Meat Smoking And Smokehouse Design

I have been looking for a good, comprehensive book on DIY smokehouse design. So far, this is the best one I've found. Most other books give you one or two basic smokehouse designs, but no information on how to make the smokehouse work. This book actually spends most (about 2/3) of its time on how to prepare meat for smoking and how to set up the smoker for success. It even goes so far as to cover combustion theory. And, it discusses more than 20 different smokehouse designs. The only real negative about this book is that it lacked detailed plans or parts lists for the plans it included. (What is included is some basic sketches of smokehouse set ups.) So, while it does provide a lot of ideas for how to set up a DIY smoker/ smokehouse, it's really up to the reader to do the actual design and figure out how many and what types of parts are needed for any of the ideas the book covers. Even so, it's still better than any other book I've been able to find on the subject.

written by a family who used this information to survive post WWII eastern europe. Instead of telling you to use use salt or potasium they explain why it is required for different applications. They explain the difference between Cold Smoking, Hot smoking and in between and what is good and bad for each . Very well written in plain language that is easy to understand. It explains how some smoke treatment is a preservative and other smoke treatment is a flavoring agent. Most importantly is explains the difference, explains the advantages and limitations and lists how to achieve either condition. It also knocks down the pie in the sky assumption that all smoke is created equal :) Cool smoke is required for long term preservation. But cool smoke is not able to be produced if the outside air temperature is already hotter than your target smoke temperature. You either have to wait until wintertime or work during night time hours if you arent ready to spend the thousands of dollars for smoke heat regulators that is.

Almost too much information. I've been smoke cooking and smoking meats for years, and never understood the principles behind what I was doing. There's a vent on the bottom, and a vent on the top. What's the difference? Now I know. The book is based on eastern European smoke houses, which is fine, but the carefully explained principles apply to any cooking method that involves fire and smoke, whether it be BBQ, roasting, hams, summer sausage and more.The smokehouse and BBQ and oven designs are worth the price of the book alone.

This is a comprehensive overview of how to not only smoke meats but also build proper smoke houses. It is really written for the serious smoker. As with his other books he goes into great detail about the critical factors affecting proper smoking; both the science behind smoking but also the art of it. The reason I only give this four stars is because it is so focused on the serious practitioners. If you are a serious smoker then this book deserves a five star rating and is written for you. If you are a more casual practitioner you will learn a great deal but you will be paying for information that will probably not be very relevant to you.

This is exactly the type of book that everybody should write when writing instructional and help books. Too many of the books you can find out there are glorified recipe books not how to manuals. This is one of those rare gems that tells you exactly what you should know.

I started reading this book knowing nothing about smoking, salting or curing meat. I only knew that I like smoked foods, and that I would like to try my hand at the art.Well, first of all, this book is by no means a list of recipes, but rather an introduction into the science of the art. While this may seem boring, I now realize how important these details are. Also, knowing the basic stuff, it will be easier to experiment and make your own recipes.Second, the author has been accused of being a proponent of curing with nitrates, and this is obviously the correct judgment. However, in my humble opinion, it should rather be an appraisal than an accuse. The reason is simply this: I would rather have these nitrates in my system than botulism. If you for some reason disagree, its as easy as leaving out the nitrates from the formula.Third, the author has been accused of not including enough plans for how to build an adequate smoker. Again, he explains all the essential and non-essential parts of a smoker, along with descriptions of a few quite simple implementations. If you understand what you read you will end up having much more freedom in your design than if you had to follow step-by-step instructions. Now, if those are all you need, don't buy a book. Just go and search instructables for smoker.

This is a great compendium of information for good old meat smoking and preservation as well as equipment design to go with it. Much of this information has crossed my horizons in the past but this is a very good reference to use when needed. I would reccomend it to the seasoned as well as new fans.

This is the best meat smoking book I've read period. You won't find a recipe in here or how to cut up a beef but when it comes to how a smokehouse works and why this has it all. This book covers different designs of smokers along with different techniques. I have been using my homemade digitally controlled ugly drum smoker for years. It is hard to beat when it comes to slow cooking a brisket or even a turkey but, I have never been able to lay a heavy smoke and cool temps required to smoke bacon or fish. This book has all the information I needed to modify my smoker to lay down that heavy smoke and also the woods I should be looking for to do it.

Want to know more about smokin'? This art is a 'feeling' process and you actually need some-on in real life to show you how it is done. The most of us is not that lucky because it is a dying art - that has picked up it's head thankfully. This book will put you on the right path with very precise pointers about brining, temperatures, humidity and design of a smokehouse. After buying the book, I bought a whole pig and at the moment I'm busy smoking a batch of chorizo in the cold smoking tradition and I, for starters, learned that it isn't a one day process. Tomorrow they get their second day of smoke and perhaps a third. Good luck to you!

The book is the encyclopedia of smoking meats and the diffwerent construction methods to build the smoke house that best will do what you want and smoke meat fish and anything that once lived. A great read and a great buy. Master the art and you are on the way to make a fortune*******

These authors are the best for smoking and curing. I also bought their Polish sausage book.

All you'll need to know about Meat Smoking and Smokehouses. Clear, informative and comprehensive. I highly recommend this book - great!

This book gives a good background to a number of smoking techniques and smokers - Nice level of technical detail