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CURING WITH SMOKE Smoke curing of meat and fish is a process as old as man's use of fires for heating and cooking. Today it is as much an art (meaning the result of experience and intuition) as it is science. The process has three basic steps: 1. The salting and brining 2. The drying or dehydrating 3. The actual smoking The important thing to remember is smoking is not COOKING, it is CURING. Cooked fish and meat will spoil quickly. Cured or smoke-dried products with the moisture removed will keep longer, depending on how long it has been smoked,how much brine was used and the weather. Dried or salted foods will keep indefinitely without refrigeration. Smoking is basically DRYING. Smoke only imparts the cured flavor. The wood smoke has a mild preserving effect on meat tissue and the gelatin in fish flesh and tends to harden the meat. Salt is used primarily to draw out moisture and inhibit bacterial growth. Fish and meats can be kept for long periods of time if dried and salted down. Fish and meat usually must be brined before smoking although mild smoke flavor can be added to cooked meats such as turkey by hanging it in the smoker for and hour or so without brining. Humidity control is most important. The higher the moisture the longer the drying time. Fuel for home-smokers can be either wood chips, wood saw dust,or corncobs, fired directly or heated in a pan by an electric hot plate. It is important that the source of flame never touch the meat or get close enough to cook it. A cheap smoker can be built using and old refrigerator, old wooden barrel or oil drum with the ends knocked out. Racks or rods can be used to hang the meat on. Even and existing outdoor fireplace or barbecue pit can be adapted for smoking. You can even purchase portable smokers. The most efficient would be a walk-in type building. You can even smoke fish or game over a pit. To smoke fish, clean and remove heads of fish. Make a fillet cut above and below the backbone, break the backbone but leave tail section intact and uncut. Open fish so it lays flat in one piece. Score fish lengthwise from head to tail with quarter-inch cuts about and inch apart. Rub the flesh thoroughly with salt to which a sprinkling of pepper has been added.(One ounce of pepper to one pound of salt is the proper proportion) The fish may now be stored in a cool place until ready to smoke. Before smoking, rinse the fish in cold, clean water (usually after hanging all night). Hang the fillets, after rinsing to dry in the sun light, or until the flesh has a glazed appearance. Meanwhile you will have dug a fire pit and got a fire going. When the fire has died to red coals, prop the fish slabs on a forked end of a five-foot length green limb over the coals. Use green wood to create the smoke, adding more as needed. It will take from five to sixteen hours to complete the smoking process. |
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