Smoking 101

[AZ Prepper]

Smoking 101
True barbecue starts with the smoke
By Derrick Riches
http://bbq.about.com/cs/barbecuetips/a/aa032198a.htm

The modern method of smoking foods has evolved from a process of preserving. Long before refrigerators and chemical preservatives, smoke was used to extend the shelf life of food, particularly meat. Now days smoking, as it relates to barbecue is so much more. Smoking adds flavor, it tenderizes, and it turns some of the worst cuts of meat into a wonderful meal.

Most people know about smoked ham, bacon or fish. In the world of traditional barbecue, whether it is Texas or North Carolina, smoking means something else. In barbecue, smoking takes anywhere from 1-2 hours up to 20 or even more. To do the really long smoke will require the right kind of equipment.

To smoke something you need a container to hold in the smoke, a source of the smoke, and some food to smoke. A smoker can be anything from a hole in the ground to a $20,000 smoker. The source of the Smoke is typically hard wood. There have been people who assert that what you burn to make the smoke really doesn't matter. Long time ago there was a guy in Kansas City who claimed that he had fed people in his restaurant ribs smoked with Hickory and some smoked with corncobs. Supposedly no one could tell the difference. He passed on a while back and the restaurant that bares his name denies that it ever happened. Believe what you will. I myself stick with the traditionally hardwoods like Hickory, Oak and Apple, but most any hardwood will do.

What to smoke is purely a matter of taste. The most popular items smoked by enthusiasts are ribs, brisket and pork shoulder. But don't limit yourself to these. You can smoke just about anything, from nuts to cheese to steaks. However, the process of smoking has grown around cuts of meat that traditionally don't come out well with any other cooking method. A good example of this is brisket, which is very tough and not very easy to eat unless you cook it very slow at a low temperature.

The basics of smoke are as follows. You need to practice good temperature control. Meat smoking is best done in the range of 200-220 degrees F. To be safe most meats need to be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F and poultry to 165 degrees F. However, to get real tender barbecue you want a higher final temperature, say around 180 degrees F. Basically smoking is a long process of over cooking tough meats to get a tender and flavorful meal. I recommend two accurate thermometers for smoking. One inside the smoker in the area where the meat sits to tell you the smoker temperature and one meat thermometer in the meat to tell you the internal temperature of what you are smoking.

There are two reasons to keep the temperature low. One is to give the smoke enough time to sink in and the other is to naturally tenderize the meat. Slow cooking gives the natural connective fibers in meat time to break down, become tender, and change into basic sugars. This last part is an integral part of barbecue. Collagen, the tough connective tissues in meat (think gristle) breakdown when cooked slowly into several types of sugar. This makes the meat sweet in flavor.

Another basic rule of smoking is to place the meat inside the smoker so that it is surrounded by smoke. You want a good thick stream of smoke around the meat at all times to give it the kind of exposure you need to enhance the flavor. The smoke needs to be moving, always moving to maximize exposure and prevent the smoke from making the meat bitter because of a build up of creosote.

The last thing to remember is that smoking is far more an art than it is a science. Practice and patience are the secret.

[AZ Prepper]

The Best Alternative - A Wood Smoker
http://www.smoking-meat.com/wood-smoker.html



A wood smoker is and will forever be the best way to smoke food. There is a bit of a learning curve if you are used to using a charcoal, gas or electric smoker but the results are worth the time and effort you put into learning this fine art.

I think the biggest mistake pitmasters make in using a wood burning smoker is in building too big of a fire.

I have always recommended starting with around 3 sticks of wood and using proper air flow to maintain a 220-240 degree temperature.

I generally start with the exhaust opened all or almost all the way and the inlet open about a third of the way.

This induces proper air flow and allows the burning wood to become a hot bed of coals that will remain at a constant temperature for several hours with minimal maintenance.

Proper air flow is imparitive to preventing creosote from building up on the meat and on the inside of the wood smoker. The smoke must be allowed to move into the smoker kissing the meat genly as it passes over and then be allowed to escape effortlessly thru the full open exhaust.

In the event that the smoker gets out of control you can spray the coals with some water to cool it down but be careful to not stir up the coals or you will have ashes all over your precious meat.

As far as what wood to use... that is a matter of personal taste. I love mesquite but I usually mix it with apple or oak at a 1:3 ratio to prevent it from overpowering the meat. You can use hickory, apple, oak, pecan and most other fruit and nut woods without the smoke becoming too strong.

Experience will be the best teacher in the proper use of your wood smoker and you will soon discover what you and your family like best.


How to Build a Fire in the Firebox
http://www.smoking-meat.com/how-to-build-a-fire.html

In "How to build a fire" we will discuss the proper procedures for building and maintaining a fire in your wood smoker.

I grew up building fires since we always warmed our house in the winter with wood and one of my chores was to build a fire in the den each morning.

