Query about smoking meat to preserve it
 

My family does historical recreation (SCA), and one issue is how to keep
meat at a week long camping event without a (modern, inconvenient)
cooler. Currently we have one solution that involves preserving meat in
spices and vinegar, from a roughly 13th c. source. Other than that we
use beans, eggs, cheese, etc., which don't have such a serious spoilage
problem.

Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
effort.

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David Friedman wrote:
> My family does historical recreation (SCA), and one issue is how to keep
> meat at a week long camping event without a (modern, inconvenient)
> cooler. Currently we have one solution that involves preserving meat in
> spices and vinegar, from a roughly 13th c. source. Other than that we
> use beans, eggs, cheese, etc., which don't have such a serious spoilage
> problem.
>
> Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> effort.
>


What hostoric period? How historically accurate do you want?
How much lead time do you have before you need it (hard salami, for
instance, does not require refrigeration but it takes a long time to
make.) Would you object to adding sodium nitrite to an otherwise
authentic old recipe?

Bob

Actually the smoking was to keep the bugs/flys off of the meat the
brining was the preserving. This comes from my husbands grandmother who
had a smoke house for years and years.
Connie TC
>
> Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> effort.
>

Actually the smoking was to keep the bugs/flys off of the meat the
brining was the preserving. This comes from my husbands grandmother who
had a smoke house for years and years.
Connie TC
>
> Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> effort.
>

In article >,
zxcvbob > wrote:

> David Friedman wrote:
> > My family does historical recreation (SCA), and one issue is how to keep
> > meat at a week long camping event without a (modern, inconvenient)
> > cooler. Currently we have one solution that involves preserving meat in
> > spices and vinegar, from a roughly 13th c. source. Other than that we
> > use beans, eggs, cheese, etc., which don't have such a serious spoilage
> > problem.
> >
> > Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> > tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> > flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> > if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> > without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> > preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> > effort.
> >
>
>
> What hostoric period?

SCA is pre-seventeenth century and, in practice although not in the
rules, almost all post classical antiquity, and mostly European.

> How historically accurate do you want?

That isn't an all or nothing issue--more accurate is better. I would
prefer to have instructions that were actually written down before 1600,
as in the case of the one process we currently use. But modern
instructions for a process that we have good reason to believe was used
before 1600 would be a lot better than nothing.

> How much lead time do you have before you need it (hard salami, for
> instance, does not require refrigeration but it takes a long time to
> make.)

A lead time of months wouldn't be a problem.

> Would you object to adding sodium nitrite to an otherwise
> authentic old recipe?

I would be interested in trying to do without--are there good reasons to
add the nitrite?

I should add that my persona in the SCA is a North African Muslim, so
although ways of preserving pork are interesting, they aren't
immediately useful.

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In article >,
zxcvbob > wrote:

> David Friedman wrote:
> > My family does historical recreation (SCA), and one issue is how to keep
> > meat at a week long camping event without a (modern, inconvenient)
> > cooler. Currently we have one solution that involves preserving meat in
> > spices and vinegar, from a roughly 13th c. source. Other than that we
> > use beans, eggs, cheese, etc., which don't have such a serious spoilage
> > problem.
> >
> > Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> > tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> > flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> > if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> > without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> > preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> > effort.
> >
>
>
> What hostoric period?

SCA is pre-seventeenth century and, in practice although not in the
rules, almost all post classical antiquity, and mostly European.

> How historically accurate do you want?

That isn't an all or nothing issue--more accurate is better. I would
prefer to have instructions that were actually written down before 1600,
as in the case of the one process we currently use. But modern
instructions for a process that we have good reason to believe was used
before 1600 would be a lot better than nothing.

> How much lead time do you have before you need it (hard salami, for
> instance, does not require refrigeration but it takes a long time to
> make.)

A lead time of months wouldn't be a problem.

> Would you object to adding sodium nitrite to an otherwise
> authentic old recipe?

I would be interested in trying to do without--are there good reasons to
add the nitrite?

I should add that my persona in the SCA is a North African Muslim, so
although ways of preserving pork are interesting, they aren't
immediately useful.

