February 16th, 2010
Join us for a one day smoking course as part of the Cumbria Fishing Festival in May 2010.
This whole week is dedicated to fishing in Cumbria – with demonstrations, fishing courses, talks, sea fishing, course fishing, game fishing and lots more.
The open day of the event is a fun day out at Bessy Beck trout fishery where there will be lots to do for the whole family.
In support of this great event Smoky Jo’s is holding two food smoking courses on 2oth and 22nd of May – with an emphasis on smoking your catch!
Come and enjoy!
Tags: Cookery Courses, fishing, Food smoking course, Smoked Food, trout
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January 21st, 2010
How on earth did we get this far into January?!
Well, I (Smoky Georgina) have had a knee op. so Smoky Jo has had to do all the work… That’s not to say I didn’t hobble out in the snow to do some Christmas treats… We always smoke a bit of chicken for our neighbour as a prezzie.
This year Lynn, a friend from Crosby Ravensworth, who runs a vegetable delivery/box scheme (VistaVeg) ran into Jo in the village and declared that she had had an epiphany – she had tried some smoked turkey at Low Sizergh Barn and wanted some for Christmas… so she bought a fresh turkey fillet, we brined it and cold smoked it in the filing cabinet for her and they roasted it on Christmas day… as her husband said on Facebook… “That was quite simply the best Christmas turkey I have ever had. Top drawer! Mum and Dad loved it!”
Smoking Christmas turkey in the snow at Smoky Jo's
As well as that I smoked some trout. I had the luxury of time, which we don’t have on a course, so after brining the trout I let them air overnight before cold smoking them for about ten hours… then I dry-baked them in a moderate oven. And we had them for Breakfast on Christmas day – MmmHhhmmm!
Anyway… we sold a good number of gift vouchers for Smoking Courses for Christmas, and excited folk are beginning to book themselves in. Seems a long way off to the start of the season – but it will soon be upon us!
Check the dates… and book yourself a treat!
Posted in Filing Cabinet, General food smoking, Recipe | No Comments »
November 29th, 2009
We’re getting there… I now have some pictures on my blog, 2010 course dates on the web site and now some great new offers! Those of you who came on a course this year will have seen the Landmann Tennessee smokers… they really are the best affordable hot and cold food smokers we have seen! Now available through our website, and discounted if bought in conjunction with a course or a course gift voucher.
Having sorted out Christmas shopping on the website, we’re off for a day’s Christmas shopping tomorrow – Manchester delis – here we come!
Tags: Christmas, Cookery Courses, Foodie, Gifts
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November 24th, 2009
Well… I did try everything to restore the blog as it had been – but the arduous task of re-editing all the previous entries in Notepad and uploading them to my new blog is now all but complete…PHEWY! All the text is now back where it should be and I will add some of the pictures that are missing over the next few days. I think there is one more course to write about… but it’s time for my lunch!
I ought to say something sensible too… the dates for 2010 course are now on the website, we have kept our prices the same and of course our gift vouchers are available for Christmas presents for the foodies in your life! Look out for some smoker-plus-smoking-course Christmas specials coming soon…
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November 24th, 2009
Right… This is the last entry from my old blog before it crashed and burned… my fear is that this entry – or the pictures – caused the crisis… so I am very VERY anxious! And hungry, but that’s by the by…
3.9.09
I love these courses – I always learn something new. This weekend we had four lovely people on our course and we had a real laugh. Now one of these – Shirley - is the most incredibly talented artist. She told me all about the cake decorations and sugar craft that she does – and it is truly amazing. Have a look at this – all made from sugar!
Sugar craft flowers created by Shirley, a Smoky Jo's graduate!
Can you believe your eyes? Anyway not only can Shirley create these wonderful flowers – she is also a great artist and when we were talking about all the things you can use smoke for – Shirley came up with using it for painting! And to illustrate this she sent me a photo of one of her smoke paintings.
A picture created by etching in the carbon left by a smoking candle
Isn”t it great? Apparently you smoke the plate with the smoke from a candle – turning the plate upside down and making the patterns you want on the plate and then you use various objects like a paint brush, sponge, knife etc to etch your painting into the smoke. Finally you spray it quickly with a quick drying varnish. Amazing! Well done Shirley – and thank you for sharing this with us. Oh yes – and incidently Shirley caught the first fish this weekend. To see lots more photos of her fish and this course have a look “Photos of people enjoying a food smoking course” – Shirley’s there aboutathird of the way down the page.
