There is 2 forms of smoking Hot and Cold. Hot is slow cooking, with smoke. Cold is curing, with smoke. Very long process, takes about 4-6 weeks. But this is how you do Pastrami, Buendner Fleisch and so on. I like lean meat, lion tip, brisket or even a Turkey breast I strip them of all fat I can see on the outside. You need a rub. You can buy them or make them yourself. I do my own, secret,have to shot you if I tell. But the basics are very simple, a good sea salt and some sugar. Salt will preserve the meat and a little sugar will jus keep its rosy looks inside. I like a Menudo rub, gives the meat a hearty and zesty tatste. It has some gusto in it. The rub has to be applied intensely, you really have to work the meat. Than I vacuum the meat and put it for 4 weeks into the fridge, turn if every 2 days. I judge by the amount of fluid how well cured the meat is. The salt will suk fluid out of the meat, its supposed to do that. Once I see that the fluid amount in the bag does not increase, the meat is cured. Give it a nother week. Than the meat has to be hung to dry, for 2 -3 days. Should never get beyond 50 degrees A small fridge is nice, but doing it in the late fall will do the trick to, just hang it into the cold smoker, for several days. Yes I know, for most Americans, food not in the fridge is a no no and if 3 days old throw it away. This years batch I had hanging in the smoke house for over a week, after 30 days curing, to dry out. You touch the meat squeeze it, you can tell it is tender. There is just enough juice left, that it will not drip That's when the smoking starts. Its not cooking, its preserving. Never over 100F. The fire just has to smoke and built a patina around the meat, first penetrating it and than sealing it. That takes about 6 days. You smoke for 6 hours. Let the meat rest and cool down to around 40 for 18 hours and than start smoking again for 6 hours. After 6 days, you hang the meat for 3 days. Let it rest at around 40F. Delicious.
Oh man, I haven't tasted honest to God sugar cured ham since I was a small child (I still remember how damn good it was). My great-grandfather up until he was unable did a couple at slaughter time, and his personal recipe was so good other folks would pay him to do one or two of theirs. Sadly his recipe and process died with him.
That's a loss, grandpa and the recipe. The last 2 smokes I paint the meat with Maple Syrup and than let it hang for 3 days in the smoker. The temps will be perfect this week.
What you're doing here reminds me of something I heard years ago. Perhaps now might be a time to re-state it. Show me a man who works with his hands and I'll show you a laborer. Show me a man who works with his mind and I'll show you a craftsman. Show me a man who works with his heart and I'll show you an artist. You do a good job gnoib!
After 6 smokes and than curering for for 4 days it was time to check out some meat. This is the tip. The colour is perfect inside and the meat is outright tender and has nice smoky taste, not salty and the mix just gave it that little bit of fire. Those are cuts with a knife, so rather thick. I will slice the meat very thin with a meat slicer, paper between the slices and than vacuum seal it. One can use it as cold cut on a sandwich, or eat it just lie that, with some good cheese and a few glasses of a Argentine Merlot. Next I will check the Turkey breast.
That’s interesting you bring up Americans throwing food away that’s not refrigerated. I think we’ve become so dependent on that method of good preservation we don’t understand/trust the old tried and true methods. It’s too bad. Thanks for keeping traditions alive. Great posts.
Oh my gosh, I have a small fridge I'm not using anymore... I could totally get that out of storage! Thank you for this idea, I would love trying to do this.
Were I come from, originally, North Hessen, cold smoking is something of a tradition, same for air curing. Quiet a few of the cold cuts are air cured, Ale Wurst, a Salami type of of cc, is meat uncooked, seasoned, salt and pepper, stuffed in guts and than hung to dry in a cool place. Yes we are still a little bit barbaric and have great food of raw meat, my 2 favorites are beefsteak tartar and Gehacktes half and half. Sometimes when I see a very nice lean filet, I make a " Raw ", "Rohes ". Dice it, trim all the fat, than put it into salt water for a few hours, make dipp from plain yoghurt and than eat it like this. Its delicious.
You will enjoy it, not just meat, fish, salmon, trout, eel and so on. Fish needs a high fat contend, other wise it gets dry. I tried Tilapia, from my Aqua Ponics system, but warm water fish do not have enough oil.
Interesting. I’m a vegetarian (who makes a living raising animal protein LOL) so I have little experience with preserving meats. It’s all “on the hoof” at my place. But the concepts of preservation etc. fascinate me and I like to learn about them so I’m not starting from zero in a disaster/survival situation. It sounds like you are into a lot of food raising and independence from commercial food sources if you are doing aquaponics. That’s awesome.
