Isle of Wight angler and budding cook Des Westmore runs the rule over the Snowbee Smoker unit.
Some extremists of the conservation ethic might fall into a flying fit but a high proportion of anglers go fishing to catch some fish for the table. As such, there are various items of equipment of very portable equipment for the explicit purpose of cooking the catch. One such is the stainless steel Snowbee Smoker unit which cleverly folds down to form nifty carrying case measuring just 16½”x 10½”x 4½”. Simply fuelled with Methylated spirits, this smoker is a piece of cake to light and not plagued with the lighting niggles associated with some other units.
A being a ‘Hot’ smoker the Snowbee both cooks and smokes the fish. Cooking time varies according to the sizes of the fish. I cooked and smoked substantial fillets from three 6lb pollack in thirty minutes with the spirit burners on high. This produced superb finished results that tasted sublime.
There’s little home assembly required prior to first use of the Snowbee unit, which entails setting up and filling the spirit burners, and adding the wood dust to provide the smoke. I accidentally loaded in too much dust in the first time, covering the base completely. It is in fact only necessary to cover the small oval recess in the base, situated beneath the splash-guard.
The Snowbee Smoker has a two level rack system, with the lower one being the hottest. It will smoke and cook meat as well as fish. Cheese can also be smoked using the upper rack and operating the spirit burners on the low setting.
The Snowbee Smoker retails at around £43.00 and is available in good tackle shops. For more information go to www.snowbee.co.uk or phone 01752 334933.
