Smoking Meat, Fish, Poultry with Brine Recipes (2024)

Smoking meat and otherfoods has beenaround for so many years, no one can pinpoint exactly when it occured.It could well have been that our cave men ancestors discovered how topreserve their meat through smoking.

One thing is for sure, the mouth-watering taste of smoked food hasbeen around a long time and no indication that its popularity is aboutto decrease any time soon.

So how do you smoke meat? Well, the meat is usually placed in a brineand after a time, removed and placed in a smoker or purpose builtsmokehouse.

Air is drawn in at the bottom of the smoker over smouldering wood. Thesmoke passes around the meat carrying heat with it as it looks for theescape hole at the top of the smoker. Because the meat is surroundedevenly by the smoke and heat, there is no necessity to turn the meat.After a time, the meat is preserved through the smoking process.

How to Smoke Meat

1) Smoke Cookery
2) Cold Smoking
3) Hot Smoking

1) SmokeCookery for Meat

This is where temperatures can be anywhere between 200 - 400 degrees F.Smoke cookery is not much more than taking a Weber barbecue, puttingthe meat over hardwood chips on the charcoal and cooking the meat withthe lid on.

2) ColdSmoking Meat

This is where meat for smoking is placed on racks a good distance froma lowtemperature smouldering fire at about 90 degrees F. from several daysto 4 weeks. Cold smoking is also known as hard smoking.

The mostimportant aspect of cold meat smoking is that the temperature shouldalwaysbe maintained at 90 degrees F. at all times, otherwise the outcome willnot be as expected. Cold smoking meat involves constant attention tothe fire andround the clock care that it doesn't exceed or drop below this level.

3)Hot Smoking Meat

Hot smoking meat is where food is preserved in temperatures from 100 -190 F. Thesehigh temperatures allows the meat to be entirely or partially cookedwhile also adding the smokey flavor.

Hot smoking meat is by far the most popular methods of smoking meat.With afew ingredients and a good smokehouse, you can soon turn out hams,turkey, fish, sausages, and other foods that have an old-fashionedflavor that no other commercial food can give you.

3 Basic Steps to Smoking Meat

No matter what method you use to cure your meat, there are 3basic steps to smoking meat:

1) Brining
2) Drying
3) Smoking

SmokingMeat Results are Affected by the Following:

1) The strength of the brine and what you put in it
2) How long you leave your meat in the brine
3) Your smoking temperature
4) How long your meat will be in the smoker or smokehouse
5) The type of wood used

What Wood to use for Smoking Meat

The smoke flavor of your meat will depend onwhat type of wood you havechoosen for your fire. Only hardwoods are used, and there are severalfavorites:

1) hickory
2) alder
3) maple
4) beech
5) oak
6) nut trees
3) cherry
4) apple

However, there are alsopeople who will used grape vines, corncobs,coconut husks and even seaweed to smoke meat with.

However, the most popular choice of wood for smoking meat is usinghickory. Hickory sawdust isone of the finest smoker fuels you can get, as it smokes slowly, evenlyand gives off more smoke than most other woods. Make sure that whateverwood or sawdust you use, that it is dry. Any wet wood or sawdust willraise the temperature to a point where it is possible that you will endup burning or cooking the meat, rather than smoking it.

Adding small pieces of hickory wood to the sawdust will produce moresmoke and it will burn for longer.

Avoid thefollowing woods for smoking meat:

1) pine
2) fir
3) hemlock
4) eucalyptus

or any other resinous or evergreen wood fuel as it will give your fooda bitter taste.

Smokers and Smokehouses

Smokers and smokehousescan be simple to expensive, elaborate affairs. It really depends on howmuch money you want to invest in such a hobby.

You can make a simple smokers from a 44 gallon drum to large, purposebuilt smokehouses. Some of these designs can be seen on our page onSmokehouses.

Your choiceof smoker will depend on:

1) The amount of space you have
2) Whatever you choose can be sealed in some way so that you cancontrol the inside temperature.

Curing your Meat before Smoking

Curing your meat is probably the most important aspect of the smokingmeat process. It is here that you will prepare your meat for yoursmokehouseand this can be done in 2 ways:

1) A Dry Cure
2) A Brine Cure

Both are mixtures using salt, sugar and spices as a preservative.

The dry cure is when the salt, sugar and spices are rubbed directlyinto the meat. Curing meat this way will normally produce a saltierproduce and causes more shrinkage. Dry curing can usually work fasterthan the brine cure. However, remember to always wash the brine off themeat and allow it to air dry for a while before placing it in thesmokehouse.

