I saw this once on “Good Eats” and had to try it, it works well, but I have also seen a guy on YouTube do this on a large scale and use it to run an engine, so I would not drink this mess straight.
This is probably used the most in flavoring sausage, and while it will give you a good taste, it will not give you the smoked color or help preserve your food.
The process is pretty easy, and I was able to get it to work on a lark using stuff scrounged from my kitchen.
The process for making liquid smoke is straight forward. Wood is burned and the smoke is caught in a collector. When it condenses, the result is a liquid with a very strong smokey flavor. An added benefit is that most of the tar and ash found in the wood smoke is left behind.
You can make your own by burning wood in a tall chimenea (one of those clay Mexican fire pits). I used my grill.
Put a round bunt pan on top of the chimney so the smoke rises through the hole in the middle of the pan.
On top of the bunt pan put an inverted pie plate, and on top of that put a bag of ice.
The smoke will rise through the center hole of the bunt pan, hit the cold pie plate, condense, and run down the sides of the plate into the bunt pan.
And that’s all t here is to it!
It’s much easier to buy commercial L.S., but you can see from the process that there really isn’t anything in it that is unsafe.
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