How did they do this back then?

[BartAtRanch]

My family owns rural property in Oklahoma that has an old smokehouse on it. And I do mean old. Dates from the early 1900's or late 1800's. I am trying to figure out just how it was used to smoke meat. From the attached pictures you can see that it had a chimney at one end. On the interior picture you can see the fireplace that feeds into the chimney. What I can't understand is how the smoke would circulate inside the building to treat the meat. Wouldn't all the smoke just go up the chimney? Can anyone enlighten me how this worked?

 

[tpc74]

Maybe there is or was a flue in the chimney to limit it?

 

[SmokinEdge]

That is an odd build. I’ve researched smokehouses pretty well and never saw that as a set up. As mentioned above they may have covered the chimney with something like a board to make the fireplace smoke, or they may have used that space to cook only and not for just smoke. They could have also used that space to cook and placed smoldering logs on the floor for smoke, although the interior walls do not look smoked at all so was probably more for cooking. Just first observation.

 

[service call]

My family owns rural property in Oklahoma that has an old smokehouse on it. And I do mean old. Dates from the early 1900's or late 1800's. I am trying to figure out just how it was used to smoke meat. From the attached pictures you can see that it had a chimney at one end. On the interior picture you can see the fireplace that feeds into the chimney. What I can't understand is how the smoke would circulate inside the building to treat the meat. Wouldn't all the smoke just go up the chimney? Can anyone enlighten me how this worked?
View attachment 687797View attachment 687798

 

[indaswamp]

Start here....
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-smoking/cold-smoking

Large buildings were used extensively for meat preservation mainly through cold smoking in the winter.

*edit to add- the large chimney vent was for better draft with a very small fire in the smokehouse....

 

[SmokinEdge]

Start here....
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-smoking/cold-smoking

Large buildings were used extensively for meat preservation mainly through cold smoking in the winter.

*edit to add- the large chimney vent was for better draft with a very small fire in the smokehouse....

This is different as a build Inda, you have to go inside to tend fire, which is set up as a fireplace with flue. Most are an external fire with a flue into the smoke chamber. This set up is very different and says to me heat more than smoke. There is no clear smoke delivery here.

 

[chopsaw]

I worked with a guy that smoked their deer sausage in a barn . 55 gallon drum with a fire , green hickory thrown on top of the fire , and a sheet of plate steel over the barrel . This was dry cured sausage , no cooking . Light the fire in the morning , and let it burn out and smoke all day . For weeks until the sausage was done . Best I've ever had .

 

[indaswamp]

This is different as a build Inda, you have to go inside to tend fire, which is set up as a fireplace with flue. Most are an external fire with a flue into the smoke chamber. This set up is very different and says to me heat more than smoke. There is no clear smoke delivery here.

Well, It would depend on the layout of the smokehouse. I can't really tell from the one picture if the layout is what you say. I'm going off my experience at the rural life museum here in Baton Rouge. I have a friend that volunteers there to do demonstrations with the old smokehouse and how I describe it is how most old smokehouses were used...

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well, It would depend on the layout of the smokehouse. I can't really tell from the one picture if the layout is what you say. I'm going off my experience at the rural life museum here in Baton Rouge. I have a friend that volunteers there to do demonstrations with the old smokehouse and how I describe it is how most old smokehouses were used...

Ok

 

[BartAtRanch]

Thanks for all the input. Now I will tell the rest of the story about the smokehouse. The original builders of the smokehouse was a family of Wyandotte Indians. The property was their land allotment when the Dawes Act broke up the reservations as Indian Territory became the State of Oklahoma. I would think that drying the meat for preservation was the point, not smoking the meat for flavor. So the cold approach was probably what they did. Keep a fire going in the fireplace to use the building as a drying oven.

And also, when not smoking meat, the building was used for religious worship gatherings.

 

[gmc2003]

Looks like a homemade sauna from the Charles Ingalls time frame. Or part of the movie set from Pink Floyds "The Wall".

Chris