The brine cure is when the meat is soaked in thesalty brine, alongwith the sugar and spices mixed into the water.

Curing the meat thisway results in less shrinkage, and leaves the meat a little moister,and seems to retain a better flavor than a dry cure.

If you are usingthe wet brine curing method make sure that the meat is completelysubmerged at all times, and you can do this by adding a weight such asa plate or similar to keep the meat submerged. If you don't your meatwill spoil.

Whatever cure method you use make sure that you use an appropriatecontainer. You can use glass, plastic or enamel. Stoneware isexcellent. Never use metal, especially aluminum as it may cause themeat to discolor and pick up a bitter, metallic taste. Salt reacts withaluminum, actually disintergrating it into the brine.

The Process for Smoking Meat

Whether you use the dry or wet method of curing, the end product shouldbe the same. The salt draws out the water from the meat. This preventsthe micro-organisms from spoiling the meat that normally need water toflourish.

More water is drawn out of the meat once it is placed in the smokehouseor smoker.

A balance is needed when smoking meat as you don't want to end upcooking your meat. The process should be slow enough to just remove thewater from the meat without any cooking taking place.

However, if you don't smoke your meat quickly enough, or you don't addenough salt to your curing mix, you run the risk of ending up withspoiled meat.

Salt used inCuring Meat

You need to buy the right type of salt for curing your meat. You shouldbe able to buy curing salt from butchery shops. However, if you can'tfind curing salt, then try and get dairy salt. Pure salt has fewerchemical impurities and will penetrate your meat a lot quicker and notproduce a bitter taste in your food.

However, if you cannot get any of the above, you can use regular tablesalt as a last resort. Rock salt is perfectly acceptable and will helpspeed up the curing process.

Sugarused in Curing Meat

The sugar used in meat curing is usually brown sugar or molasses. Theuse of salt is to reduce the hardening effects of salt on the meat.

How much Sugar, Salt and Spices for curing Meat?

You should soak your meat in a prebrine solution to get rid of anyexcess blood and water from the meat by mixing 1/2 cup salt to 1 quartwater and leave the meat in there for 1/2 hour.

After that you can use a regular brine for your meat that will besubmerged from 2-8 hours. At the end of the normal brining time, removethe meat and always rinse it off under cold running water. The allow itto air dry for about 1 hour at room temperature before placing into thesmoker.

If you have done your curing process correctly, as the meat is airdrying a tackly glaze should begin to form on the outside of the meat.If the wash and dry part is skipped your meat will sweat, creating ablack condensation on the inside of your smokers and smokehouses andthis then drips back down onto the meat as it smokes, resulting in asour taste.

Smoking Meat - Fish

Smoked Fish

Any fish caught should have the gills cut out of it immediately afterbeing killed, as well as being gutted to remove any of the innards thatwould spoil the fish if left in. The fish should also be bled if itcan, before being put into the cooler box, or into a cool place untilyou get home.

Make sure that remove the head, fins, tail and then cut the fish intofillets. Make a solution of 1 cup salt to every 3 quarts of water anddip the fish sides into the salt solution briefly. If you want to, youcan place the fish in this solution in milk and juice cartons, fullysubmerged and freeze in the salted water. Freezing your fish like thiswill allow you to keep the fish in the freezer for 8-12 months.

Freezing fish first makes better smoked fish as the freezing seems toopen up the cells to accept the smoke better. However, make sure thatwhen you thaw the frozen fish that is should be done slowly. Thaw inthe fridge or at 37 - 40 degrees F.

After the fish has been thawed, press your finger into the flesh and itshould spring back. If it does, then it is fresh. If not, then yourfish is probably borderline and will spoil.

Refrigerated smoked fish will last about 2 weeks. Frozen smoked fishwill last almost a year.

What fishcan be Smoked?

Think beyond salmons, and herrings. The following fish can be smoked:

1) striped bass
2) sturgeon
3) tuna
4) blues
5) smelt
6) halibut
7) trout
8) cod
9) bass
10) steelhead

Recipe for Smoking and Brine Curing Fish

Mix the following ingredients in a brine container:

For every 1 quart of water -
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup curing salt
1 cup rock salt

This mixture will cure up to 10 lbs of fish, no problem.