Since I had to give up professional sport, due to severe TBI, I needed something to train my brain, a recovery therapy. Never liked vegies, the store bought stuff has not taste and you have to dump all kinde stuff on it make it taste. Since I have a farm, dry land, growing my own stuff was logical. Used to have cows, but the drought took care of them. Now I have just 4 horses left, used to be 40, plus 60 cows. Growing things is not as easy as people think. So I got into it. Helped hugely with my TBI. I do Aqua Ponics and dirt. Dirt in wiking beds. Produce my own soils out of horse and Kune Kune pig manure, with a very old recipe from the Amazon. Them vegies I produce have a taste, a real taste, even I eat them and love them. It started as a therapee, I had to do something. I was used to a 16 hours job, between 2 business, the horses and the laundry. Now it is a live style. I am not bio by conviction, the change the world thingy, but because what I have and the desperate need to fill a vacuum and get that brain to fix itself. It works. I feed 14 families with what I produce. The families of the farm and the families of the Laundry. They all get it for free. Healthy food, which tastes. How good can it get ? I will harvest the last tomatoes, today, ripped on the vine, around 140, from beef master to french. I get 5, the rest goes to my families. It is 8F 30 miles wind and I harvest tomatoes, have to, because to night it will be -8 and that enclosed porch will be frozen solid.
Yes it is good to keep those old proven traditions alive. They were developed in a time were live was a disaster, in todays terms. People developed those things because they wanted to survive, they survived. You can smoke vegies, too
Wow. I’m glad your relationship with the earth and growing food has helped. I am of the opinion it’s what we are meant to do. It’s part of who we are. The industrial revolution tore us as a society away from it, but the separation is unnatural and unhealthy. We have pretty limitless access to decent soil and water here so I’ve not tried any aquaponic, hydroponic, or anything. Oh, all the cow, horse, llama, pig (we have Kunekune as well, they are a hoot), and goat manure we can use as well. Pretty spoiled I am now. I grew up north of Canon City, CO so I do know a bit about livestock and gardening with limited water resources. We buy very few groceries. I even have the wheat and equipment to make all our own flour but do buy some. I agree with you on vegetables you grow yourself. I could not eat most of the store bought stuff. Can’t eat store eggs or drink store milk either. Have you looked into passive ground source heated greenhouses? I know a couple people building them now. You sound like you have all the skills to make it work. Then you’d have Tomatoes all year. My wife wants one, but I’m a poor builder. LOL I’m not a green or environmentalist by conviction either I guess. It just happens to be that practices that are best for the environment are also most sustainable and long term profitable as well. Mainstream commercial agriculture is coming around slowly to that conclusion which is a great thing.
Absolutely. We are very blessed individuals to have the lives we lead. Yeh, that sounds good to me. I like smoked cheese especially. But my wife hates anything smoked so I’ve not pursued it at all. Not worth it for just myself.
My resources are very, lousy soil and not enough water. I have to haul every gallon I need. So you have to event sources or ideas, which uses every bit of the water you haul. You start to understand. I was a guest teacher in our local High school for 2 years, 8 hours a week on how to do agriculture with next to no water. Enjoyed it greatly. Kids running around the farm, getting dirty, growing things having fun, good time, till it got politicide. Had a Aquaponic system in the High School, I paid for it. We fed the whole school, every day, at lunch, 200 kids. I use active ground heating through solar and grow Oranges in the green house When I built the green house a few year a go, I put floor heating in it, solar powered and by the huge wood stove I have. Stove heats water which than gets pumped through the house, floor heating and radiators. Green house and house average 80 degrees, at the minimum, all year long. Currently, -1 outside, 84 in the house and 74 in the greenhouse. Dirt temp in my winter garden is, were I sit right now, is 74. Just harvested the las Tomatoes, 40 pounds.
Yes you can. Not the leave ones like salad. But anything that is a fruit, seed can be smoked and preserved
Well if you have those heating options you are all set. I remember you talking about cutting wood in other threads now. I’ve never had any other heat source than wood except a few years in college. Can’t live without it now. If you don’t mind, how did the school projects get political?
The school has an Arg department, the garden including the A System were run by the school to farm project. Their was a rivalry. Than the management of Farm to School fell apart. The new director saw it as a in between job, so the garden and the system had care problems, lazy employees/care takers. I tried to take care of the A-System, which was more and more considered as interference. So one day the whole thing blew up and I decided to let it go. It was a super project and education tool for 3 years, first class folks running the garden and the System. It was a pity that the Arg department saw it as competition and kept the High School kids out of the garden project. National politics, Michell Obama and her project came into it, too. In the end a real mess.
Great thread. I don't smoke to preserve but I frequently like to cold smoke meats I'm having for dinner or putting into soups. My favorite wood is Mesquite, which will give meat a somewhat sweet flavor if it's smoked properly. One of the secrets to getting that sweet flavor is getting the bark off the wood chunks. For smaller cuts like steaks, salmon and chicken I'll smoke the meat until it's starting to turn red but the meat is still somewhat moist - you don't want the meat to get dried out. For larger cuts like pork butts and turkey I'll keep smoking till they're red on the outside. At that point you've usually smoked the meat long enough to penetrate the entire cut. You can't beat a Mesquite smoked steak and it's become a tradition in our house to smoke the Thanksgiving turkey. Not only does the bird taste great the day you eat it, the leftovers taste better than a plain roasted turkey,
