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| fosm:food_smoking [2025/12/08 16:22] – Dave Darby | fosm:food_smoking [2026/03/26 18:33] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| # Food smoking | This topic is part of [[gt:food|Food & drink]]. |
| | ====== Food smoking ====== |
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| ## What is food smoking? | ===== What is food smoking? ===== |
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| Food smoking is an ancient method of [preserving food](/pres/preserving_food) using wood smoke. It's believed to be almost as old as the use of [fire](/craf/craft) itself. When prehistoric people hung the surplus [meat](/game/game) or [fish](/fish/fishing) they'd caught after a successful hunting or fishing trip from the ceiling of their cave to protect it from vermin and contamination, they would have noticed that the meat exposed to the smoke of the fire stayed edible for longer. If washed with sea water prior to drying and smoking, it would have lasted even longer because of the preserving properties of the salt. | Food smoking is an ancient method of [preserving food](/pres/preserving_food) using wood smoke. It's believed to be almost as old as the use of [fire](/craf/craft) itself. When prehistoric people hung the surplus [meat](/game/game) or [fish](/fish/fishing) they'd caught after a successful hunting or fishing trip from the ceiling of their cave to protect it from vermin and contamination, they would have noticed that the meat exposed to the smoke of the fire stayed edible for longer. If washed with sea water prior to drying and smoking, it would have lasted even longer because of the preserving properties of the salt. |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| A smoke house on a farm in Poland. | _A smoke house on a farm in Poland._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| ## What are the benefits of food smoking? | ===== What are the benefits of food smoking? ===== |
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| The main benefit is that it's a form of food preservation using a renewable resource, with the added benefit of improving flavour. So for example, before electricity, a [smallholder](/smho/smallholding) could kill a [pig](/pigs/pigs), salt or brine cure, then smoke the hams and make cold smoked sausages, and they'd keep until the next pig was killed, 6 months later. This can still be done today of course, and not only will the meat be preserved without the need for refrigeration, it will have a wonderful smoked flavour too. | The main benefit is that it's a form of food preservation using a renewable resource, with the added benefit of improving flavour. So for example, before electricity, a [smallholder](/smho/smallholding) could kill a [pig](/pigs/pigs), salt or brine cure, then smoke the hams and make cold smoked sausages, and they'd keep until the next pig was killed, 6 months later. This can still be done today of course, and not only will the meat be preserved without the need for refrigeration, it will have a wonderful smoked flavour too. |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| Bratwurst rings before smoking. | _Bratwurst rings before smoking._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| Bratwurst rings during smoking - the sawdust / wood shavings have just been lit. | _Bratwurst rings during smoking - the sawdust / wood shavings have just been lit._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| ## What can I do? | ===== What can I do? ===== |
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| ### Cold smoking | ==== Cold smoking ==== |
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| Cold smoking is often referred to as 'real' smoking. The temperature is usually lower than 30°C and the smoking time is long - from several hours up to 3 weeks. The smoked product is still 'raw' after cold smoking, e.g. Parma ham or salami. Many cold smoked foods have to be cooked prior to eating - for example, kippers (smoked herring). Food needs to be cured before cold smoking. | Cold smoking is often referred to as 'real' smoking. The temperature is usually lower than 30°C and the smoking time is long - from several hours up to 3 weeks. The smoked product is still 'raw' after cold smoking, e.g. Parma ham or salami. Many cold smoked foods have to be cooked prior to eating - for example, kippers (smoked herring). Food needs to be cured before cold smoking. |
| Make sure your cold smoker is in the shade, as sunlight will mean that the internal temperature will probably rise above 30 degrees. | Make sure your cold smoker is in the shade, as sunlight will mean that the internal temperature will probably rise above 30 degrees. |
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| ### Hot smoking | ==== Hot smoking ==== |