If you wish to add spices to your fish you can add one or moreingredients to the brine, but you will have to experiment to see whichspices you like:

1) white pepper
2) onion salt
3) garlic
4) molasses
5) honey
6) all spice
7) mace
8) ginger
9) bay leaves
10)dill
11)lemon juice
12)brown sugar
13)tabasco sauce
14)soy sauce

Place fish skin side up in brine. Submerge a large dinner plate oradditional weight of some sort to submerge fish in the brine.

Cure the fish in the brine for 5 hours-6 hours, depending on how saltyyou want your fish to taste. After this period, rinse each piece of thefish, rubbing the fish gently until the slippery feeling from the brinesolution is gone.

On a kitchen towel, spread the fish out and pat any excess moistureaway with paper towels.

Allow the fish to air dry for 1 hour. You will know when the air dryingstep is complete because fish gets a tacky glaze on the outside, asmentioned before.

Make sure that your smoker has been started well before you place yourfish inside.

If you want to add additional flavor to your fish such as garlic,onions etc. it should be done now.

Now place your fish in the smoke house, either on hooks or if you areusing a smoker on racks. Place the thinner pieces on the top rack sothey do not dry out too quickly. Arrange the fish, skin down and makesure that the smoke can circulate around each piece freely. There is noneed to turn your fish once on the racks.

Outside temperatures should be taken into consideration when smokingfood. The colder the temperature, the longer it will take for the fishto be smoked.

Remove your fish from your smoker, brush with melted butter or oil toimprove the appearance, let it chill at room temperature for 30 minutesand then refrigerate in air tight containers to chill for 1-2 hoursbefore serving.

Your finished smoked fish won't be brightly colored as commercialproducts are. So don't be disappointed. Just remember it will tasteamazing! Far better than any commercial product you can buy.

If you have a smoker that you are using, then you will need to restockyour smoker tray with the sawdust used for smoking. It is best to waitfor the sawdust to burn out before replacing. This will take about 11/2 hours so in a 5-6 hour process you will need to fill up the traysabout 3-4 times.

After 5 hours of smoking test to see if your fish is ready. The fleshwill be dark in color and firm to the touch. The outside should have adark, glazed appearance. If you pull the fish apart, it should flakeeasily.

Recipe for Smoking and Dry Curing Fish

Clean, gut and clean the fish as for brine curing. Any pieces of fishthat are thicker than 1 inch should be scored with a knife to make surethat the salt cure mix can penetrate the flesh.

Standard Dry Cure Recipe

2 cups brown sugar
4 cups curing salt or
2 cups rock salt and 2 cups curing salt

Rub the cure mixture into the flesh and place each fish side skin downstaking them one on top of the other in a large, deep brine container.

Place a dinner plate with a 5 lb weight on top of the fish and leave atroom temperature for 4 hours.

Drain away excess liquid, remove fish from container, and rinse eachpiece thoroughly under a running cold tap. Dry off with kitchen paper,lie skin side down onto a kitchen towel. Add any additional seasoningat this point.

Air dry the fish for 1 hour until you get a tacky glaze on you fish.

Your fish is now ready for smoking by following the same process asabove.

Recipe for Smoking Herring or Anchovies

Use only fresh anchovies. Remove head and guts with a pair of scissors.Large anchovies or herrings can be split down the back and butterfliedout.

Prepare the standard fish brine and cure the fish in the brine for 30 -45 minutes.

Remove from brine, rinse under running cold water, and air dy for 60minutes. Place into preheated smoker, or prepared smokehouse for 2-3hours.

If you want to dry cure your herrings and anchovies you can leave themto cure for 6-8 hours before smoking.

Smoking Meat - Chicken and Other Poultry

TwoChickens ready for Smoking

Smoking poultry can be done using whole or halved poultry, or evenpoultry cut into pieces.

If your poultry is frozen, thaw it in the fridge completely beforeplacing in brine for curing.

Standard Chicken Brine Recipe for Smoking

For every 2 quarts of water:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup curing salt
4 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring

After mixing the brine thoroughly, immerse the poultry using a weightedplate to make sure that the meat is completely submerged.

Let the chicken cure for 1 hour per pound.

Remove from brine, rinse under cold water, wipe away excess moisture,allow to air dry for one hour, as per the fish recipes above.

If you are smoking a whole bird, it should be suspended. Cutup pieces or halved birds should be placed on smoker racks.

