New Man Food. The Groove Book Report: Smoked: How to flavour, cure and prepare meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit & more - by Jeremy Schmid

Following the success of Bangers to Bacon Jeremy Schmid takes it a step further with Smoked and demonstrates the wide scope of this age-old art of preserving food. The enticing aroma of wood smoke is hard to beat but you don’t necessarily have to cook outdoors to create that sweet salty smoked flavour. Smoking units can be created for the stove-top, in a barbecue, or in a cabinet outside. Jeremy describes the difference between hot and cold smoking, explains wood fuels and spices to blend and balance the right level of smoky flavours and uses step-by-step photos to show the process. Individual sections on meat, fish and seafood, fruit and vegetables, dairy, eggs and nuts begin with technique and lead on to showcase delicious recipes Jeremy has developed using smoked foods. Make your own mouth-watering pastrami, or try Smoked Snapper Pie, Beer-crusted bread with Smoked Butter and Roast Apricots with Smoked Mascarpone for dessert.

There’s a receptive calmness about chef Jeremy Schmid that is almost disconcerting in an age of bad tempered, tantrum-throwing wanker chefs like Gordon-Fucking-Ramsay and his Hell's Kitchen 'Ristront'!  I hate the tense, nervousness he creates around his food and his style.  Everything is rush-rush.  Schmid's smoked cuisines are all about slowing down a little and enjoying the concept of crafting your mean, and respecting the ingredients and the people you are serving to.

Schmid's a traditionalist to the extent that he cures his own small meat products and salmon on the premises, when he cooks at his cafe's and good on him for that.  In Smoked he takes us (and I mean you and mean, the novices) through all the steps of hot and cold smoking and curing.  I'm sure you've seen people whip up green-tea smoked salmon with wasabi butter and truffle poo.  Well Schmid is not the one to pull out that muck.  He's all about basics done well. He does chicken, salmon game but also cheese too and plenty of vegetables.  And all you need is space in the garden and a halfway decent BBQ.  Yum.  Summer here we come!!!