if your smoke alarms are "very sensitive" and are monitored I think its unfortunately a no-go IMO. It will get a little smokey, its not thick smoke, but the "very sensitive" smoke alarm would scare me and Id be nervous every time I used it. Edited by Twyst (log)
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At the risk of taking this to a different place. I have the smoking gun and have yet to find a very good use for it. It will be great to hear any suggestions.

most often I use it to add smoke to salad greens or raw protein preparations. I also like to add rosemary smoke to hot savory dishes from time to time, but rarely use the traditional woods for hot preparations.
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I have one that I use in an apartment with super-sensitive detectors. My detectors go off when I use the freaking toaster, fry an egg, etc, so I've taken to slapping one of those hotel-freebie shower caps over the one over my oven (yup - just about directly), and closing the door to the other room whenever I cook. Haven't had problems since.

Thing is, I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. I still use my stovetop smoker whenever I want to do something like a salmon fillet or anything similar. I'm sure it's just a lack of creativity on my part, but I've had it for 2 years and haven't used it more than half a dozen times. I'd also love to hear ideas from people.

Edited by Dexter (log)
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At the risk of taking this to a different place. I have the smoking gun and have yet to find a very good use for it. It will be great to hear any suggestions.

most often I use it to add smoke to salad greens or raw protein preparations. I also like to add rosemary smoke to hot savory dishes from time to time, but rarely use the traditional woods for hot preparations.

Many thanks

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  • 11 months later...

I have used our smoking gun to add a little smoke to unsliced steaks that have been cooked sous vide and then seared with a butane torch. The results were good, but obviously the smoke affected only the outer crust.

Have any of you added a light smoke to sliced steak before serving?

I wonder if the increased surface area is good thing or not for the smoke flavor..

I will give this a try tomorrow night with some nice bone in rib steaks (prime), and wondered if anyone has already tried it.

Edited by alanz (log)
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I have used our smoking gun to add a little smoke to unsliced steaks that have been cooked sous vide and then seared with a butane torch. The results were good, but obviously the smoke affected only the outer crust.

Have any of you added a light smoke to sliced steak before serving?

I wonder if the increased surface area is good thing or not for the smoke flavor..

I will give this a try tomorrow night with some nice bone in rib steaks (prime), and wondered if anyone has already tried it.

Please let us know how that turns out.

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Thing is, I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. I still use my stovetop smoker whenever I want to do something like a salmon fillet or anything similar. I'm sure it's just a lack of creativity on my part, but I've had it for 2 years and haven't used it more than half a dozen times. I'd also love to hear ideas from people.

I don't think thats such a bad ratio.

I mean, I have a paella pan, but I make paella perhaps 2 or 3 times a year at most.

Part of it for me is to have options, so we can have variety... I don't make the same things every day or even every month.

The Smoking Gun is another option, is all.

If it only gets used 3-5 times a year that's more than enough to justify having it.

For me.

a quick hit of smoke on shrimp or scallops works really well.

Same thing with some soups (such as a pea soup that can be hidden under a smoke lid so that the smoke becomes part of the diner's experience just before eating it)

Also one smokey element in a salad can be nice (e.g. smoked chiles or smoked strawberries) without taking over the whole thing.

the nice thing about the SG is that it's quick.

You can think about adding a smoke element at the last minute; something you cannot really do with 'conventional' smokers.

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  • 1 year later...

Since I started this thread, we have moved and I now have an exhaust hood that vents directly outside so I dug out my smoking gun and intend to use it on some scallops tonight. From what I have read on-line, it seems that 5 minutes is the recommended amount of time the scallops should be exposed to the smoke. The scallops are then cooked. If anyone has done this, can they please comment here? Thank you.

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