Before placing the chicken in the smoker, rub thefollowing mixture into the meat

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon onion or garlic powder
2 tablespoons black pepper

Place chicken in preheated smoker, or smokehouse and smoke for 1 1/2per pound. Place a foil plate at the bottom of the smoker to act as adrip tray.

Refill the pan of your smoker with sawdust about 4 times every 45minutes or so.

You will also need to brush your chicken with butter every 1 1/2 hours.Other sauces can be added with your melted butter such as soy sauce,teriyaki sauce, barbecue sauce or beer.

To test to see if it is done, twist the leg bone gently. If it movesfreely in the socket joint the bird is ready to eat. If for some reasonyour chicken did not cook through, then place in a pre-heated oven at300 degrees F and finish off. Make sure that you do not over cook. Theskin should be a golden brown.

You can freeze your smoked chicken meat for up to 7 months.

Smoking Meat - Jerky

OldFashioned Jerky Recipe

Smoked Jerky

Jerky is a useful smoked food for those who are camping, on a fishingor hunting trip or just sitting in front of the TV watching yourfavorite movie. Most people love jerky, and the following jerky recipeis not only good with beef, but also for elk, moose, bear and deer.

Flank or round steak makes good jerky, but really you can make jerkyout of any cut of the animal. But the cardinal rule is making sure thatwhen you cut the meat you should cut it with the grain, not against thegrain as meat is usually cut.

Trim off the fat as this will go rancid and spoil your meat. Slice themeat approximately 1/2 inch thick, four inches wide and 6-12 incheslong.

Standard Jerky Brine Recipe

For every 2 quarts of water:
1 cup curing salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons black pepper

Using a non-metal container, place strips of cut meat into the brinesolution so that it is completely submerged.

Cure the meat in the brine for 8-10 hours.

Afterwards, remove the meat, and wash each piece under a running coldtap and place on paper towels and remove excess moisture with morepaper towels. Air dry for at least 1 hour until your meat has a tackyglaze. Now rub in other seasoning of your choice. Some people likegarlic or onion salt, or even chili powder.

Place meat in a preheated smoker and smoke for 9-12 hours. Refill thehickory flavor pan every 2 1/2 hours.

You will know when the jerky is done when it becomes stiff. Break opena piece and check the inside. Remove from the smoker or smokehouse andcool. Smoked Jerky should be kept in the fridge.

Smoking Meat - Ham

HickoryGlazed Ham Recipe

Two glazed hams in the smoker

Buy a pre-cooked ham and remove the outside skin and score the ham fatwith a sharp knife, 1/4 inch deep in a diamond pattern.

Preheat the smoker and rub the outside of the ham with the followingmixture:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup curing salt
Spike with cloves - optional

Removing all the racks in the smoker except the last one, place the hamon the last rack and smoke for 4 hours, refilling the flavor pan every80 minutes.

After smoking time is over, remove the smoked meat and cool andrefigerate until needed.

Smoking Meat - Bacon

Home SmokedBacon Recipe

Bacon hanging up in the Smoker

Make up the following brine solution to the following proportions usingboiling water. Allow 1 gallon brine solution for every 8 lbs of bonedout pork loin.

1 gallon water
2 lbs 14 oz salt
1/2 lb soft brown sugar or 1/4 lb honey

Allow this brine to get cold and keep it covered. Take a 12-20 lb fullloin of pork. Bone out the loin, or get your butcher to do it for you.Trim the meat.
You can cut the meat in half to make it easier to handle.

Soak the loin in the cold brine in an area that is at 5 degrees C. for5 days. Stir the brine at last twice every 24 hours.

If you hold the brine at 5 degrees C. the salt can be reduced by 4ounces per gallon as the solution gets stronger as it gets colder.

Remove from the brine, drain and hang in a cold dry place for another 5days. You can use a fridge here.

Set up your smoker and hang up your bacon. Smoke for 15 hours between80-95 degrees F. Replace your hickory pan 2-3 times in total, afterevery 6 hours.

After 15 hours of meat smoking, remove and hang in your pantry for 2-3daysbefore using.

If you find your bacon too salty, soak the bacon in cold boiled waterfor 2 hours and do a taste test. If still too strong, try again.

Conclusion

Smokingmeat, whether it is fish, chicken, venison, ham, bacon, beef etc. is asimple process if you follow the steps shown. If you are looking to seehow you can make your own smokehouses and smokers - some assimple as converting an old fridge - then please feed free to visit ourother pages of interest on the right hand column of this page.