MEAT TECHNOLOGY: PRESERVATION OF MEAT
Diagram
Smoke with heat, or smoke without heat
Hot smoking
The meat sits in hot smoke. The heat cooks it right through while the smoke adds flavour and colour.
↓
Cooked inside
Hot smoked meat is cooked and ready to eat. It is moist and tender, and it is eaten hot or cold.
↓
Cold smoking
The meat sits in cool smoke. The smoke flavours it, but the meat stays raw inside and still needs cooking or curing to be safe.
Figure 1: Hot smoking cooks the meat; cold smoking only flavours it. Drawn in our own style from the Smoking chapter (p. 69) of Pearson and Tauber, Processed Meats, and the hot and cold smoked salmon discussion in Ruhlman and Polcyn, Charcuterie.
Introduction
Hot smoking and cold smoking both hang meat or fish in wood smoke, but one cooks the food and the other does not. Hot smoking uses hot smoke that cooks the meat right through, while cold smoking uses cool smoke that flavours the meat without cooking it. Pearson and Tauber cover smoking in its own chapter (p. 69), and Ruhlman and Polcyn describe hot and cold smoked salmon in Charcuterie.
The core difference is temperature: hot smoking is a cooking method as well as a smoking method, and cold smoking is a flavouring method that leaves the meat raw inside, so cold smoked meat must be cured first and kept chilled.
Quick comparison
Table 1: Hot smoking compared with Cold smoking
| Aspect | Hot smoking | Cold smoking |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | Hot: the smoke and the chamber are hot enough to cook | Cool: the smoke stays cool, well below cooking temperature |
| Does it cook the meat | Yes, cooked right through | No, the meat stays raw inside |
| Ready to eat | Yes, ready to eat when it leaves the smoker | No, it still needs cooking, unless it is cured and dried enough to eat as it is |
| Texture | Moist and tender, like cooked meat | Firm and raw in texture, like the fresh meat, but flavoured |
| Flavour | Smoky and cooked, milder smoke note | Strong smoky flavour, because the meat spends longer in the smoke |
| Time in the smoke | Shorter, usually a few hours | Longer, often many hours or overnight |
| Need for curing first | Often cured first, but cooking is what makes it safe | Must be cured first, because the smoke alone does not cook or fully preserve it |
| Storage | Kept chilled, eaten soon | Kept chilled, and kept cool because it is still raw inside |
| Typical products | Hot smoked ham, hot smoked sausage, smoked chicken | Cold smoked salmon, cold smoked bacon, smoked fish |
| Colour | Brown outside, cooked colour inside | Golden or amber outside, raw colour inside |
Scientific explanation
Definition
Hot smoking is smoking at a temperature high enough to cook the meat or fish right through while it smokes. Cold smoking is smoking at a low temperature that flavours the meat or fish without cooking it. Both are covered by the Smoking chapter of Processed Meats (p. 69).
The two are not two strengths of the same step: they are two different processes with different results, and cold smoked food is still raw food that must be handled like raw food.
Working principle
Hot smoking works by heat and smoke together: the heat cooks the meat, kills bacteria and firms the flesh, while the smoke adds flavour and colour and dries the surface. The meat leaves the smoker cooked and ready to eat.
Cold smoking works by smoke and drying alone: the cool smoke deposits flavour compounds and dries the surface, but it does not raise the inside of the meat to cooking temperature. That is why cold smoked meat must be cured with salt and nitrite first, so bacteria are held back while the meat stays raw, and why it must be kept chilled.
Apparatus
Both need a smokehouse or smoke chamber with a firebox for the wood and racks to hang the food. Hot smoking needs a heat source that can hold cooking temperature in the chamber, and cold smoking needs the fire kept small or set apart so the smoke cools before it reaches the food. A thermometer in the chamber is used to hold the right temperature for each method.
Measurement procedure
For hot smoking, the meat, usually cured first, is hung in the hot smoke until the inside reaches cooking temperature, then it is cooled and chilled. For cold smoking, the cured meat is hung in cool smoke for a long time, often overnight, then it is chilled and kept chilled because it is still raw inside.
The books used here describe the smoking process and the two methods, but they do not give one single standard time or temperature for all products: the right time and temperature change with the size of the piece and the product being made.
Factors affecting readings
Temperature is the deciding factor: too cool and hot smoking will not cook the meat, too hot and cold smoking will start to cook it and spoil the result. The thickness of the piece matters, because heat must reach the middle for hot smoking and smoke must reach the surface evenly for cold smoking. The kind of wood, the air flow and the length of time in the smoke all change the flavour.
Formulas and calculations
The books used for this article give no formula for this comparison, so none is given here. The comparison is qualitative: it rests on definitions, materials and method, not on a calculation.
Industrial applications
- Hot smoking is used for smoked chicken, hot smoked ham and hot smoked sausage, which are sold ready to eat.
- Hot smoking is used for smoked fish sold as a cooked product, eaten hot or cold.
- Cold smoking is used for smoked salmon, where the raw, silky texture is the point of the product.
- Cold smoking is used for bacon and some hams, which are smoked cold and cooked later at home.
- Both are used in smokehouses to add flavour that no other method gives.
Advantages and limitations
- Hot smoking, advantage: cooks and flavours in one step, and the product is ready to eat.
- Hot smoking, limitation: the meat is cooked, so it cannot be sold as a raw product, and it dries out if it is smoked too long.
- Cold smoking, advantage: keeps the raw texture and gives a deep smoky flavour.
- Cold smoking, limitation: the meat stays raw, so it needs curing first and careful chilling, and it is riskier if the cure or the chilling fails.
FAQ
Can I eat cold smoked salmon straight from the pack?
Yes, if it is sold as ready to eat cold smoked salmon: it has been cured with salt before smoking, which is what makes it safe to eat without cooking. Keep it chilled and follow the date on the pack.
Why does cold smoking take longer than hot smoking?
Because the smoke is cool, so it works slowly: the meat needs many hours in the smoke to take up enough flavour, while hot smoking cooks it through in a few hours.
Does cold smoked meat need a fridge?
Yes: it is still raw inside, so it must be kept chilled just like fresh meat. Hot smoked meat must be chilled too, but it is cooked, so it is the safer of the two if chilling fails briefly.
Can the same smoker do both?
Yes, if the temperature can be controlled: a hot smoker holds cooking heat, and a cold smoker keeps the fire small or apart so only cool smoke reaches the food. The skill is in holding the right temperature.
Which gives a stronger smoky flavour?
Cold smoking usually does, because the meat spends much longer in the smoke. Hot smoked meat has a milder smoke note, with the cooked flavour on top of it.
References and further reading
- A. M. Pearson and F. W. Tauber, Processed Meats, Springer, 2012 (Google Books page read)
- Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, W. W. Norton
