Smoking meat at home is a relatively unknown practice in our country. We eat smoked meat, but it generally comes from the butchery or store, not our own back yard.
If you’re going to start smoking your own meat, you’re probably going to need a cool, dry place to put them. A custom Centigrade solution will be perfect for this. Our insulated solutions make it easy to start small and add more space as needed.
Smoking is easily one of the most traditional meat preservation methods in existence. It was usually used in areas with high humidity where dehydrating or air drying meat was simply impossible. Of course, those were the days before dehydrators were invented.
Smoked meat just tastes good and that’s why most people who smoke meat don’t do it for preservation, but rather for taste.
To smoke your own meat, you’ll need a backyard. In short, you soak wood chips in water for a full day, and then place those chips into the smoke box, and then you set the temperature of the smoker to how you want it and spread the meat over the racks in the smoke.
Next, you need to cook the meat until you get it to the right temperature. Different meat types have different temperature requirements, so it’s important to check on that while you continue to smoke, adding more wood chips o the smoker as well. It’s the smoke that produces the flavour.
You can either buy a small smoker or you could always build your own smokehouse.
Smoking takes time, so it’s a slow process where the smoke naturally preserves fish, avocadoes, meat, pineapple, asparagus, and eggplant. There are two types of smoking methods you might want to try. The first is cold smoking where you keep the temperature below 38 degrees Celsius as the smoke dries out the meat over the course of a few days. The other type is hot smoking. Here, the temperature is kept at around 105 degrees Celsius and cooks the meat.
Using wood to smoke food helps preserve food for longer because wood has natural preservatives in it. Many types of smoked meat take their flavor from the smoking process, which is sometimes done after the meat has been cured using brine (a heavily salted solution) or dry packing (placing the food directly in a salt mixture). The smoking process also reaches the deepest into the meat, making it more tender than other types of cured meats.
Why do People Smoke Their Meats?
Some of the common reasons still smoke meats, seafood and poultry are:
• To add a smoky flavour
• To make the meat more tender
• To kill bacteria and preserve the meat
• To make the meat last longer
• To store without refrigeration
How Can You Tell if Your Meat Has Been Properly Smoked?
You’ll know your smoked meat is ready when it turns a dark brown. If you lightly press the meat, it should feel tender and spring back to its original shape.
Your choice of wood can impact the flavour of your meat. Wood from fruit trees gives better flavour. The meat can also pick up flavours of spices and herbs used during the smoking process.
How do you know if your smoked meat’s gone bad?
Smoked meats can last for months if they are not exposed to heat or sunlight. Stored correctly, they will last for a long time, but if not, they can spoil very quickly. Make sure you keep your smoked meats in a cool, dry place where the temperature is consistent. Putting them in a container or bag might also be a good idea so they don’t absorb other flavours or smells.
Like other meats, the signs of smoked meat having spoiled is that it might be slimy, discoloured or smell bad. If you see any of these signs, you should not eat the meat.