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David Friedman wrote:

>>Would you object to adding sodium nitrite to an otherwise
>>authentic old recipe?
>
>
> I would be interested in trying to do without--are there good reasons to
> add the nitrite?

Yes, it protects agains botulism. If your old recipe calls for
saltpeter, it would be appropriate to use sodium nitrite; it does the
same thing as saltpeter but does a better job of it. If your recipe
does not call for saltpeter, adding nitrite will change the final
product (mostly, it will turn it pink.)

> I should add that my persona in the SCA is a North African Muslim, so
> although ways of preserving pork are interesting, they aren't
> immediately useful.

They are more useful than you might think -- substitute mutton or beef
or ostrich or pony (etc.) for the pork.

Bob

"Connie TenClay" > wrote in message
...
> Actually the smoking was to keep the bugs/flys off of the meat the
> brining was the preserving. This comes from my husbands grandmother who
> had a smoke house for years and years.
> Connie TC

Don't tell your granny in law, but she's wrong . Cold smoking not only
keeps bugs/fly away but, it does in fact help preserve meat for 2 reasons:
among the hundreds of compounds in smoke, there are some with bactericidal
properties, they are deposited on the surface of the meat and absorbed
during the first hours of the smoking process. The long/low temperatures,
also help preserve the meat by drying its exterior, which helps to prevent
bacteria survival, fungus too.

> My family does historical recreation (SCA), and one issue is how to keep
> meat at a week long camping event without a (modern, inconvenient)
> cooler. Currently we have one solution that involves preserving meat in
> spices and vinegar, from a roughly 13th c. source. Other than that we
> use beans, eggs, cheese, etc., which don't have such a serious spoilage
> problem.
>
> Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> effort.

Please use caution in replicating preservation mechanisms from the
centuries past. You may find that you life expectency will match
theirs.

Jerky is an example of a age old meat preservation method that is
still practiced today. Dry-cured ham is another example. These are
both room temperature stable, although jerky is easier to make.
Smoking does not "preserve" meats by itself.

Read my review for indepth information if you like:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...smoke_rev.html.

Historical Origins of Food Preservation
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...pres_hist.html

Brian Nummer, Ph.D.
National Center for Home Food Preservation

In article >,
(NCHFP) wrote:

> > My family does historical recreation (SCA), and one issue is how to keep
> > meat at a week long camping event without a (modern, inconvenient)
> > cooler. Currently we have one solution that involves preserving meat in
> > spices and vinegar, from a roughly 13th c. source. Other than that we
> > use beans, eggs, cheese, etc., which don't have such a serious spoilage
> > problem.
> >
> > Historically, smoking was used to preserve food--but as far as I can
> > tell, the smoked foods currently available in the supermarket use it for
> > flavor, and require, or say they require, refrigeration. I was wondering
> > if people here could point me at sources for smoked meat that would keep
> > without refrigeration, or suggest other solutions to the problem,
> > preferably ones that don't involve too large an investment of time and
> > effort.
>
> Please use caution in replicating preservation mechanisms from the
> centuries past. You may find that you life expectency will match
> theirs.

I doubt that food poisoning was a significant source of low life
expectancy in the 12th century. As a general rule, my impression is that
people in pre-modern societies, although they didn't know lots of things
we do, did have a pretty good idea of how to function with the
technology they had--with the result that they only rarely did things
that were unnecessarily hazardous.

In the case of the Lord's Salt, which is the method I have used, we
checked the relevant literature on potential problems before
experimenting with it.

> Jerky is an example of a age old meat preservation method that is
> still practiced today. Dry-cured ham is another example. These are
> both room temperature stable, although jerky is easier to make.
> Smoking does not "preserve" meats by itself.

Harold McGee disagrees--he describes it (p. 104 of _On Food and
Cooking_) as an old preservation technique. And in the first of the two
pieces you reference below, you write:

"Smoking meat imparts an attractive and appealing sensory property, in
addition to preserving meats."

