DIY PolyScience Form-Factor Smoke Guns Part I

-
Smoke guns are culinary gadgets used to apply smoke to food.  Under the hood, these devices are basically handheld electric vacuums with a pipe attached to the input nozzle.  You turn on the vacuum, apply fire to the pipe, the vacuum pulls the fire into the pipe, setting the woodchips or herbs in the pipe on fire.  The smoke travels through the vacuum and out through the exhaust, and onto your dish.  They are far less cumbersome than stovetop smokers and are great if you just want to give smokiness to any dish.  While PolyScience sells one of these units for approximately $80, a lot of people made their own version.  Oh lookie, here comes one now:
Chadzilla's MINI-VAC Smoker.  Cite: www.chadzilla.com
These DIY models were based on the Mini-Vac vacuum, which you can buy off of Amazon for about $17.   This approach is pretty functional, and all said and done probably costs $25-30 to construct, not including your labor.

Alternatively, you can buy one of these pre-constructed at any full service smoke shop.  You know, where they sell "tobacco" equipment.  The mini-vac approach is great, but there are some shortcomings:


  1. They don't survive heavy use.  This has to do with the heat produced by the smoke as well as the amount of usage.  In other words, it won't last in a professional kitchen and may not even be able to survive heavy home use.  
  2. Which would be fine if it weren't for the fact that they are not THAT cheap.  At $25 a pop, you may spend more on DIY smokers than on just buying a PolyScience Smoking Gun.  
  3. As if that weren't enough... they. look. ghetto.  No really, your friends will definitely think you are doing drugs.  Without a doubt, the PolyScience one looks way slicker:
PolyScience Smoking Gun.  Cite: www.polyscience.com
I had seen an early version of the Smoking Gun that looked like it was put together with some off the shelf parts.  In fact, it looked like someone glued a pipe jammed into a vacuum.  After an hour of scouring the Internet, I found a Syba vacuum that looked pretty close:

Left: PolyScience Smoking Gun.  Right: Syba Vacuum.  Hrm.
Several clicks later and I had two Syba vacuums shipped to my lair.  Tune in next time and I will explain:
  1. How to construct a Syba based smoking gun.  Spoiler alert: It will even have color pictures!
  2. If and what the differences are between the Syba vacuum and the PolyScience Smoking Gun.  Spoiler alert: There are differences!
  3. Is it worth all of this effort?  Spoiler alert: Just kidding!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Escolar: The World's Most Dangerous Fish

-
Image
Escolar is the most controversial fish that you are likely to find in your fish market. This firm, white fleshed fish has an incredibly rich flavor, often described as 'succulent', or a fattier version of swordfish. Why so rich? It turns out that Escolar's diet contains food high in wax esters. Wax esters that are really difficult for Escolar to digest. As a result, these esters build up in the fish. Where is the controversy in a buttery, delicious fish? I would say it is in the laxative like effect it has on a certain percentage of the population. Well, a 'laxative like effect' is how my fish monger described it. Others would describe it as closer to diahhrea. An expert would call it 'keriorrhoea'. Literally translated, it means 'flow of wax'. Oily orange droplets pouring out your pooper.  Keriorrhoea occurs because the wax esters in the flesh of the fish pool up in your intestine. Some reports of Escolar related illness include cramp...
Read more

White Tuna Explained (Escolar vs. Albacore)

-
Image
I am not the first person on the Internet to tell you that White Tuna is a confusing order at the sushi bar.  While there are a host of fish that can be mislabeled as White Tuna, the two most common ones are the Albacore Tuna and our dreaded and delicious friend, the Escolar . What Is White Tuna? I worked really hard to source both fish in a raw form so that I could bring you pictures.  And by 'worked really hard', I really mean: I would keep going to the same fishmonger and ask them if they had Escolar and Albacore.  Escolar isn't very difficult to find but Albacore can be problematic.  Finally, I found some at the Lobster Place  in Chelsea Market. So, let's take a quick look:
Read more

Roasted Garlic Powder: Perfect For Sous Vide Cooking

-
Image
I have always used garlic powder.  I am pretty heavy handed with it.  It used to be my salt.  After starting to cook sous vide, that love has been rekindled.  This is because most advice around sous vide discourages the use of fresh garlic.  According to baldwind : "Finally, raw garlic produces very pronounced and unpleasant results and powdered garlic (in very small quantities) should be substituted." After reading that, I set out to make garlic powder.  It is ridiculously simple, and like all things culinary, when you can control it, you can make it better.  In this case, you have three major wins: Before you begin making garlic powder, you can control the quality of the garlic.  Like most spices you buy, it is hard to determine original quality and how long it has been deteriorating on a grocery shelf or storeroom. Roasting.  You can bring the noise by roasting the garlic.  When you compare the aroma and flavor of your homemade...
Read more