Salt Curing Meat

Once the man discovered that meat hung over a smoldering fire had a superior taste and flavor, smoking meat became part of our heritage. The meat tasted better with salt and add salt and spices became common. Then man discovered that certain salts would change the color of the meat rosy and he laughs about it, it was an added bonus. When the meat is pink it also tasted better and lasted longer. This was the beginning of "cure" that we know today and if it is followed by smoking has created our preservation process first.

We have not smoked, because we liked to inhale the smoke, they smoke because we had to. They had to last as long as possible and salting, drying, curing or air drying of meat products has been developed at the state of the art. The art of smoking developed in Northern Europe where the climate was (Germany, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia) and the hard and cold growing season was short. In Southern Europe (Italy, Spain), it has a temperate climate with winds of balance that was ideal for curing salt and air drying and smoking products was minor.

These countries have been continuously engaged in endless wars that led to food shortages and famine. To be able to survive the winter they need intelligent planning for the rest of the year and canned fruits, tomato paste, white wine sauerkraut, pickles, wine, vinegar and dried mushrooms or honey were treated meat was leaving normally be handled in the winter. This knowledge is disappearing because:

1. Refrigeration solved the problem of meat preservation: keep the meat in the refrigerator and place in a freezer that you eat later. The quality of smoked products began to suffer and the product should be done:

a. Fast. No cure or traditional natural wood smoke is involved. It requires too much time and labor, instead of chemicals, curing accelerators and flavor enhancers color, and jet injectors has become the norm.

b. Dear. Emulsified meats of all kinds and many pumping water, fillers and binders spread.

C. With long life. Methods most chemicals and packaging modified atmosphere have been introduced in supermarkets demanded products that will last longer and fresh look.

The traditional curing and smoking was to go and machines have been designed that could circumvent the process of smoking completely. A smoker has become a modern kitchen unit with sophisticated temperature, humidity and airflow control. Liquid smoke is often added directly to meat or sprayed through nozzles, sausage casings are even pre-colored to create the impression that the smoked sausage. The operator has to do is to operate the device according to the instructions given to him by his supervisor.

In the past, smoking was just a drum or masonry where a large natural wood burning in the background in a combustion chamber and smoke was produced in a permanent home for free connected by a discharge pipe smoke a smoking chamber. The success of the final product depends entirely on the knowledge and experience of the operator control parameters such as: type of wood, dry or wet, the duration of smoking, the smoke temperature, smoke density, the project, the final color of the product, and others.

2. The second reason is that there are fewer people alive today have had the opportunity to taste a product traditionally smoked. New generations of young people are entering the mass produced meat products and believe that is how they should taste. They have no point of reference and are not even aware that these products can improve the taste.

People like to think that, because an ingredient is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this produ.