Long hailed as a method of preserving food, smoking is gaining new ground for the wonderful wood-fired flavour it adds to everything from sugar to salt.

Hot and cold smoking are the two main processes that can be used. During the former, the heat of a fire is harnessed to impart a delicate smoky flavour to food during cooking.

Cold-smoked foods, on the other hand, are not cooked during the low-temperature smoking process, but are smoked for just long enough to give them a hint of flavour.

If you don’t have a store-bought smoker, create your own by placing wood chippings or sawdust for burning in an old pot or roasting pan.

Top with a mesh screen, leaving a gap between the mesh and the chips or sawdust. Place food on the mesh and cover with a lid or tinfoil when smoking (note that this smoker is suitable for lightweight foods only).

Choose your wood for smoking carefully. Consider chippings of acacia wood (good for meat and vegetables), almond-tree wood (which adds a nutty, sweet smoked flavour), apple-tree wood (which imparts a slightly sweet, "dense" flavour), grapefruit-tree wood (for a mild, smoky flavour) and lemon-tree wood (for a tangy citrus smoked flavour).

READY-SMOKED PRODUCTS

Alternatively, Aphrodisiac Shack Smoke House (028 840-0313) and Romesco Foods (033 263-2535) offer a wonderful range of ready-smoked products for your convenience.

SMOKING HOT RECIPES

Dense smoked chocolate and vanilla fudge cake encrusted with pink peppercorns

Crisp chicken breasts with oak smoked salt-pan fried garlic, sunflower sprouts and baby radish

Tender fillet steak medallions topped with smoked green olive tapenade and shiitake mushrooms

Crusty homemade smoked flour baguette with smoked aioli and roasted tomatoes

Seared hake with creamed corn and smoked butter popcorn

Artichoke and pear summer salad with fresh greens tossed in a smoked white balsamic reduction