How to Use a Smoking Gun

The handheld smoking gun is incredibly popular in professional kitchens and increasingly so in home kitchens due to its practical simplicity. The food smoking gun allows you to recreate gourmet smoked dishes and drinks all in the comfort of your own home. Fans of home smoking boast that it transforms the most ordinary food into something special without too much effort or cost. Now you can see for yourself.

If you’re using your smoking gun inside make sure your overhead fan is on and any windows are open.
Fill the smoking chamber of the gun with a teaspoon of your chosen flavour woodchips and tap them down gently without forcing the woodchips in and overfilling the chamber.
The smoking gun comes with 2 x 0.5oz sample jars of Applewood and Hickory smoking chips as standard.
Switch the smoking gun on and you’ll hear the fan whirr into action. Ignite the woodchips until they begin to gently smoulder and remove any flame so you don’t damage the gun.
Allow the woodchips to smoulder for no more than 30 seconds before you apply the smoke to the food. All the heat is contained in the smoking chamber so the smoke that’s released is cool – this means you can smoke delicate foods such as cheese, butter and raw fish without changing their texture.
The hose extension allows you to keep the smoking gun on the stand so you have both hands free to hold a lid over the unit. Two to three minutes is generally all that’s needed to infuse foods with a smoky flavour.
Once finished, put the gun on the stand and let it cool down completely. Turn the barrel upside down and gently tap the bottom of the smoking chamber to remove residual woodchips before you store it away.

TIP: For best results, always pat foods dry with a clean cloth or paper towel before smoking. This helps the flavours stick to the food surface.

TIP: Use a long lighter to easily ignite all the woodchips in the smoking chamber.

After Care

It’s important to keep the metal barrel of your smoking gun as clean as possible so you don’t taint the next flavour you want to achieve

Follow these three simple steps to keep your smoking gun in top condition:

To clean the metal barrel you need to remove it from the plastic casing by loosening the screw.
Wash the barrel with soapy water and leave to dry completely before you place it back in.
Use a cloth dampened with warm water to wipe over the rest of the gun and make sure it’s bone dry before you store it away.

CHEF TIP: Smoking butter is fun, because you can add it to a number of other foods you want to give a smoky flavour, like mashed potato or Hollandaise sauce. The same principle can be used to smoke salt, whatever you add it to will take on the flavour of the smoke – Mark Veale

Get to Know the Woodchip Flavours

Part of the experience is to experiment with different smoke flavours for your favourite foods. What works for someone else may not work for you, it’s all down to personal preference. The smoking gun gives a subtle flavour rather than an all-intensifying taste other methods of smoking can do.

Cherry Woodchips give off a wonderfully rich, smooth and fruity smoke which really complements vegetables as well as cuts of poultry.

Applewood Woodchips infuse a subtle and sweet fruity flavour into a whole host of different foods. You can also sprinkle these smoking chips onto the coals of a barbecue just before cooking.

Hickory Woodchips produce a rich, bacon-like flavour which works perfectly with ribs, pork and anything else that goes hand-in-hand with a barbecue sauce.

Why stop at woodchips? Spice it up with chilli flakes, use dry spices such as coriander or cumin and even dry tea.

Want a little inspiration? Take a look at our smoke-infused recipe packed full flavour and serve a smoky show-stopper to your friends and family. Once you feel like you’ve mastered the smoking gun you can always take it up a notch with the stovetop food smoker.