The same techniques are used when building a fire in your smoker however you may not need to use kindling if you have a propane starter like me... (is that cheating?)

I am going to assume that you do not have the propane starter in your firebox to get your wood going on this tutorial.

You want to chop some kindling from the dryest, most seasoned wood you have available. Make sure it is of the non-coniferous varieties such as hard woods, fruit woods and nut woods.

You want the kindling to be long slivers about the diameter of a match.. these can be carefully slivered from a wedge of wood using a sharp axe.. do be careful!

When you have a good handful simply make a sort of teepee with the long slivers and place some small pieces of thin cardboard or rolled up paper under the teepee.

Light the paper under the teepee and blow gently on the kindling to get it going... as the kindling begins to burn add some larger pieces on top also in a teepee like fashion.

As your small fire gets going you can begin to add some of your bigger pieces of seasoned, dry wood.. this is what will create the bed of coals that will sustain the heat for the long smoke.

You will need to add about 4 pieces of wood to sustain a nice 225 degree fire depending, of course, on the individual size of your smoker, and you will want to add a piece of wood onto the fire approximately every hour or so to maintain a constant temperature.

Just to make sure there is no confusion.. seasoned wood is that which has been allowed to dry in the open air for 6 or more months.. wood that has been sitting out for more than 2 years will probably be deficient in flavor and may work fine as a base wood but you will need to add some less seasoned wood to get that really smoky flavor into the meat.

I do want to mention smoke stack and firebox intake settings.. the intake should start out at about half open and the stack should be 3/4 to full open. As you learn your smoker you may find that you need more smoke and you can close the smoke stack cover (also known as the rain cover) a little.

You make fine adjustments to the heat by using the intake on the firebox.. opening the intake lets in more oxygen and therefore it will burn better and create more heat. Closing the intake some will have the reverse reaction.

This is my expert advice on how to build a fire in your wood burning firebox.

[AZ Prepper]

Smoking Meat and Sausage
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/smoking-meat.htm


Smoking meats and sausages is one of the oldest methods of meat preservation. Climactic differences were a significant factor in the development of different methods of smoking, drying, and preserving meat products. The best air-dried hams originated in the South (Spanish Serrano, Italian Parma). The best known smoked sausages came to be known in the North (German and Polish Smoked Sausages). In early times, meat preservation was the primary concern and internal moisture was the enemy. Before 2200 B.C., the Chinese discovered that salting meat was an effective way of preserving it. By 1500 B.C., the Egyptians were using this technique and the Greeks and Romans were curing meats before the Christ era. The Italian name for sausage was “salsus” which was derived from the Latin word “sal” for salt. The Nomadic tribes of North and Central Europe suffered harsh winters. Fire was their way of coping; it provided warmth and was the center of social activities. Those regions became famous for the smoking art they developed and even today 60 % of all meats sold in Germany and Poland are smoked.


XVIII century smokehouses in Virginia. Those smokehouses doubled up as storage facilities where meats after being smoked for two weeks were kept inside for up to two years. Checking hams for quality. Photos courtesy The Colonial Williamsburgh Foundation

Smoking - reasons

Smoking offers many improvements for meat. Besides enhancing the taste and look, it also increases its longevity, and helps preserve the meat by slowing down the spoilage of fat and growth of bacteria. Smoking meat longer leads to more water loss, and results in a saltier and drier product, which naturally increases its shelf life.Man discovered that in addition to salting and curing meat with nitrates, smoking was a very effective tool in preserving meats..


The advantages of smoking meat are numerous. Smoking:


Kills certain bacteria and slows down the growth of others

• Prevents fats from developing a rancid taste
• Extends shelf life of the produce
• Improves the taste and flavor
• Changes the color; they shine and simply look better

Smoked fish develops a beautiful golden color. The meat on the outside becomes a light brown, red, or almost black depending on the type of wood used, heating temperatures, and total time smoking. Originally, curing and smoking was used solely for preservation purposes; today it’s done for the love of its flavor.

The smell in an ethnic meat store specializing in smoked products can be overwhelming. This experience is not shared with our supermarkets since their products are rarely properly smoked and they are vacuum-sealed to prolong shelf life. Certain classical sausages are smoked for up to 3 days and in today’s era it is hard to imagine a manufacturer that will do that. It would be economical suicide. To survive the frantic pace of today’s market, water is pumped into the meat, chemicals are added for aesthetic and preservation reasons, and smoking is virtually eliminated by adding liquid smoke. As long as the ingredients are not on the list of chemicals that present danger to us, the Food and Drug Administration does not care what goes into the meat. Taste plays a secondary role, as long as the price is good people will buy the product and supermarkets will keep renewing orders.

