Building a Smoke House – Meat Smoker (at the off grid cabin)

We’re going to build a smoke house, smoker, or smokery at the off grid cabin in the woods in order to preserve meats, and fish! I will show you how to build your very own smoke house or smoker. Chris catching fish for the smoke house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNJ89WlLFeo

SMOKE HOUSE VIDEO SERIES
Part 1 (the original build): https://youtu.be/PhzOuBxXEOc
Part 2 (overnight – smokehouse burn down): https://youtu.be/ll6V2-EUDQc
Part 3 (re-build): https://youtu.be/8N2TiO0f8Kg

Best woods for smoking include:

1. Oak. Good wood for new smokers. Medium strong flavor. Good for lamb, beef, brisket, and sausages.
2. Hickory. Most versatile. Too much smoke will be bitter. The smoke though is sweet, savory and hearty. Good for ribs, pork shoulders, red meat and poultry.
3. Maple. Subtle smoke. Sweet, light mild. Good for poultry, pork, foul.
4. Mesquite. Hardy with intense flavor, use modestly. Good for red meat.
5. Pecan. Rich, sweet, nutty flavor. Good for briskets, roasts, and ribs
6. Apple. Mild, sweet, mellow. Good for chicken, wild foul, pork.
7. Alder. Light, sweet, delicate. Good for fish, like salmon, trout.
8. Cherry. Mild, fruity. Good for chicken, turkey, ham.

Best woods for smoking: http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/Woods.htm

A smokehouse is a small building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. Smoke works to cure and preserve the meat for long term storage without the use of refrigeration. If done correctly, smoked meats can last without spoiling for up to a year or more.

In traditional use, smokehouses served as a place to both smoke and preserve meat, but also to store it for long term use. In long term storage, salt and smoke were used in combination to effectively dry and cure the meat by removing all or most of the moisture. This prevents bacteria and molds forming which destroys the meat. Some houses also ward off animals from accessing the meats as smoke makes the environment inhospitable.

Before modern refrigeration and freezers, salting was a mainstay.

Various woods can be used for smoking, but all should be wet enough so that they burn cold and inefficiently. These woods will produce incomplete combustion – smoke. Apple wood, cherry, some spruce and alder make great smoking agents and impart nice flavor to meats.

A smoke house is a simple small box, or house with a vent at the top, not air tight. Wood is placed in a lower box and piped in to the space to encircle the meats. Wood is burned slowly, but persistently over time. Meats can be smoked for hours or days depending on personal reference and types of meats, cultures and desired use.

Over time, the smoke house will blacken, further protecting the smoke house from pests.

 “Self-Reliance” is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson’s recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his own instincts and ideas. This channel will approach self reliance from a modern perspective. and will focus on various build projects using modern amenities, and tools to build a completely self reliant lifestyle.