Question for serious meat smokers....and boy do I mean serious!!!!?

Question

I have been smoking meat for years but never once have I tried to preserve meat using a smoking technique of any kind.

Please tell me a legit process and maybe some good techniques/recipes for smoking a serious amount of meat that can be preserved for an extended time. I am requesting real solutions and hopefully dont get storeought crap for an answer.

I am building my own smokehouse this year and I want to make sure I do it right.

Thanks in advance!

I haven't had an error in smoking meat in 20 years. It has just never lasted long enough to know if it was done correctly and would last in storage. What I need the most is how to store it not smoke it. I prolly should have asked the question that way.

Answer 1

I don't recommend oak of any kind. leaves the meat tasting like worm food. Use hickory, mesquite, cherry or apple. (depending on the meat.)

If you have gamey meats such as goat, antelope or bambi, I prefer mesquite. It give the meat better flavor. For Pork, Elk, Beef or Buff I prefer Hickory.. Fish you might try the apple, cherry.

Put the firebox on one side to heat the wood to smoking.

in your design, the smoker should have a smoke box that you can fire and put heat to the wood and not the meat.
The smoke does the curing, that said I'd recommend using some curing recipe containing sodium nitrite, and flavoring salts and peppers.

You can make a rub with S&P, but best to marinate for 24 hours in the frig prior to smoking.

Answer 2

I see you are not getting a lot of answers, so I will give what little help I can give.

First of all, you will need a big supply of aromatic wood such as hickory, mesquite, or apple wood.

You will need to brine your meet with plenty of salt and sugar. I don't remember the proportions, I've not messed about a smoke house in over 40 years.

I strongly suggest you find a copy of the Foxfire book that has a chapter on smoking meat. I don't know of a better source of information of such an old fangled art.

Good Luck and I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

Doc

Answer 3

i smoke lots of meat im from the smoked meat capital of the world.i always start with a combination of three wood types the main one being RED oak,then add cherry,and finally hickory always make sure to soak the wood overnight in water so that it doesnt burn too fast. get your fire good and hot,let all of the original wood burn to embers then add the smoking wood in a three:two:one ratio starting with oak then hickory then cherry in that order your meat should be at room temp before smoking. i usually smoke mine for about 24 to 36 hours depending on the type of meat sometimes it may take less time you just want to make sure the meat reaches 150 degrees at the center.to season i use a combination of salt aregano and red pepper you can use any combination of spices as long as salt is added the salt cooks into the meat and acts as a natural preservative. let me know how it goes feel free to e-mail me with any questions

Answer 4

My father has been smoking meat for a really long time.I do know that he goes out and buys all diffrent kinds of wood chips and somtimes he soaks them in water for a much slower burn.I do know that it will take you a wile to master.I allready seen him bust his back all day and his meat tasted bad so he ushally feeds it to the dogs.That happens somtimes when you try somthing new.There is a lot of trail and error involved.I dont have the time to do all that work I am a big fan of lquid smoke.

Answer 5

Heh heh... smoking meat. Funny.

Answer 6

Edward, what's your address? I'm stopping by for dinner.

Answer 7

heh,heh,heh....you said "meat smoker"