Smoked Meats

[sarena kopciel]

So I have a friend who has a smoker...He has graciously smoked all types of things for me..incl organic meats, wild fish, and last week a grassfed turkey breast! Now that I have the organ meat on order, he has agreed to smoke some tongue for me. All he uses is salt and wood chips. he does it outdoors. ABout my tongue, do you think I should precook or not! Any thoughts about smoked heart or spleen?

[Scott Kustes]

Sounds delicious is my only thought. The tongue is similar to a roast, so it should smoke up just fine. The heart is cool since it has a nice cavity that you can use to stuff in some additional flavor enhancers. Let us know how it turns out.

[sarena kopciel]

Originally Posted by Scott Kustes

Sounds delicious is my only thought. The tongue is similar to a roast, so it should smoke up just fine. The heart is cool since it has a nice cavity that you can use to stuff in some additional flavor enhancers. Let us know how it turns out.

any ideas how to do them! The tongue I should just smoke without precooking? The heart as well?

[Scott Kustes]

Don't know...never smoked anything (at least not in a smoker ). Do you typically precook things before smoking them?

[sarena kopciel]

Originally Posted by Scott Kustes

Don't know...never smoked anything (at least not in a smoker ). Do you typically precook things before smoking them?

he never did precook anything so I think the tongue should be fine and I will peel after smoked! Not sure about spleen or heart! He actually told me he has had venison smoked. Will get my hands on some of that soon too...
Please Scotty buy some spleen so we all know what to do with it!

[Garrett Smith]

Sarena,
I have no idea of a comment here...the only smoked meat I ever eat is smoked wild salmon, I stopped that because it was just TOO salty (and bad table salt at that).

My suggestion is to keep smoked meats/offal as a treat. Combustion by-products aren't good on a regular basis. The excess of salt that is often used isn't that great either.

Use good salt at the very least. Either pink Himalayan or Celtic, IMO.

[Frank Needham]

We have a smoker and use it pretty often. For seasoning try using Durkee Six Pepper Blend. I love this stuff but it is still quite high in sodium. I've been informed before, as G says, that there are by-products that aren't so good for regular consumption. I think it was Brad K that made comment about nitrites being high in smoked meat. Here's a link that goes into more detail: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...on/DJ0974.html Personally I don't worry about it much since it would probably be necessary to eat the stuff on a very regular basis to do harm. Also, I believe most perceptions about smoked meat are driven by what is available commercially, not what folks do in their backyards? In other words, since you won't be adding any sodium nitrites/nitrates to your meats, and you will not likely be adding much table salts either, you should be good to go. My reading on the subject has been far too casual though and you may want to delve further.

[sarena kopciel]

Originally Posted by Frank Needham

We have a smoker and use it pretty often. For seasoning try using Durkee Six Pepper Blend. I love this stuff but it is still quite high in sodium. I've been informed before, as G says, that there are by-products that aren't so good for regular consumption. I think it was Brad K that made comment about nitrites being high in smoked meat. Here's a link that goes into more detail: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...on/DJ0974.html Personally I don't worry about it much since it would probably be necessary to eat the stuff on a very regular basis to do harm. Also, I believe most perceptions about smoked meat are driven by what is available commercially, not what folks do in their backyards? In other words, since you won't be adding any sodium nitrites/nitrates to your meats, and you will not likely be adding much table salts either, you should be good to go. My reading on the subject has been far too casual though and you may want to delve further.

thanx! And being that this is a good friend, I always buy extra meat/fish and have him make some for his family too. I wonder if he'll want heart and spleen?

[sarena kopciel]

Bought friend some himalayan salt and also got a bunch of salmon, cod and sable (wild)! Will keep you all posted. He said that he uses minimal salt, only 1 c in water to brine the food for 1/2 hr! The normal recipe is for 4-6 c minimum.
Next up the tongue when that arrives (lamb and bison). Then I wanna try for some venison! my friend says smoked venison is the best!

[Sam Cannons]

What about drying meats ? I have a dehydrator and am yet to really get in the jerky. Can you jerky offal and tongue ? Any good recipes ? Are there any health concerns about regularly eating dried meats ?

Thanks