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| Hot smoking applies smoke with temperatures of more than 70°C. The smoking time varies from minutes up to a few hours. It's almost barbequing - hot smoking 'cooks' food, e.g. hot smoked trout or kippers. Prior to hot smoking, food is often cold smoked for a period of time to support the drying process and enhance the flavour. | Hot smoking applies smoke with temperatures of more than 70°C. The smoking time varies from minutes up to a few hours. It's almost barbequing - hot smoking 'cooks' food, e.g. hot smoked trout or kippers. Prior to hot smoking, food is often cold smoked for a period of time to support the drying process and enhance the flavour. |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| Bratwurst rings after smoking - the sawdust has completely burnt down and the sausages have changed colour. | _Bratwurst rings after smoking - the sawdust has completely burnt down and the sausages have changed colour._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| ### Wet and dry smoking | ==== Wet and dry smoking ==== |
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| Wet smoking is only done with hot smoking. For wet smoking, put a bowl of water in the smoker to keep the food moist. This is exactly what you don't want if you're cold smoking for preservation however – you want the food as dry as possible. | Wet smoking is only done with hot smoking. For wet smoking, put a bowl of water in the smoker to keep the food moist. This is exactly what you don't want if you're cold smoking for preservation however – you want the food as dry as possible. |
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| ### Barbeque smoking | ==== Barbeque smoking ==== |
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| Currently there's a trend for 'barbeque' smoking in America, which uses barbeques with lids or specially designed smoke barbeques. The method is the same as hot smoking, except that there is no period of cold smoking. It's a flavour-enhancing cooking method, and not anything to do with preservation. | Currently there's a trend for 'barbeque' smoking in America, which uses barbeques with lids or specially designed smoke barbeques. The method is the same as hot smoking, except that there is no period of cold smoking. It's a flavour-enhancing cooking method, and not anything to do with preservation. |
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| ### Curing | ==== Curing ==== |
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| Curing is rubbing the food with salt (dry curing), or soaking in salt water (brining or wet curing). After curing, the food is washed and dried for at least 24 hours before smoking. | Curing is rubbing the food with salt (dry curing), or soaking in salt water (brining or wet curing). After curing, the food is washed and dried for at least 24 hours before smoking. |
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| ### Buying / making smokers | ==== Buying / making smokers ==== |
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| You can buy commercial smokers – but they tend to use an electric element or gas to light the sawdust / wood shavings and keep them lit. From a low-impact perspective, it's better to make your own smoker – and it's very simple. All you need is a metal cupboard (or filing cabinet, or a wooden cupboard, or you can even cold smoke in a cardboard box), some hooks for hanging the food, or racks for cheese etc, a metal tin at the bottom for holding the wood shavings, and some way for the smoke to escape. One of our course tutors has smoked food using an oil drum with a hole in the top over a fire pit. | You can buy commercial smokers – but they tend to use an electric element or gas to light the sawdust / wood shavings and keep them lit. From a low-impact perspective, it's better to make your own smoker – and it's very simple. All you need is a metal cupboard (or filing cabinet, or a wooden cupboard, or you can even cold smoke in a cardboard box), some hooks for hanging the food, or racks for cheese etc, a metal tin at the bottom for holding the wood shavings, and some way for the smoke to escape. One of our course tutors has smoked food using an oil drum with a hole in the top over a fire pit. |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| Home made filing-cabinet smoker in use. Image: Smoky Jo's | _Home made filing-cabinet smoker in use. Image: Smoky Jo's_ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| ### Wood shavings | ==== Wood shavings ==== |
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| Find a local [woodworking](/wwor/woodworking) workshop and ask them for shavings or sawdust. It has to be hardwood, and not treated – so furniture makers are ideal. Softwoods contain resin, which produces nasty tasting soot. Or you can find suppliers of hardwood shavings online. A typical small cold smoker uses 50-100g of shavings a day, depending on what you're smoking, so a little goes a long way. | Find a local [woodworking](/wwor/woodworking) workshop and ask them for shavings or sawdust. It has to be hardwood, and not treated – so furniture makers are ideal. Softwoods contain resin, which produces nasty tasting soot. Or you can find suppliers of hardwood shavings online. A typical small cold smoker uses 50-100g of shavings a day, depending on what you're smoking, so a little goes a long way. |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| Lighting a smoke generator, filled with sawdust. Image: Coldsmoking Cookery School | _Lighting a smoke generator, filled with sawdust. Image: Coldsmoking Cookery School_ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| ### Methods | ==== Methods ==== |