To take a somewhat earlier source, Le Menagier has a recipe for sausages
which uses only "a little fine salt" in the list of ingredients, smokes
them for four days, and clearly intends them to keep thereafter.

> Read my review for indepth information if you like:
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...smoke_rev.html.
>
> Historical Origins of Food Preservation
> http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publication...pres_hist.html

Thanks for the cites. One small point of disagreement. In the second
one, you write:

"The same fervor of trading with India and the Orient that brought
pickled foods to Europe brought sugar cane. In northern climates that do
not have enough sunlight to successfully dry fruits housewives learned
to make preserves‹heating the fruit with sugar."

Sugar in the Middle Ages was coming to Europe from the Islamic world,
not from India and the Orient. And I believe the making of fruit
preserves in Europe only happens towards the end of the sixteenth
century, when sugar was becoming less expensive because it was being
imported by sea from the West Indies. I believe C. Anne Wilson discusses
the subject in _Food and Drink in Britain_--and I'm pretty sure I
haven't seen any sugar preserved fruit recipes in the 14th or 15th c.
English recipe corpus.

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David Friedman > wrote:

> Sugar in the Middle Ages was coming to Europe from the Islamic world,
> not from India and the Orient.

??

> And I believe the making of fruit
> preserves in Europe only happens towards the end of the sixteenth
> century, when sugar was becoming less expensive because it was being
> imported by sea from the West Indies.

??

> I believe C. Anne Wilson discusses
> the subject in _Food and Drink in Britain_--and I'm pretty sure I
> haven't seen any sugar preserved fruit recipes in the 14th or 15th c.
> English recipe corpus.

I don't know what she writes, but I hope I asked yourself what the term
"candy sugar" refers to

--
lilian

In article >,
(lilian) wrote:

> David Friedman > wrote:
>
> > Sugar in the Middle Ages was coming to Europe from the Islamic world,
> > not from India and the Orient.
>
> ??
>
> > And I believe the making of fruit
> > preserves in Europe only happens towards the end of the sixteenth
> > century, when sugar was becoming less expensive because it was being
> > imported by sea from the West Indies.
>
> ??
>
> > I believe C. Anne Wilson discusses
> > the subject in _Food and Drink in Britain_--and I'm pretty sure I
> > haven't seen any sugar preserved fruit recipes in the 14th or 15th c.
> > English recipe corpus.
>
> I don't know what she writes, but I hope I asked yourself what the term
> "candy sugar" refers to

It refers to crystalized sugar.

Is your point etymological? I think our word "candy" comes from an
Indian language via Arabic, and originally meant sugar cane. But that
tells us nothing at all about where the sugar being used in medieval
Europe came from. "Pajamas" comes from Persian, but my pajamas don't
come from Persia.

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David Friedman > wrote:

> > I don't know what she writes, but I hope I asked yourself what the term
> > "candy sugar" refers to
>
> It refers to crystalized sugar.

that was quite clear

> Is your point etymological?

yes, but linked to sugar-history, too

> I think our word "candy" comes from an
> Indian language via Arabic, and originally meant sugar cane.

Have you ever heard of Candia? It used - and it is - an island, now
better known under a different name. Few centuries ago it used to run a
kind of sugar monopoly: nothing to do with Turks and Arabs, on the
contary

--
lilian

In article >,
(lilian) wrote:

> David Friedman > wrote:
>
> > > I don't know what she writes, but I hope I asked yourself what the term
> > > "candy sugar" refers to
> >
> > It refers to crystalized sugar.
>
> that was quite clear
>
> > Is your point etymological?
>
> yes, but linked to sugar-history, too
>
> > I think our word "candy" comes from an
> > Indian language via Arabic, and originally meant sugar cane.
>
> Have you ever heard of Candia? It used - and it is - an island, now
> better known under a different name. Few centuries ago it used to run a
> kind of sugar monopoly: nothing to do with Turks and Arabs, on the
> contary

Candia is Crete. So far as I know it never had a monopoly of sugar,
although I've seen it asserted that an early sugar refinery was located
there, built by the Arabs.

When are you talking about, and what's your source?

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