[Sca-cooks] Smoked fish and meat--questions

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> On a tangent from the smokehouse discussion ...  .
>
> We've been thinking that we need more things for Pennsic that don't
> require either a cooler to preserve or cooking. That way we can do a
> larger variety of cold meals. One possibility is to use smoked meat
> or fish.
>
> Neither Betty nor I has much experience with such. Are there
> commercially available products that will reliably keep for a week or
> more without refrigeration, and where does one get them?
> Alternatively, what plausibly period ways to we have of making such
> things that don't require hanging them in a chimney for months, where
> a fire is kept all the year round.
>
> Given my persona, pork products are not an option.
> --
> David/Cariadoc

Given your reputation, one might think long pig would be ;-) Seriously,
though, Cariadoc, that lets out, obviously, Smithfield ham, and smoked
bacon, which are two of the most smoked products on the market.

I think you need to re-think this a bit- you said:

> We've been thinking that we need more things for Pennsic that don't
> require either a cooler to preserve or cooking. That way we can do a
> larger variety of cold meals. One possibility is to use smoked meat
> or fish.

The trouble with smoked foods is that once preserved, refreshing them
generally requires cooking- if you don't cook them, then breaking them into
edible portions requires a bandsaw, or other heavy woodworking equipment.
Once a properly smoked product is finished, it has roughly the density of
dried wood.

Now, jerkies of various types are an option, as long as your teeth are good,
but most flavors available today commercially are pretty modern- if you look
around, they tend to be either some variant of teriyaki, or some variant of
jalepeno or other capsicum pepper. Occasionally, you can find it in a plain,
gar;ic and pepper variety, but not often- and when you look at the
preservatives, etc that they add, you might just be better off going back to
a slice of wood. Further, most jerkies make a good snack-type food with a
beer, but just aren't very filling.

Another option is some of the kippered snacks that have become available
lately, but one disadvantage to those, is that I've never seen them packaged
in bulk, as many jerkies are, and I don't really think ripping open a bunch
of plastic wrappers for lunch would enhance your Medieval experience- for
others, it might be fine, but for you, with what you're trying to do with
the Enchanted Ground, I suspect it would be a conflict of interests.

I suspect that you might be best off smoking things yourself. That way, you
can choose what meats and fishes you use, and what spices, etc you add. One
possibility would be to take one of those commercial hot-smokers, start by
smoking the chosen foodstuffs as one would if you were cooking it, but for
flavor rather than for immediate eating, then, when it's saturated with
smoked flavor, finishing it up in the oven, to bring it to a hard dry, as
one does with jerky, If you did this ahead of time, you could preserve it
for a fair amount of time in a cool, air-tight environment, and then just
pack it for Pennsic- experiment would give you an idea of shelf life. When I
make jerkies, I've found they keep quite well in a glass jar or a plastic
baggie, for several months. I've never experimented with fish.

And, finally, building and using a real smoker. There are several designs
available that don't require building a smoking building in your back yard-
a couple use defunct refrigerators, so I imagine you could build a smallish
box- but this would be fairly labor intensive, not necessarily reqiring
someone to be there diddling with it constantly, but definitely requiring
smoeone to be there to check on it at least hourly, to refresh the fuel
and/or smoking wood.

Then, depending on what you want to spend, there are these:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jhtml?id=0005
918&navAction=push&navCount=2&indexId=cat20120&parentId=cat20120&parentType=
index&rid=&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcatalog%2Fpod-link.jhtml_A&_DAV
=MainCatcat20075

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jhtml?id=0
015813514663a&navAction=push&navCount=2&indexId=cat20120&podId=0015813&catal
ogCode=XC&parentId=cat20120&parentType=index&rid=&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fc
ommon%2Fcatalog%2Fitem-link.jhtml.1_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20075&hasJS=true

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jhtml?i
d=0004365&navAction=push&navCount=2&indexId=cat20120&parentId=cat20120&paren
tType=index&rid=&cmCat=MainCatcat20075&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcat
alog%2Fpod-link.jhtml.4_A&_DAV=http%3A%2F%2Fa1460.g.akamai.net%2Ff%2F1460%2F
1339%2F6h%2Fwww.cabelas.com%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcontent%2FPod%2F00%2F43%2F65%2F
p004365ii01.jpg

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jhtml?i
d=0005854&navAction=push&navCount=2&indexId=cat20120&parentId=cat20120&paren
tType=index&rid=&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcatalog%2Fpod-link.jhtml_
A&_DAV=MainCatcat20075

Depending on how much you want to spend, one of these items might suit your
needs.

Can you tell I've been giving the matter some thought, for my own purposes?

;-)

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

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

>