View Post

Equipment to make Make Delicious Bacon

There are so many options when it comes to equipment for making your own delicious bacon. When I first started planning this write-up, it got a bit scary writing down all the different equipment that you could use- there are so many options! But hopefully, it helps whether you are smoking/cooking the bacon and then cutting it into nice thick …

View Post

Cold Smokers for Cheese and Foods (with Tips and Guide)

You have various options for cold smokers when it comes to cheese. I’ve used all of them, and I wanted to help you on your cold smoking quest. Cold Smoking is something I love to do; it can bring out a whole new dimension of flavor. It doesn’t require anything apart from a little cold smoke (and a chamber – …

View Post

Best Smoker for Bacon – For Cold or Hot Smoking at Home

When you’re looking for the best smoker for making bacon there are so many different ways of doing it, but I’m hopefully going to show you what I have found as the easiest way and some methods I’ve tried. Glorious bacon can come in so many different forms, the absolute classic I love is the streaky bacon from the pork …

View Post

Meat Curing Tips for Beginners – Dry Curing, Cold Smoking

I was thinking the other day about the best tips I could give for meat curing to a beginner. Dry-cured meats and cold smoking have been my passion for a few decades, it’s quite the obsession! Quick Meat Curing Tips Off the top of my head, I can whack up some dry-cured, cold-smoked bacon. This info will be around the …

View Post

List, Ideas & Options for a DIY Cold Smoker

So I’ll go through the many options for a do-it-yourself (DIY) cold smoker that I have seen, built, or heard about. I’ve been cold smoking for about 20 years using crazy simple equipment through to going to see butcher friends with $200,000 pressure vac cold smoking devices (not my style but it was interesting to see it). Cold smoking is …

View Post

Temperature Table and Tips for Cold Smoking Food

Cold smoking temperatures for food like salmon, bacon, or cheese have some variations. When we talk about temperature, we must also address aspects of airflow and humidity. These are all highly relevant for cold smoking food from my 20 years of experience. For my first 10 years of cold-smoking meat and other foods. I wasn’t aware of how important it …

View Post

The Most Useful Dry Curing Meat Curing Books I Have Read

Here is a helpful rundown of the best books I have found on meat curing, dry curing, and smoking food; these are books I have re-read and used as references throughout this site, the best of the best! Best Most Useful Meat Curing Books These ‘go-to books‘ are very useful for someone trying to learn dry curing and smoking; they’re …

Cured Meat & Nitrates (Research Summary)

I am not here to debate whether or not nitrates should be used, it’s up to you to decide. All I can do is say what I do and what I’ve learned. There is a food scientist blogger who put together a very decent science-based post on nitrates/nitrites and cured/processed meats, it’s worth a read.  Here is a link to a recent …

View Post

Gift Ideas for Meat Curing & Smoking

Here are my top picks on some novel suppliers to try, useful tools & books for info or inspiration that are worth giving to someone or giving to yourself! I’ve tested many different tools and equipment over the years, and I thought it would be useful to share some of the all-time most helpful and practical equipment I have used, …

View Post

How To Equilibrium Cure or Brine Bacon (Calculator & Tool)

So it was a bit of a revelation discovering how to equilibrium cure or brine bacon, it means I had control over the level of saltiness that you taste (rather than guessing with the old covering the bacon with the salt method). I’ve been making my own bacon for about 20-odd years. I’ve tried dry curing and wet brining with …

View Post

How Does a Pellet Smoker Tube Work? (Smoking Guide)

How a pellet tube smoker is simple, there are quite a few different ways that you can use it, which I want to go over. I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with pellet tube smoking both cold smoking and hot smoking on various different types of smokers for 20 years. I looked around for the right type of …

View Post

How to Cure Meat for Long-Term Storage (Various Methods)

I’ve used, taught, and come across many different techniques on how to cure meat for long-term preservation and storage. This website is about dry curing and smoking meat, I’ve delved into learning and practicing preserved long-term storage versions in case I didn’t have any refrigeration. These are simple techniques for salting and curing meat that have been used for preservation …

View Post

What Does Charcuterie Taste Like? (Cured & Smoked Meats)

The tastes of charcuterie vary greatly; I will describe all categories I have eaten, researched, judged, taught, and made at home. Traditional salumi or charcuterie, like cold smoked meats and dry cured meats, have a high level of ‘umami,’ a balanced ‘savory’ flavor. Many cured types of meat, such as prosciutto and pancetta, use salt to preserve; they are cut …

View Post

How Much Curing Salt Per Pound of Meat? (Tool & Calculator)

Meat Curing Calculator Tool Method Equilibrium Dry Curing or Equilibrium Wet Brining Meat Weight lb kg g Pink curing salt % Salt % Water % % Calculations Pink Curing Salt 1.59 g or 0.056 oz (optional depending on preference or recipe) Sea Salt 15.88 g or 0.56 oz Water 0.181 litres or 0.048 gallons Information About Salt Per Pound for …

View Post

Best Cold Smokers For Fish (Salmon or Any Other Fish)

What is the Best Cold Smoker for Fish? Light and gentle cold smokers are the best for fish. Either you can hang or lay the fish on racks for cold smoking. The best cold smokers for fish allow airflow and an environment with a higher humidity assists also. I’ve used various cold smokers over a few decades; I wanted to …

View Post

Cold Smoked vs Hot Smoked Bacon – Which is Better?

Smoking bacon either with the cold or hot smoked method can both lead to some excellent outcomes. There are quite a few differences and remember, pretty much all the bacon you buy will be cold smoked. I have tried both hot and cold smoking using various different techniques and equipment. So I thought I would share what I’ve learned over …

View Post

What Does Cold Smoked Mean? (Such as: Bacon, Cheese)

The meaning of cold smoked has really changed in our modern commercial times, with a focus on flavor. What Does Cold Smoking Mean? Cold Smoking is preserving and flavoring food. Achieved through airflow and a temperature below 30° C/86°F, much lowered ideally. Humidity is also vital for cold-smoking meat. If meat is being cold smoked, it must be fully salt-cured …

View Post

How Long Does it Take to Cold Smoke – Meat, Vegetables & Cheese

The time it takes to cold smoke, will, of course, depend on how much smoke flavor you want and what food your cold smoking. I have experimented using a whole bunch of different food types and kit. So I thought I would quickly give a rundown below on cold smoked meat, vegetables, cheese & of course bacon times. I recently …

View Post

How Much are Cold Smokers? Easiest & Thrifty Equipment

It’s actually quite surprising how cheap a basic cold smoking setup is, There are some variables for cold smoking, but generally, doing it at home is easy. Hopefully, I can highlight the best options depending on what you want to cold smoke and where you are on the cold-smoking journey. I started cold smoking about 15 years ago, talking to …

View Post

How to Match & Pair Smoking Wood for Flavor to Meat

Matching wood to meat can be simple, so I like to use universal smoking wood as a first choice. I’ll explain this in detail; it’s a simple and effective method of pairing smoking wood with different types of meat. Some flavors are better suited to the more substantial types of smoking hardwood available. From my experience, I think they all …