Hello all,
Like a lot of us, I remember my PaPa curing meat and then smoking it. I remember him rubbing Morton's dry cure on it; and my mother told me this, since I don't remember this part, he would place the pork in a wood tub packing salt around it all heavily, maybe 2-3 inches. In would go the hams, shoulders, bacon... several weeks later, (this was during killing weather) and salt added as needed, as the moisture was drawn out and drained through the, I assume on purpose, cracks in the seams of the wood tub, the meat would be pulled out and smoked. My mother recalls this being done with 20-30 hogs lasting several days. He would hire some local men to help with the killing, gutting, scalding etc. He had a rock smoke house, and in later years, the ones I remember, he only used a large steel wall locker. (He owned a mountain area general store, the one where he would trace kids feet and pick up shoes for the local families when he went to Fort Smith, Ark. and trade for things that he knew the poorer families couldn't afford) He used a small, maybe 2 gallon, stock pot filled with hickory saw dust in the wall locker. My mother recounts of having to keep a small smoldering fire in the large rock smoke house going and absolutely not allowing it to flame. I think a spanking or 3 kept her mind on track on her duty.
Anyway, I share this because with cooler weather coming, I want to cure some hams and bacon in this style. Yes, i am going to kill a couple hogs. Who has done it, successfully? What was your method if you wouldn't mind sharing. If I missed a post outlining this style of curing, let me know, and my humble apologies...
Like a lot of us, I remember my PaPa curing meat and then smoking it. I remember him rubbing Morton's dry cure on it; and my mother told me this, since I don't remember this part, he would place the pork in a wood tub packing salt around it all heavily, maybe 2-3 inches. In would go the hams, shoulders, bacon... several weeks later, (this was during killing weather) and salt added as needed, as the moisture was drawn out and drained through the, I assume on purpose, cracks in the seams of the wood tub, the meat would be pulled out and smoked. My mother recalls this being done with 20-30 hogs lasting several days. He would hire some local men to help with the killing, gutting, scalding etc. He had a rock smoke house, and in later years, the ones I remember, he only used a large steel wall locker. (He owned a mountain area general store, the one where he would trace kids feet and pick up shoes for the local families when he went to Fort Smith, Ark. and trade for things that he knew the poorer families couldn't afford) He used a small, maybe 2 gallon, stock pot filled with hickory saw dust in the wall locker. My mother recounts of having to keep a small smoldering fire in the large rock smoke house going and absolutely not allowing it to flame. I think a spanking or 3 kept her mind on track on her duty.
Anyway, I share this because with cooler weather coming, I want to cure some hams and bacon in this style. Yes, i am going to kill a couple hogs. Who has done it, successfully? What was your method if you wouldn't mind sharing. If I missed a post outlining this style of curing, let me know, and my humble apologies...