Tags: art, Food smoking course, smoke
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November 24th, 2009
23.8.09
Just thought I would put this photo up for you all to look at. This is just a small selection of food that we smoke on a one day course at Smoky Jo’s.
A selection of the foods you can smoke on a one day food smoking course
Here we have chicken, duck, trout, olives, peppers, nuts and mushrooms all waiting to be put in the cold smoker. Add these to the cheese, the salmon, the sausages, the prawns, the scallops and much more and you will have some idea of the vareity of food you will smoke if you visit us at Smoky Jo’s. And this is just on the one-day course! Then of course there is the variety of smokers we use – but more of those later……,
Tags: Cookery Courses, Food smoking course
Posted in Food Smoking Courses, General food smoking | No Comments »
November 24th, 2009
21.8.09
We seem to have been really busy lately, running courses and then last weekend we were at the Galloway County Show near Moffat. If you are going to do some marketing you might as well make it fun and taking a stand at a really good show is great fun! However… I have never seen so much water – they say Shap is wet (Shap being the home of Smoky Jo’s) – but that place takes the biscuit! It was so wet we pitched our tent inside our pop-up stand – which was brilliant as we stayed dry and were really quite cosy. In fairness the rain dried up by lunchtime on both days and the sun came out so it turned out fine in the end and the red arrows were just amazing! So there we have it – another great weekend where we met so many really nice people. Many of whom we will meet again when they come on their food smoking course at Smoky Jo’s.
Tags: Shap weather!, Shows
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November 24th, 2009
1.8.09
“Just a quick hello to say thanks for the advice given on your course and to show you my home made cold smoker. Most of it is made from recycled materials. The firebox is an old clothes boiler. The stainless steel connecting pipe came from a scrap yard. The smoking cabinet is made from an old piece of 8′X4′ plywood taken from a skip on a building site. The chimney is a piece of left-over drain pipe from building my chicken house. The only things I have paid for are a 90 degree bend for the chimney, 2 lengths of 2″X2″ for the smoking cabinet frame, a length of 1″X1″ for the removable rack rails and the length of stainless steel pipe to connect firebox to the smoking cabinet.” – Frank Sargeant.
Thanks Frank – this is a great design, certainly matches our Freddie Filing Cabinet! – really wonderful and all the better as it uses so much recycled material. Have a look at the home designed food smokers inspired by Smoky Jo’s for pictures of how Frank actually designed this piece by piece. It is a perfect cold smoker!
Tags: cold smoking, Filing Cabinet Smoker, home-made, wood
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November 24th, 2009
20.7.09
I always say that someone is smiling on us for our food smoking courses. The weather on Friday was filthy – torrential rain and gale force winds…. We Woke up on Saturday – the wind had dropped, the sun was out and the sky was blue! Incredible!
We had a great day. Two of our guests stayed with us for a B & B weekend, one on the course while the other relaxed and enjoyed the day. We were joined by four more people – from as far away as Suffolk – and a great and sunny time was had by all.
Tags: Shap weather!
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November 24th, 2009
Continuingto catch up with the blog… but in real time we have now put our food smoking course dates on for 2010!
17.7.09
Good weather for ducks – but certainly not good weather for smoking food! We are just preparing for another smoking course tomorrow – and it is pouring! Torrential rain – which apart from not being much fun to work in – is really not good weather for smoking. And it is cold – we have had to put the heating on – in July! If you think about the essence of smoking – certainly in times gone by – being to help to dry out the food – it works so much better if it is a dry day. Moist, rainy days make smoking very much more difficult. Smoking is an art not a science and there are lots of things that impact on whether food will smoke well and smoke quickly. The atmosphere is one of them!
So think of us tomorrow – hopefully the wind will have dropped a little, the rain will have stopped and maybe we might get a bit of sunshine. However as I sit here listening to the thunder and howling wind with the rain lashing against the windows and roof – I am a little sceptical…
Tags: Shap weather!
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