How to Use Your Wok as a Smoker

Published on Friday, July 30, 2010, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

How to Use Your Wok as a Smoker

If a fire escape is the closest you come to a backyard, it shouldn’t stop you from smoking. CHOW.com Senior Food Editor Jill Santopietro says that turning your wok into a smoker doesn’t take much effort. All you need is aluminum foil, a round cooling rack, and finely ground wood chips, available online or at hardware stores or some cooking supply stores. If you don’t have wood chips, you can use a 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup rice, and 1/4 cup oolong tea leaves mixed with 2 tablespoons water for more of a tea smoke. Indoor smokers take note: Open your windows and remove your smoke detector (but don’t forget to put it back when you’re done). Find plenty of smoking recipes and other tips here!

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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POST A COMMENT |8 Comments

COMMENT

  • While I love the idea of indoor smoking, I like to be very sparing with aluminum foil. There must be a way to jury-rig sturdy utensils to achieve the same result, minimizing the need for an item like foil which, if one's honest, can't endure too many re-uses.

  • You can smoke safely (as long as you're home baby-sitting it) with a cardboard box - sealed with tape and aluminum foil.
    Use a hot plate for the heat source, and a pan with a thick bottom on the hot plate to hold the smoke flavoring. Of course, also in the box should be the food item you'd like to smoke.
    If you want to 'cold' smoke - like you would have to if you smoked cheese, use a cardboard...+READ

    You can smoke safely (as long as you're home baby-sitting it) with a cardboard box - sealed with tape and aluminum foil.
    Use a hot plate for the heat source, and a pan with a thick bottom on the hot plate to hold the smoke flavoring. Of course, also in the box should be the food item you'd like to smoke.
    If you want to 'cold' smoke - like you would have to if you smoked cheese, use a cardboard tube (like a document carrier) linking one box to another smoke box. It'll transfer the smoke but it shouldn't melt the cheese w/ all that heat. I love cold smoked meats
    You'll have to experiment with hot plate temperatures. I have used a few, and seems like they're not consistent. Once you pin down the right setting to start the smoke, mark it with a sharpie on the control. Be careful not to start out too hot though. Let it take a little while to begin to smoke and it'll keep a nice consistent supply of smoke going instead of burning out too soon.-COLLAPSE

  • I use my wok constantly - having to get a new one every year. Of course, I was getting the standard ones from the department stores. Finally opted for a cast iron wok. This is an amazing find.
    I love using this same method to smoke salmon! Instead of using wood chips, I use a combination of brown rice, loose tea and brown sugar. Gives it a marvelous nutty flavor. I'm lucky that the glass lid...+READ

    I use my wok constantly - having to get a new one every year. Of course, I was getting the standard ones from the department stores. Finally opted for a cast iron wok. This is an amazing find.
    I love using this same method to smoke salmon! Instead of using wood chips, I use a combination of brown rice, loose tea and brown sugar. Gives it a marvelous nutty flavor. I'm lucky that the glass lid from my dutch oven fits, and I can watch it!-COLLAPSE

  • Seasoning is polymerized oil, not "burned on" oil. I am inclined to believe Chemicalkinetics on this and would not risk ruining the hard-earned seasoning on my carbon steel wok.

  • She must own stock in Aluminum foil companies

  • You won't ruin anything. The seasoning is carbon build-up which is already burned on oils. And to your question of a dedicated wok for smoking, woks are a fraction of the cost of smokers so it does make sense but there's no need to get another one.

    Who uses teflon woks? The only non-stick coating that should ever be on a wok is carbon seasoning.

  • If you have a cast iron wok you're not going to ruin it this way.

  • I have actually tried this method before years ago. It really does work. The problem is that you will ruin the seasoning surface of the wok after doing this (if it is a Telfon coated wok, then you destroy the Telfon).

    So one cannot really have a single wok for both stir fry and for smoking. If you want to dedicate a wok for smoking, then it is ok. However, why not just buy a smoker then, right?