How the two methods differ
Hot smoking cooks and flavours at once, around 80-90°C - a mackerel fillet goes in raw and comes off the rack ready to eat in under half an hour. Cold smoking stays below 30°C: the food never cooks, it just takes on smoke over hours, which is how smoked salmon, bacon and smoked cheese are made. Neither is harder; they are just different speeds of patience. Our beginner's guide to home smoking walks through both from zero.
Which suits you?
- Choose hot smoking if you want results tonight, you like cooking on the hob or BBQ, and smoked fish or chicken is the goal.
- Choose cold smoking if you enjoy a project - curing salmon over days, smoking cheese for Christmas - and patience is part of the pleasure.
- Torn? Start hot. The skills carry over, and a ProQ generator turns any lidded BBQ into a cold smoker when you are ready.
The fuel is different too
Hot smoking runs on wood chips; cold smoking runs on fine wood dust, which smoulders low and slow for up to sixteen hours in the ProQ's maze. They are not interchangeable - chips will not smoulder cold, and dust flares too fast hot. Our best wood chips guide covers matching flavours to food.
Good first projects
Hot: mackerel fillets - forgiving, fast, and better than anything in a supermarket sleeve. Cold: the treacle-cured salmon is the classic first cure, and smoked cheddar is the zero-risk warm-up. If you are weighing up which smoker itself to buy, our choosing a smoking oven guide compares the options.
Smoking kit questions, answered
Can one kit do both hot and cold smoking?
Nearly. A ProQ generator inside any lidded BBQ handles cold smoking, and the same BBQ with a smoker box handles hot - so the combination covers both. The stovetop oven is hot-only.
Is cold smoking safe at home?
Yes, with one rule: fish and meat must be properly cured or salted first. Cold smoke flavours food but does not cook it - the cure is what makes it safe. Cheese, butter and garlic need no cure at all.
Do I need outdoor space?
For hot smoking, no - the stovetop oven works on any hob with a window open. Cold smoking wants a garden, yard or shed, mostly for the long unattended hours.
The full range - kits, smokers, generators and every wood - lives in our food smoking collection.
