When Smoking is good for your Health

We all know the dangers of smoking, but yesterday I decided to try smoking - and it was great! Now don't get all worked up, this kind of smoking is suitable for children and breastfeeding mothers.

I smoked some fresh Mackerel. It is so easy, and the results are much better than any bought variety I have tried. It was soft and juicy, without any added artificial smoke flavourings.

This is how I did it....
It is best to do the actually smoking outside, unless the ventilation in your kitchen is very good. I just used our camping gas bottle.

Take a wok and line it with heavy duty foil. I then added some lemon rind, chamomile tea leaves and plum tree shavings (I had these after my plum tree was pruned early this year, but you can use any untreated fruit or even oak).

Place your bamboo steamer on the wood chips, put the fish in the steamer and cover with the lid and enclose the entire wok in foil, so there are no escape routes for the smoke.

Place the wok on a a high heat (a gas burner works best) and leave to smoke for about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave without opening for another 15 -20 minutes.

Throw away the foil - and open the steamer and you will have beautifully smoked mackerel in less than half an hour!

This might seem like a lot of work, but it literally takes 30 minutes from start to finish and I guarantee you will love the flavours. You can play around with the smoking mixture and infuse any flavours which you might like - I have heard that Earl Grey tea also works very well.

Give it a try - at least once, you'll never see smoking in the same light again - just don't get addicted!


I hope you are having a fantastic spring and getting ready for summer. We finished spring cleaning the garage and the storeroom this weekend, so now it's just the house and then we'll be ready for lots of outdoor activities and no more cleaning!

If the shelves are dusty
and the pots don't shine,
it's because I have better things
to do with my time.
This mess is a place!