Day 38: Preserving Food Part IV—Smoking

Dear Student,

Smoking meat is probably the oldest way of cooking and preserving foods known to humankind, and it can certainly be the most enjoyable and flavorsome! From the time we learned to make fire, we have been smoking the spoils of our hunting and gathering.

There are two main methods of smoking meat: hot or cold smoking.

Brining the meat before you smoke it can greatly increase the flavor and texture of the meat and helps in the preservation process in cold smoking. (See yesterday’s class on salting and brining.)