Smoked meat is produced by burning hardwoods or plants in a smokehouse, grill or meat smoker. Different methods are used to prepare meat, poultry and fish, including cold smoking, hot smoking, and smoke roasting. Common types of meat smokers include upright smokers, box smokers, and commercial smokers. Popular types of red meat suitable for smoking are ribs, hams and roasts, while smoked poultry products include chicken and turkey.
Using smoke to cook or preserve certain types of meat and fish results in what is called smoked meat. The practice of using smoking as a method of cooking or preserving meat has been around for centuries. To produce the smoke, various types of hardwoods or certain plants are allowed to burn in a smokehouse, grill or meat smoker. The smoke produced by these hardwoods cooks, preserves and adds a unique flavor to the meat.
There are different types of methods used to prepare meat, poultry and fish when using smoke. The cold smoke method adds smoke flavor to meats without cooking them through. The smoked meat is then fully cooked through cooking, roasting or grilling.
Hot smoking adds the smoky flavor and thoroughly cooks the meat using a combination of heat and smoke. The smoked meat is then ready for the table or simply reheated afterwards. Hams and hocks are a good example of hot smoked meat intended for reheating.
Smoke roasting uses a combination of smoke and an oven to cook the meats. The hardwood chips are placed in a pan at the bottom of the oven. The steaming chips produce the smoked meat flavor as the oven cooks or roasts the meat until cooked through.
Various fuels are used to heat hardwood chips, with the most common being charcoal or propane. Types of hardwoods used to make smoked meats are oak, walnut and maple, to name a few. The chips are typically soaked in water to prevent them from catching fire during the smoking process.
Some common types of meat smokers are upright smokers, box smokers, and commercial smokers. Vertical smokers have a fire in the bottom that heats the hardwood chips that smoke the meat on the shelves above. Box smokers typically have what’s called a two-box method, where the fires are separated from the food. The smoke and heat are diverted to an adjacent box which houses the meat. Commercial smokehouses are large buildings where meat is smoked and packaged for resale.
Popular types of red meat suitable for smoking are ribs, hams and roasts. Poultry products that are typically smoked include chicken and turkey. It is also common to smoke some types of fish. Smoked meat is popular all over the world and different cultures smoke all kinds of meat and fish as well as vegetables and cheeses.
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