Smoking

One of Prices’ observations was that the shortest life spans always accompanied the most vegetarian continent. Certainly one of the features that has helped us hominids survive all sorts of environmental challenges has been our ability to live on whatever is available. Vegetables, though messy, present little challenge to most of us, but the hands on traditions of thousands of years ago regarding meat have been fairly lost among most of us civilized folks. People who study fossilized dung report that our cave people ancestors ate bones, fur and all whenever the opportunity presented itself. Weston Price reports that some native tribes let the dogs eat the muscle meat of a large kill first, while the tribe went first for the organs, fat and marrow. Only then did they compete with the dogs for the less nutritious muscle meat.

Meat spoils quickly, but in ages past nearly every human on earth knew first hand how to preserve it. When introduced to Wallace Black Elk a few years ago I desperately searched my brain cells for something we might find to talk about. To him I was probably just another Caucasian, perhaps with a strange aura if anything of interest. I got an idea though. “Say”, I began, “on the reservation when you made jerky from deer or elk, did you cut off the fat first”? Wow, did I have his attention! He began shaking his head to say no. “I read on the internet that people always trim off the fat. How do you keep the jerky from going rancid”? I really lucked out with this question, and I still am grateful today. “Ah, rancid”, his grammar was not the kings English but it was music to my ears, “is caused by bacteria. Smoke kills bacteria. Ash, hickory, maple, and oak. Those trees are the ones you use. You smoke the jerky, and the smoke kills the bacteria. The fat does not go rancid.” Wow did I thank him.

It does not matter to me that rancidity is actually an oxidative reaction and does not depend on the presence of bacteria. Modern sources say it is the phenols in the smoke that get into the fat that prevents oxidation. I bought a big smoker that week, and have never trimmed the fat off my jerky since. I have stuff two years old in zip lock bags that show no sign of spoilage. Smoke. Think about it. I imagine that the typical situation is someone with a small fire with forked twigs holding up other little branches with strips of meat hanging around the fire. Although I have not done it, I can easily imagine the smoke blowing in all directions if the wind is light. Certainly my clothes pick up the odor of smoke very easily when I visit a bar or attend a campout, and help me imagine how quickly meat can pick up the chemical assist.

Offered by Steve.

You are on a good track about smoking your meat. I also do this every chance I get as I prefer wild meat rather than the store bought stuff. Although I do not make the jerky, I completely dry my meat after I trim off all of the fat. I then in turn slowly melt the fat after I cut it into 1" cubes rendering it into tallow out of which I use with other meats that are too lean to survive on as in squirrels and rabbits. I have found that by drying it completely it has a shelf life of 4 to 6 years, and the tallow can last up to 3 in the right conditions. The woods you listed are very good for smoking your meats, I have also found that cotton wood (if you have it around) works well for this too as many insects do not like it. I live in Alaska so I have an abundant supply of cotton wood.

Offered by Matt.