On 2011-03-14, Omelet > wrote:

> Hm, I'll bet my Kutas book has it. I'll just have to see if I can find
> the darned thing. <g>

Is that the Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas? I
was wondering, does that book cover cold smoking?

I was watching an old episode of Bourdain's No Reservations and he was
plugging the Ruhlman/Polcyn book, Charcuterie. I read the review for
it on Amazon and many folks gave it a bad review cuz it heavily
promotes the use of nitrates. Apparently, the Kutas book does not.
So, I was thinking of buying the Kutas book, but not if it doesn't
cover cold smoking.

nb

notbob > wrote:

>I was watching an old episode of Bourdain's No Reservations and he was
>plugging the Ruhlman/Polcyn book, Charcuterie. I read the review for
>it on Amazon and many folks gave it a bad review cuz it heavily
>promotes the use of nitrates. Apparently, the Kutas book does not.

I've heard that making low nitrate/nitrite sausages and cured meat
really requires professional-level techniques and equipment, and
it not really accessible to us'uns. Dunno how true this is.

Steve

"notbob" > wrote
>
> I was watching an old episode of Bourdain's No Reservations and he was
> plugging the Ruhlman/Polcyn book, Charcuterie. I read the review for
> it on Amazon and many folks gave it a bad review cuz it heavily
> promotes the use of nitrates. Apparently, the Kutas book does not.
> So, I was thinking of buying the Kutas book, but not if it doesn't
> cover cold smoking.
>
> nb

That is because most people that cold smoke use nitrates. There are other
methods, but you need much more care and conditions are more critical than
no nitrate curing.

On 2011-03-15, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:

> That is because most people that cold smoke use nitrates. There are other
> methods, but you need much more care and conditions are more critical than
> no nitrate curing.

We used to grind/stuff 600+ lbs of beef/pork sausage in about 8 hrs,
then cold smoke for one week. Not a speck of nitrates was used. No
special handling or controlled conditions. Jes hung sausage in drafty
ol' smoke shack during the dead of Winter. Not exactly rocket
science.

nb

On 15 Mar 2011 04:58:48 GMT, notbob > wrote:

> We used to grind/stuff 600+ lbs of beef/pork sausage in about 8 hrs,
> then cold smoke for one week.

Why so long? Carol S said she ground 60 lbs of bone in 30 minutes.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

On 2011-03-15, Omelet > wrote:

> It has a brief blurb on it. Secret seems to be distancing the smoke box
> from the smoke generator with a long conduit to allow the smoke to cool.

That seems to be true if one is using a small smoking area, like an
old refrigerator, which I know some friends who do jes that.

Our smoking was a dedicated crud shed, about 15'x15 feet (remember,
600+ lbs). The sides were such that you could see light between most
vert wall boards, so it was far from airtight. A small pan (garbage
can lid) held a couple smoldering branches of dried fruit tree wood,
which was maintained around the clock. In short, in the dead of
Winter, the shed was at ambient outdoor temps for Jan in CA, probably
highs of 40-45 during day and near freezing or jes below at night.
The pan of wood and the enclosed space provided jes enough smoke w/o
the danger of adding any heat.

nb



nb