[Sca-cooks] Smoking

[Philippa Alderton]

There seems to be some confusion here about smoking,
so I figured I'd either add to it, or try to clear it
up ;-)

There are two types- cool smoking, which is a
preservation method, and hot smoking, which is a
cooking method. Both were used in period, one
deliberately, one incidentally, for the most part.

Cool smoking is what is referred to in Brighid's
recipe. In period, it was the hams or whatever hanging
in the rafters or a chimney corner. Done properly, the
food seldom gets over 100 degrees, and the smoke acts
as a preservative and flavor agent, while the heat
helps dry things. Frequently, the meat also spends a
fair amount of time in a brine bath before smoking, to
help dry it out. Cool smoking generally takes a
minimum of several days, and preferably can take
several weeks- that's what the outdoor smoker
buildings you see in the country are. This type of
smoking is used for flitches of bacon, sausages, or
the well-known Smithfield hams. It doesn't cook the
meat, it preserves it.

Hot smoking is what you do in a smoker grill, or those
little smoker pans that you place on your stovetop. It
is actually a cooking method, designed to infuse the
flavor of the preferred wood into the cooking food. It
is _truly_ a cooking method- the food gets hot enough
to kill nasties, and is quite as safe as any other
method of cooking, depending on what your take is on
carcinogens in smoke. In period, the flavor of the
wood frequently infused the slabs of meat as it was
roasting- that's why I say that in most cases, this
form of smoking was common, but inadvertant. If you
look around, though, I'm willing to bet there is
commentary about not using pine wood for a roasting
fire- I rather doubt Medeval people liked turpentine
flavored food any more than we do ;-)

Phlip

=====
Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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