Any suggestions for cold smoking a tenderloin?

What size egg are you cooking on? How long have you had it?

They stand out like a tu#d in punchbowl don't they? :laugh:

Sorry! Jumped the gun there.A lotta times people will post "unusual" questions and then NEVER come back.My BAD! No harm intended.Firetruck came up with a really neat way to cold smoke.A soup/soda/beer can filled with woodchips and fired by an electric soldering iron.If you can't find it in the search forum email me via the forum and I'll explain the setup and procedure step by step.

It will work for any COLD smoking.He can cold smoke it a little while and not have to worry about temps.He said after smoking it was cooked like a regular steak.I think that's right.He could do a lo-n-slo smoke then sear I guess.That's just not how I understood his question.

two hours isn't a long time...

cold smoking is very mild, and takes a looooong time to add any color and smoke flavor.

the temps of 170-190 are still hot-smoke temps.

you want to be down under 140 or so. but again, i think hot smoking at a lower temp of 180-90 would actually be better. if i were gonna cold smoke, it'd be for four, five, six hours.

sounds like their description is a little off. you sure it was only two hours? maybe they only go 2 hours because anything much longer and you'd maybe wanna cure it. but then, i'd ask them why 2 hours cold, since i'd be so minimal.

scroo it. i'd say pick a temp, say 190, and put the smoke to it, then fire it at a higher temp til done.

there's no one that could tell the difference.

Actually, the purists define cold smoking as less than 100° and in addition to cheese, nuts and items with curing agents added.... cold smoke can be used very effectively as a flavor enhancer on many things prior to grilling. Chicken, pork ribs, pork loin, pork chops and ham steaks are among the most popular that come to mind. The flavor is stronger than you think as you burn 100% wood, and usually the wood is very fine. You have to be careful not to oversmoke. Some units even use special sawdust that is quite dense.

I got my first box smoker 36 years ago and still use one for certain things.

Because wood smoke is so strong, the issue is getting the proper draft, otherwise you get dead smoke and your food can get bitter. The pictures of the tin can / soldering iron set-up I've seen are usually sitting in a clean Egg and on top of the charcoal grate.... I've never tried that method, but it looks worth a try.



Many of the cold smokers have a separate smoke generator piped to the smoking chamber. In fact big smokehouses often have an underground pipe for the smoke to travel through. The length of the pipe cools and mellows the smoke. Here is an example of using an Egg as the smoke generator and a styro cooler as the chamber. Note the exhaust vent in the lid of the cooler.