Which Wood To Use?

[turnpike]

just wondering if anyone here in isaan has ever had any experience smoking fish or meat, and if they know the thai name of the wood used. if i was home, i'd use hickory,maple,cherry,alder etc., but don't think they exist here.

thanks in advance for any help/advice given.

turnpike

[macb]

Try Old Holborn or Saint Bruno:

Sorry could not resisit it.

Just asked the wife she dont know either

[OneeyedJohn]

We use Olive and Mango cos thats all we have available. It isn't great but it does a reasonable job for light smoking.

Wish I could get my hands on hickory.

[Jamie]

You use hickory to smoke fish? I think that's too strong. I always go with fruit wood when I smoke any lighter things like fish or poultry. Hickory is alright for red meat, but even then I like to throw some maple in.

There must be some fruit orchards around...you might be able to check there for some dead wood.

[Brew]

coconut coir

[Vegemite]

just wondering if anyone here in isaan has ever had any experience smoking fish or meat, and if they know the thai name of the wood used. if i was home, i'd use hickory,maple,cherry,alder etc., but don't think they exist here.

thanks in advance for any help/advice given.

turnpike

I used to smoke a lot of fish in New Zealand and used a wood called manuka ( local Maori word ).

Just asked the wife about this and here is what she came up with.

No botanical names just say it as you read it and she said your wife or most upcountry Thais will understand what you mean. Mai means wood and not sure about the spelling but who cares.

Mai Takaer ( she says the best )

Mai Rung

Mai Jik or Mai Jeek

Mai Phayom

Good luck.

[Far Angst]

.

Dried-out coconut husk - the outer fibrous part - yields pleasant smoke, but you need to use more coconut than you'd use wood chips.

'

[turnpike]

I used to smoke a lot of fish in New Zealand and used a wood called manuka ( local Maori word ).

Just asked the wife about this and here is what she came up with.

No botanical names just say it as you read it and she said your wife or most upcountry Thais will understand what you mean. Mai means wood and not sure about the spelling but who cares.

Mai Takaer ( she says the best )

Mai Rung

Mai Jik or Mai Jeek

Mai Phayom

Good luck.

Vegemite,

thanks for that and to all who replied, i'll run those words by the missus when i'm back in a week and see how it goes. now that i've got you here,vegemite, a couple of questions about fish smoking, if i may.

i used to use pickling salt for the brine, but will plain old table salt work? not sure pickling salt is available here. i plan on doing some of my catfish, would you recommend skinning them, filleting them, or just gutting them and smoking them whole? any recipes you could recommend where the ingredients are available in thailand?

(i bet you're sorry you responded now)

thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

turnpike

[Gary A]

Coconut husks are pretty popular for smoking meats. A friend of mine used to smoke hams and he used coconut husks. I was told a German near Nong Kai also uses them to smoke bacon.

[malcolminthemiddle]

Slightly off topic I know, but what local wood would you experts recommend for a wood burning oven for pizza and bread? Thanks.

[Gary A]

Vegemite,

thanks for that and to all who replied, i'll run those words by the missus when i'm back in a week and see how it goes. now that i've got you here,vegemite, a couple of questions about fish smoking, if i may.

i used to use pickling salt for the brine, but will plain old table salt work? not sure pickling salt is available here. i plan on doing some of my catfish, would you recommend skinning them, filleting them, or just gutting them and smoking them whole? any recipes you could recommend where the ingredients are available in thailand?

(i bet you're sorry you responded now)

thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

turnpike

A friend of mine used to smoke a lot of catfish. He cut the heads off and gutted them. He soaked them in a plain salt water and brown sugar solution over night. He told me the brown sugar helped give the meat a nice pink color. The skin peeled off very nicely and the fish was delicious. I don't remember the temperature in the smoker but he told me that too much heat ruined the flavor.

[chuchok]

just wondering if anyone here in isaan has ever had any experience smoking fish or meat, and if they know the thai name of the wood used. if i was home, i'd use hickory,maple,cherry,alder etc., but don't think they exist here.

thanks in advance for any help/advice given.

turnpike

I used to smoke a lot of fish in New Zealand and used a wood called manuka ( local Maori word ).