Smoking to preserve meat’s keeping qualities is of less importance today because we can keep the product in a refrigerator or almost indefinitely in a freezer. We smoke meats because:

• We control what goes inside
• We can achieve much better quality

Smoking temperatures

Smoking temperature is one of the most important factors in deciding quality. When smoking, the inside temperature of the smoker cannot exceed 170° F (78° C) for any extended time. At this temperature, fat starts to melt quickly. It acts like glue, holding the meat fragments together, giving them a proper consistency and taste. Once it melts, the sausage inside will be a mass of bread crumbs, greasy outside, will lose its shine, and will have an inferior taste.

If your sausage:

• Is greasy on the outside
• Contains spots of grease under the sausage
• Is too shriveled and wrinkled
• Has lost its shine and looks opaque
• Is crumbly inside with little empty pockets

It means that the internal temperature of the sausage was too high during smoking or cooking.

The inside temperature of the smoker is of utmost importance; it has a direct effect on the quality and appearance of the finished product. Determining temperate is as easy as inserting a stem thermometer through the wall or the door of the smoker, but unfortunately many smoke meats without it. Estimating the temperature by touching the smoker or inserting a hand is lucky at best. And of course when things go wrong we start looking for the culprits because it wasn’t our fault.

Another significant factor is the high temperature of smoking, and it should be kept below 160° F (72° C). In most cases we don’t exceed 140° F (60° C), even when hot smoking. Once when the smoking is complete, we can cook the product to a safe temperature of 152° – 160° F (66° - 72° C). To do so, we raise the temperature to about 170° F (76° C) and hold it there.

Pork: 82° – 104° F (28° – 40° C)
Melting temperatures of some fats
Beef: 104° – 122° F (40° – 50° C)
Lamb: 110° – 130° F (44° – 55° C

The fats start to melt at very low temperatures and we don’t want them to boil and leak through the casings. When faced with excessive temperatures, it begins to melt, and there is no way to undo the damage.

Types of Smoking

Cold smoking – 52° - 72° F (12° - 22° C), from 1 - 14 days, applying thin smoke with occasional breaks in between, is the oldest and still the best smoking method. It is obvious that you cannot produce cold smoke if the outside temperature is 90° F (32° C), unless you can cool it down, which is what some industrial smokers do. Cold smoking assures us of total smoke penetration inside of the meat. The loss of moisture also is uniform in all areas and the total weight loss falls within 5 – 20 % depending largely on the smoking time. Cold smoking is not a continuous process, it is stopped (no smoke) a few times to allow fresh air into the smoker. In XVIII century brick built smokehouses a fire was started every morning. It smoldered as long as it could and nobody cared if it stopped altogether; it would be restarted again the following morning.

Cold smoked meats prevent or slow down the spoilage of fats, which increases their shelf life. The product is drier, saltier, with a more pronounced smoky flavor and very long shelf life. The color varies from yellow to dark brown on the surface and dark red inside. Cold smoked products are not submitted to the cooking process. If you want to cold smoke your meats bear in mind that with the exception of people living in Alaska, it will have to be done in the winter months just as it was done 500 years ago. In most areas of the USA it is limited to months with the letter “r” in its name : October, November, December, January, February, March, and April.

Ideally, the meat should be smoked at 80 % relative humidity. If the humidity were increased, the intense smoke penetration would bring extra moisture inside. Extra moisture in the meat causes bacterial growth, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. Extremely low humidity, such as in Arizona and New Mexico will cause excessive drying of the sausage casing or the surface of the ham. This will prevent internal moisture from escaping the meat. This humidity control plays an important role when making products that cure very slowly in open air. Not having humidity will produce meat that is still moist and raw on the inside and dry outside. Once the meat is cut, there will be two different noticeable shades.


Hot smoking dries out the surface of the meat or sausage barrier for smoke penetration



Cold smoking allows us total smoke penetration inside of the meat.Very little hardening of the outside surface of the meat or casing occurs and smoke penetrates the meat easily.

Using dry wood is of utmost importance when cold smoking . We recommend keeping wood chips in a well defined single pile as they will have less contact with air and will smoke better without creating unnecessary flames and heat. By following these rules we achieve 75 – 85 % humidity, creating the best conditions for moisture removal. This in turn prevents the growth of bacteria. Once the moisture content drops low enough the salt present in meat will further inhibit the development of bacteria and the products can hang in the air for months losing more moisture as time goes by.

This is how we solved our refrigeration problem hundreds of years ago. What is even more significant is that the taste of these products is superior. Our favorite smoked salmon is prepared with cold smoke for an extended period of time. Applying hotter smoke (over 84° F, 28° C) will just cook the fish, the flavor will change and we will not be able to slice it so thin anymore. Cold smoking is a slow process and the hams, which lend themselves perfectly to this type of smoking, can be smoked from 2 to even 6 weeks. During smoking they will slowly be acquiring a golden color along with a smoky flavor. Cold smoking invites total smoke penetration for all parts of the meat.




