Cold-smoking meat

In short

• Only salted meat with a dry surface goes into the smoke. Pork and game only with a negative Trichinella result.
• Temperature at the meat up to 20–22 °C (68–72 °F), best 10–18 °C (50–64 °F); ideal outside is 0–10 °C (32–50 °F).
• Smoke 4–8 hours a day, with a rest, not day and night.
• Rough smoking times: loin 3–7 days, sausages 5–14, bacon 7–14, kulen 14–21, dried beef 14–28, ham 4–8 weeks.
• Meat must never be warm to the touch; when fat runs or sausages "sweat", the smoke is too warm.
• A product is done when it has lost enough weight, not when it has darkened.

What's inside

Chapters

1. When and how to cold-smoke
2. Preparing meat for smoke
3. The rhythm of smoking
4. Temperature and humidity in the smokehouse
5. Product by product
6. From smoke to drying
7. How to tell the smoking is right
8. Safety in cold smoking
9. Common mistakes
10. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Cold-smoking calendar
• Smokehouse layout
• Target weight calculator
• Date calculator
• Cold-smoking log
• Smokehouse labels