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| The ideas below are just to give you a general idea – you can find more detailed recipes in books and websites (see resources). | The ideas below are just to give you a general idea – you can find more detailed recipes in books and websites (see resources). |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| Cold smoked meats and sausages of various kinds, in a shop in northern Italy. | _Cold smoked meats and sausages of various kinds, in a shop in northern Italy._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| NB: search online for the dangers of eating smoked food due to potential carcinogens in the smoke, and make up your own mind. We'd say three things about this: | NB: search online for the dangers of eating smoked food due to potential carcinogens in the smoke, and make up your own mind. We'd say three things about this: |
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| 1. It's all about assessing risk, which we think is small for relatively low quantities - so over-indulgence is the real problem; and | 1. It's all about assessing risk, which we think is small for relatively low quantities - so over-indulgence is the real problem. |
| | 2. We have other topics on the site that could be considered more dangerous than smoked foods, such as cycling in cities, using chainsaws and felling axes, sailing, wild swimming, foraging for wild mushrooms, building houses and installing renewables. |
| | 3. As well as living sustainably and changing career, a feature of many topics is that they could serve you well in the case of societal collapse. Food smoking, as a way of preserving food when refrigeration is impossible, is one of those topics. |
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| 3. We have other topics on the site that could be considered more dangerous than smoked foods, such as cycling in cities, using chainsaws and felling axes, sailing, wild swimming, foraging for wild mushrooms, building houses and installing renewables. | ===== Forum ===== |
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| 5. As well as living sustainably and changing career, a feature of many of the Lowimpact topics is that they could serve you well in the case of societal collapse. Food smoking, as a way of preserving food when refrigeration is impossible, is one of those topics. | This topic belongs to the section [[gt:food|Food & drink]]. You can ask questions or add information on the corresponding [Forum section](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/food). |
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| ## Further resources | ===== Further resources ===== |
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| - free pdf of book, _[Food Smoking: a Practical Guide](https://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/9780956675170_bookblock.pdf)_, by Turan T Turan of [Coldsmoking Cookery School](https://coldsmoking.co.uk/) | - free pdf of book, _[Food Smoking: a Practical Guide](https://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/wp-content/uploads/9780956675170_bookblock.pdf)_, by Turan T Turan of [Coldsmoking Cookery School](https://coldsmoking.co.uk/) |
| - [Mother Earth News](https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/smoked-foods-ze0z1502zhur/) - get started with smoked foods | - [Mother Earth News](https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/smoked-foods-ze0z1502zhur/) - get started with smoked foods |
| - [Off the Grid News](https://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/preserving-meat-long-term-the-old-fashioned-way/) - preserving meat long-term the old-fashioned way | - [Off the Grid News](https://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/preserving-meat-long-term-the-old-fashioned-way/) - preserving meat long-term the old-fashioned way |
| - [Smoking fish at home safely](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/smoking_fish.pdf) | - [Smoking fish at home safely](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/smoking_fish.pdf) |
| - [Smoking meat for long-term storage](https://prepperswill.com/smoking-meat-long-term-storage-secrets/) | - [Smoking meat for long-term storage](https://prepperswill.com/smoking-meat-long-term-storage-secrets/) |
| - [How to dry & smoke meat in the wild](https://secretsofsurvival.com/dry-and-smoke-meat-in-the-wild/) | - [How to dry & smoke meat in the wild](https://secretsofsurvival.com/dry-and-smoke-meat-in-the-wild/) |
| - [Smoked fish A-Z](http://www.mexican-barbecue-recipes.com/smoked-fish.html) | - [Smoked fish A-Z](http://www.mexican-barbecue-recipes.com/smoked-fish.html) |
| - [Build a smokehouse](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/smokehouse.pdf) | - [Build a smokehouse](https://www.lowimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/smokehouse.pdf) |
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| ## Specialists | |
| | ===== Related topics ===== |
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| | - [Preserving food](pres:preserving_food) |
| | - [Low-impact food & drink](lifo:food) |
| | - [Butchery & meat](butc:butchery) |
| | - [Cheesemaking](chee:cheesemaking) |
| | - [Fishing](fish:fishing) |
| | - [Game / wild meat](game:game) |
| | - [Low-impact seafood](seaf:seafood) |
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| | ===== Specialist curators of this topic ===== |
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