Achieve gourmet flavors by cold smoking nuts, cheese, and fish effortlessly in your kamado grill.
Smoke Production - Rectangular vs. Cylinders
For kamado grills, we prefer the rectangular style smoker tray. We find the tray's wide open top provides more airflow and thus better control of smoke production. Go light smoke by only lighting one end. Add more smoke by lighting both ends. Or go super smoke by lighting both ends and center of middle track.
Smoker Tray Fuels for Kamados:
The fuel source is not lump charcoal, so you need to remove whatever lump is in the kamado. The goal is cold smoking, lots of smoke but very little heat.
The best fuel for the smoker tray is either pellets or sawdust. Be creative with your pellet flavors: hickory for a strong flavor; Pecan for a mild-sweet flavor; apple for a tangy flavor; or blends for little of everything.
Smoker Tray Placement in a Kamado:
The smoker tray goes at the bottom of the kamado - on the lump grate or inside a lump basket. You want space between the smoker tray and whatever food you are smoking, so the higher you go with the food the better. Up in the dome is ideal.
Airflow to Support the Smoker Tray:
As we said above, you can control the amount of smoke by the number of spots burning in the tray. Go light smoke by only lighting one end. Add more smoke by lighting both ends. Or, go super smoke by lighting both ends and center of middle track.
We found the best way to light the pellets or sawdust is with a charcoal torch or igniter. Let the spot(s) burn for several minutes to insure the pellets or sawdust is well lit. Blow out the flame and check your smoke production.
Just remember, the more spots you light the more oxygen you need. The first couple times, you may find keeping the fire going a bit challenging. The goal is to keep the oxygen plentiful.
Fall through Spring is the best time to smoke cheese. Most cheeses will sweat if held in a 100°F environment. You can add a tray of ice to cool down the inside of the kamado, but we found it easier to smoke enough cheese in Spring to last through the hot summer months.
There is no exact timetable for cold smoking, just to many variables. The best thing to do is keeps simple notes and it won't take long before you get the hang of cold smoking in your kamado.
Make sure you zip lock bag or food saver the food before putting into the refrigerator. If you don't your whole refrigerator will smell like smoke. Cheese benefits from sitting a week or so in the refrigerator before eating. It gives the flavors time to meld.
Smoking Tray Features:
- 5" x 8" size;
- Smoke Generator creates clean smoke;
- Constructed of Stainless Steel;
- Small, light and portable;
- Can be used in a smoker or grill;
- No cords;
- Easy to clean - NO "GOOEY MESS"!
