I've been reading some smoking threads recently and I wanted to share the art of conserving meat for up to three years or more if simple rules are followed.
It involves salting the meat for up to fourteen days in a big vat. The fresh pork in this case is put in a supra saturated sollution of water and salt. The meat has to be completely submerged in the sollution and the temperature is best to be under 10 degree celsius(50F). This year's batch saw -22 celsius (almost -8F).
After these two weeks the meat is taken out, washed with warm water so that the excess salt is washed away.
The next step is putting it inside the smoker unit. It is usually kept there for ten days with one or two smoking sessions evey day. The smoke comes from burning chainsaw sawdust. The best is cerris or hornbeam. DO NOT USE sawdust from conifers.
Temperature is very important here. The smoke MUST be cold. The sawdust must only smoulder and not burn. Heat mustn't reach the meat in any way especially if you are smoking sausages or a kind of haggis made out of pig innards and skins.
This is how ham, looks after a week:
And this is the smoker:
The bottom part where you burn the sawdust is separated from the upper part by two layers of bricks laid in such a way so the smoke will pass freely, but the heat generated is kept under.
The final part. After taking the meat from the smoker it must be dried for 2-2 and a half months. For this you must store it in a dry, dark and well ventilated place at outside temperatures. Care must be taken so no insects, flies or rodents reach it. Mice really enjoy eating ham. Screen door fabric is ideal for insect protection (Cages are made out of it where you keep the meat). In this way the ham (fat, sausages, pastrami, fish, etc) will last for a very long time, even if you cut pieces from it. After a couple of months sausages will become rock hard, but will taste heavenly in a sausage soup or with scrambled eggs.
With this process I smoked everything from pork to fish. Except from salt and smoke no other chemicals or preservatives are used. It is as healthy as pork gets.
It involves salting the meat for up to fourteen days in a big vat. The fresh pork in this case is put in a supra saturated sollution of water and salt. The meat has to be completely submerged in the sollution and the temperature is best to be under 10 degree celsius(50F). This year's batch saw -22 celsius (almost -8F).
After these two weeks the meat is taken out, washed with warm water so that the excess salt is washed away.
The next step is putting it inside the smoker unit. It is usually kept there for ten days with one or two smoking sessions evey day. The smoke comes from burning chainsaw sawdust. The best is cerris or hornbeam. DO NOT USE sawdust from conifers.
Temperature is very important here. The smoke MUST be cold. The sawdust must only smoulder and not burn. Heat mustn't reach the meat in any way especially if you are smoking sausages or a kind of haggis made out of pig innards and skins.
This is how ham, looks after a week:
And this is the smoker:
The bottom part where you burn the sawdust is separated from the upper part by two layers of bricks laid in such a way so the smoke will pass freely, but the heat generated is kept under.
The final part. After taking the meat from the smoker it must be dried for 2-2 and a half months. For this you must store it in a dry, dark and well ventilated place at outside temperatures. Care must be taken so no insects, flies or rodents reach it. Mice really enjoy eating ham. Screen door fabric is ideal for insect protection (Cages are made out of it where you keep the meat). In this way the ham (fat, sausages, pastrami, fish, etc) will last for a very long time, even if you cut pieces from it. After a couple of months sausages will become rock hard, but will taste heavenly in a sausage soup or with scrambled eggs.
With this process I smoked everything from pork to fish. Except from salt and smoke no other chemicals or preservatives are used. It is as healthy as pork gets.