Cold smoking at its best. No matter how many million dollars one could invest in the latest smokehouses and equipment, it would still be impossible to compete qualitywise with Waldemar Kozik who makes and smokes his products in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

Warm smoking - 73° – 104° F (23° – 40° C), continuous smoking from 4 – 48 hours depending on the diameter of the meat, humidity 80%, and medium smoke. The weight loss varies between 2-10 %, with the difference being largely dependent on time spent smoking. The surface of the product becomes quite dry but the inside remains raw. Because of the warm smoke, the product receives more smoke in its outside layers. This dry second skin helps increase shelf life, as well as prevent the loss of those delicious juices. The color ranges from yellow to brown and has a little shine due to some fat moving outwards. Think of it like putting some fat on your shoes; they will start to shine.

Hot Smoking - Continuous smoking at 105° - 140° F (41° – 60° C), 0.5 – 2 hours, 5 – 12 % weight loss, heavy smoke. This is not recommended for large pieces of meat. Although it is the fastest method, there is not enough time for adequate smoke penetration. This results in higher moisture content, reducing the product’s shelf life.

This type of smoking can be divided into three separate phases:

1. Drying out the surface of the meat for 10 - 40 min at 112°-130° F (45°-55° C), some very light smoke is acceptable, although not necessary. Besides drying out the surface of the meat, the temperature speeds up nitrite curing. Keep in mind that the draft controls must be fully opened to eliminate any moisture residing inside of the smoker.

Note: smoking at higher temperatures than 130° – 140° F (54 -60°C) will prematurely dry out casings or the surface of the meat and will create a barrier to smoke penetration.

2. This is the proper smoking stage at 112° - 140° F (45° - 60° C) for 30 - 90 min, using medium to heavy smoke. The color becomes a light yellow to dark brown with a shade of red. In this state, the natural casings become strong and fit snugly on the sausages.

3. About 10-20 min baking on the sausage surface at 140° - 176° F (60° - 80° C). Temperatures as high as 194° F (90° C) are permitted for a short period of time. Proteins are denatured in the outside layers of the product, but the inside remains raw with temperatures reaching only 104° F (40° C). Natural casings fit very snugly, become shiny, and develop a few wrinkles. This is a welcomed scenario; lots of smoked products are subsequently poached. Acting like a barrier, the drier and stronger casings prevent the loss of juices. This type of cooking (poaching) is more economical to baking (less weight loss).

If a smoker is used, the temperature in the last stages of the hot smoking process is increased to 167° - 194° F (75° - 90° C) until the inside of the meat reaches 152° - 160° F (66° - 72° C). This is the fastest and most common method of smoking. Because of a relatively short smoking time, hot smoked products should be kept in a refrigerator and consumed relatively quickly.

Wet smoking - any type of smoking that employs a water dish placed inside of the smoker to increase humidity levels. Dampening wood chips into water one hour before smoking will produce the same effect using any kind of smoker.

One reason small smokers need a water dish is their fuel, charcoal briquettes. When using wood, it always has about 20 % moisture, even when perfectly dried on the outside. During the first stage of combustion this wood dries out and any remaining moisture evaporates with the smoke into the chamber. Once the wood has burned out, the remaining charcoal has no water left, and in dry climates the product may be too dry. Ready made charcoal briquettes have no internal moisture, so we have to supply the water in a pan.

Another reason for the water pan is that most little factory made smokers are enclosed units that don't receive a steady supply of air. Fresh air contains moisture, which cools sausage casings or the surface of the meat. When smoking with an open fire, lots of fresh air enter the smoker and keep the meat from drying out. No matter how cute a small factory unit may be, it will not be able to perform the same duty without a little help from a water pan. As the water boils at the constant temperature of 212° F (100° C), placing water filled pan inside of a small smoker will help to control and maintain temperature at that level. Bear in mind that this is too high a temperature for smoking quality meats and sausages.



Summary on smoking methods

*The longer the smoking time, the bigger the loss of moisture, resulting in a higher proportion of salt. The product becomes drier and saltier, but achieves much longer shelf keeping qualities.

*A supply of fresh air is needed during smoking, which normally is controlled with a damper. Exiting smoke also needs a damper control otherwise tar and other unburned wood particles may start to accumulate, affecting the look and the taste of the product.

*The higher the smoke temperature the shorter the smoking time and the shorter its shelf life.

*The lower the smoke temperature, the better the smoke diffusion and the longest time of smoking.This directly leads to better taste and longer shelf life.

There is no steadfast rule that dictates exact temperature ranges for different types of smoking. Different books mention slightly different temperatures. A few degrees one way or the other should not create any problem as long as the hot smoking upper temperature limit is not crossed. Crossing this limit will significantly affect the look and the taste of the sausage.