Smoked-Foods Cookbook, The: How to Flavor, Cure and Prepare Savory Meats, Game, Fish, Nuts, and Cheese Review

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(More customer reviews)A complete and interesting compendium of recipes and smoke cooking methods. The advanced smoke cooker will enjoy this book and find some new ideas within. The section on sausages and pemican, two of the advanced smoke cooking skills, are expecially helpful. The beginer may be disapointed in the results of applying the recipes due to one major oversight.
The heart and soul of good smoked food is the cure. Smoke goes on the food last. This book although mentioning cures of many types fails to make this point clear and to provide the first time smoke cook with a simple first time recipe. In fact, the cure recipes provided do not have anywhere near enough sugar in them. Having smoked foods for 20 years I have found that the taste for sugar is strong and if not enough sugar is used the complaint of smoked food is that there is too much salt. First timers should use the cure on page 39 but substitute 4 parts sugar to 1 part salt. And don't leave the sugar out of meat cures like the author does.
Curing time is not covered adequately either. Lean meat absorbs salt while fat absorbs sugar (more or less), and time in the cure makes a huge difference in the saltiness of the food. The longer in the brine, the saltier the food will taste. The leaner the meat, the saltier the food will taste. Never leave your meat in the cure longer than the recipe states, or you will have salty meat.
Buy this book to improve your smoke cooking skills, but not to learn how to smoke cook if you have never done so before.

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Smoked turkey, pheasant, salmon, pâté: these expensive delicacies can be make at home for surprisingly low cost. Wild game and domestic meats are prepared in any of dozens of marinades and brines, then set in a smoke cooker to absorb the flavor of hickory, apple wood, mesquite, chestnut, or maple smoke. The smoke cookers - which cost no more then a quality barbecue grill - are readily available from a variety of sources, all listed in the book.
Included are recipes for beef, pork, lamb, venison, chicken, turkey, duck, fish, shellfish, jerky, sausage, nuts, cheese, and even pasta. Complete menus provide guidelines for satisfying meals featuring smoked foods.

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