People learned to process fish and meat with smoke for a long time, it is likely that it was the problems that occurred when hunting mammoths that inspired the geniuses of the time to search for a radical solution and the discovery of smoking as one of the ways to preserve meat products for a long time. A legitimate question arises: how does smoking smoke allow meat and fish to remain edible for a long time?
The fact is that smoke contains bacteriostatic substances that have a preservative effect. Therefore, the deeper these substances penetrate the product, the longer it will be stored. This effect is achieved with cold smoking due to the fact that it occurs for many days at a low smoke temperature. The product acquires antioxidant properties, and bacteria cannot reproduce in it for a very long time. It must be assumed that mammoth meat was subjected to this particular type of smoking.
Smoked chicken, of course, does not require such lengthy procedures, but the meaning and principle remain the same. Both cold and hot smoked chicken should be carefully prepared. Usually, the chicken is divided into two equal parts along the back, salted abundantly, sprinkled with spices and ground bay leaf. Leave in this condition under oppression for several hours, from 3 to 24 hours. Chicken can also be marinated in a weak solution of vinegar with added salt and spices. The time spent in the marinade depends on the size of the bird.
Firewood of not all wood species is suitable for smoking; we immediately sweep away all conifers - meat on such firewood will get an unpleasant smell and bitter taste. Sawdust of fruit trees is best suited, this is the influence of Chinese cuisine, and in Russia, from time immemorial, they smoked on alder and juniper. Chestnut, poplar, willow, ash and hornbeam are also quite suitable. But our beautiful birch will not go for smoking - it gives a lot of soot.
Smoked chicken will turn out much tastier if it is stuffed with garlic, this is done just before the start of smoking, we make a few cuts with a knife and insert garlic cloves into them. Everything is simple. What if there is no special smokehouse? The way out, oddly enough, lies on the surface. We find any metal bucket with a lid, pour the sawdust of those rocks that were indicated above (with a layer of not more than 10 cm) to the bottom. We hang the chicken halves to the lid, close the bucket and set it on fire. Smoked chicken for about one hour. By the way, smoked chicken in a bucket is no worse than in a branded smokehouse.
So our chicken is ready. Hot smoking does not allow storing the product for a long time, but this cooking method gives the meat a unique taste, and, whatever you say, smoked chicken looks very aesthetically pleasing, and what a flavor!
The king among all products made in this way is smoked ham.
Smoking ham is a long process, but it's worth it. First, the meat must be salted, it is rubbed with a mixture of saltpeter, salt and sugar, placed in a brine from the same components. Every 5 days, the brine is changed, but the whole process lasts up to a month. Before smoking, salted ham is soaked in water for 4 hours, then it is dried in a draft in a cool room for the same amount of time.
If the ham is supposed to be cooked after smoking, the smoke temperature in the smokehouse should be about 45 ° C. Smoking is carried out for 10 hours. To cook the ham, dishes are selected in which it could fit vertically. First, the water is brought to a boil and a ham, tied to the transverse crossbar, is placed in it. The temperature of the water is maintained at 85C. Each kilogram of ham requires 40 minutes of cooking. The calculation is done this way: multiply 40 by the weight of the ham, the result is the cooking time in minutes.
Try it and you will definitely appreciate the result!