How a home smokery works

Last updated Oct 9, 2022 Edit Source

Writing Task 1

Smoked foods are popular worldwide because of their special flavour and their long life.

The diagram below shows the structure of a home smokery and how it is used.

Outline

• the structure
  • 3 holes
  • in a row
  • progressively shallower
• how it works
  • air in deepest hole
  • air blows into fire pit through pipe
  • smoke comes through pipe to shallowest hole
    • through layers of bricks (to disperse the smoke)
  • smoke fish/chicken hung inside a box (to trap the smoke and heat) placed over the hole

The diagram shows the structure/design of a home smokery, which is used to produced smoked foods.

It is clear that this is a rather simple system comprising three main parts, which are largely built underground. The process makes use of air flows and smoke from log fire to cure¹ meats.

The three main components of the structure are basically three holes dug in a row, connected to one another with a tunnel and a pipe. These holes are made progressively shallower to allow air to flow from one end to the other. A tall box is placed over the shallowest open hole to hang meats.

The way the smokery works is simple. First, the lid on the deepest pit is raised to let air in. This air then blows into a tunnel that connects with the fire pit, which is sealed with a tight-fitting lid. As a result, the smoke from the burning logs is carried by the air current through the pipe on the other side into the last hole. Here, the smoke, along with the heat, goes through about two layers of bricks to be evenly dispersed inside the box, smoking the fish or chicken meat that is hung on its ceiling.

(206 words)