Just asked the wife about this and here is what she came up with.

No botanical names just say it as you read it and she said your wife or most upcountry Thais will understand what you mean. Mai means wood and not sure about the spelling but who cares.

Mai Takaer ( she says the best )

Mai Rung

Mai Jik or Mai Jeek

Mai Phayom

Good luck.

Strewth...bring's back many memories.

both manuka and Kanuka are almost the same as Australian TeeTree.

[Brew]

not sure pickling salt is available here

Mix it by yourself.

Salt + 0.5% Sodium Nitrite (NaNO2)

[nongfrank]

Hi, the best experience we made with smoking ham and fisg was with the leaves from guave trees (farang)

try it

Frank

[naka]

Here's a few which work well and are locally available.

Orange or other citrus wood.

Guava wood.

Corn cobs, just the inner core.

Coconut husks.

Almost any fruit tree wood.

Naka.

[Vegemite]

I used to smoke a lot of fish in New Zealand and used a wood called manuka ( local Maori word ).

Just asked the wife about this and here is what she came up with.

No botanical names just say it as you read it and she said your wife or most upcountry Thais will understand what you mean. Mai means wood and not sure about the spelling but who cares.

Mai Takaer ( she says the best )

Mai Rung

Mai Jik or Mai Jeek

Mai Phayom

Good luck.

Vegemite,

thanks for that and to all who replied, i'll run those words by the missus when i'm back in a week and see how it goes. now that i've got you here,vegemite, a couple of questions about fish smoking, if i may.

i used to use pickling salt for the brine, but will plain old table salt work? not sure pickling salt is available here. i plan on doing some of my catfish, would you recommend skinning them, filleting them, or just gutting them and smoking them whole? any recipes you could recommend where the ingredients are available in thailand?

(i bet you're sorry you responded now)

thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

turnpike

You know, this is the third time I have tried to return a post. Maybe they dont like me anymore.

We used to split the fish ( usually snapper ) from the belly up toward the backbone ( head off and no guts ) through the rib bones on one side only.

We left the skin above the backbone intact and then opened the fish out a bit like butterfling a chicken. Skin still on but no scales.

We rubbed into the flesh rock or sea salt and then brown sugar.

Tried soaking them overnight but the jury said no better.

I think for catfish you can leave the head on and cut down from the backbone and through the head and then open out as these fish are a similar shape to the mullet that we smoked.

Will send another post. Dont want to time out.

[Vegemite]

just wondering if anyone here in isaan has ever had any experience smoking fish or meat, and if they know the thai name of the wood used. if i was home, i'd use hickory,maple,cherry,alder etc., but don't think they exist here.

thanks in advance for any help/advice given.

turnpike

I used to smoke a lot of fish in New Zealand and used a wood called manuka ( local Maori word ).

Just asked the wife about this and here is what she came up with.

No botanical names just say it as you read it and she said your wife or most upcountry Thais will understand what you mean. Mai means wood and not sure about the spelling but who cares.

Mai Takaer ( she says the best )

Mai Rung

Mai Jik or Mai Jeek

Mai Phayom

Good luck.

Lived in a coastal part of New Zealand for a number of years where everybody that fished would smoke thier own.

There were all sorts of contraptions used for doing it made out of all sorts of materials.

Block or brick smokers did a good job with the fire light on the floor. They looked a bit like an outside dunny or out house.

The trick is not to let the smoke get to hot and the rule of thumb is that you should be able to put your hand into the area that the fish is and not feel to hot.

I had a really simple smoke house made from an old rack drier with a door and racks inside. Perfect.

In the back was a hole about 400mm x 400mm and protruding from this hole was half a 44 gallon drum cut from top to bottom if it was standing up and the top and bottom taken out. Like a tunnel.

Light a fire on a piece of corrugated iron and just slide it into the tunnel.

If it gets to hot slide it out a bit or slide it towards the cabinet for more heat.

Hope you can understand this will post before I time out agian.