SC - ham

[Liam Fisher]

>There are also various Scots recipes for mutton hams (try Theodora
>Fitzgibbon) - apparently pork was looked on askance by some sections of the
>Scots community.

Well, I don't think it was a cultural bias, the pigs just didn't
survive well without a lot of care in  the highlands.  It's not
their terrain.  Goats and sheep however flourish there. So it may
be that they were just unfamiliar with it.  Also, I don't think
the Scots liked to eat animals dirtier than they were ;-)

>My usual indoor smoking technique is one I took from Elizabeth Cheong (Tiny 
>Delights) which she uses for fish.  Basically get one >wok, pile green tea 
>in the bottom, put a cake rack on top, then the >meat or fish and a lid  of 
>some kind.  Put it on the lowest heat >possible on the stove, and leave  
>for an hour.  Don't forget to >reseason the wok afterwards because the tea  
>sticks to
>it, and you may also need to clean the ceiling if you do this regularly.

You forgot to mention that you should open the windows too.  you can also 
buy commercial stovetop smokers that look like an ovesized cakepan.  I use 
my wok or my grill (with and without water, depending
on what I want to do).  I want to get one of the stovetoppers soon.

One of my favorites is to put Rice, Oolong Tea, and brown sugar in a foil 
pan and use it to hot smoke in the gas grill, using the upper rack to hold 
the food.  Maybe a pan of water as well, if I'm doing something other than 
fish.  Takes maybe half an hour at 280F.

When you're hot smoking you need to keep the temperature around 280F (130C? 
mental guess) to kill any bacteria.  I know bacteria aren't period, but our 
immune systems aren't as strong as our elders.

Cold smoking is done indirect and you kinda need a special rig for that and 
you maintain 80-100F so you can work the smoke into the
meat and keep it rawish, it's more of a preservation process than a cooking 
process.  I've used mesquite, hickory, oak, cherry, apple, teas and sugars 
for both processes.


Cadoc

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