Black Forest style smoking


 
G

Geo S

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Anyone have any experience with this?

Used for cured hams, bacon, etc, wood used is conifers, (spruce, firs, pine, cedar).
I have the spice rub recipe, was wondering WHICH wood to use as instructions are rather vague and not specific.
OR, are the conifers an ad on to the hardwoods they usually use which I believe is Beech.?
 
Geo S said:
Anyone have any experience with this?

Used for cured hams, bacon, etc, wood used is conifers, (spruce, firs, pine, cedar).
I have the spice rub recipe, was wondering WHICH wood to use as instructions are rather vague and not specific.
OR, are the conifers an ad on to the hardwoods they usually use which I believe is Beech.?
Click to expand...


The link below is a search on Scotchie's in Jamaica.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Scotchie's+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Check out around 2:15, you can see how they do this type of cook. They use Pimento and a couple various sweet wood (that they won't say what it is) - If I ever go back to Jamaica, I will surely go to Scotchie's again

 
Beechwood Is good for Budweiser, and I like it for smoking.( Very German)
Wood species vary by states and also by country or continent.
In the US, I don't think any one uses conifers for smoking, but in Europe??

Tim
 
I've googled some stuff and it looks like they might use pine and fir somewhat but I'd guess you'd really need to know what your doing. Don't see much info out there though.
 
I believe it is being used in Germany.
If my memory serves me well, there is a Raichlen recipe somewhere in my collection of books.
I'll have to look for it though
 
Many years ago, my brother-in-law and I took a week long canoe trip north out of Ely, Minn. We used an outfitter. The first day out we had been given a couple if fresh steaks for supper. We landed on an island and the only wood was pine. We found plenty of seasoned wood and built a small cook fire. I will be unlikely to EVER forget the "wonderful" full flavored taste of turpentine.:mad: I will NEVER use conifer wood again, I assure you. I do not deny that some may have learned how to use it. Personally, I am DONE with it.

There is one exception, I do use lots of Cedar planks;)
Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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Dustin Dorsey said:
I've googled some stuff and it looks like they might use pine and fir somewhat but I'd guess you'd really need to know what your doing. Don't see much info out there though.
Click to expand...

I built houses out of pine and fir for 35 years, can't imagine using that for smoking.:eek: But like I said maybe in Europe the wood is different?
I know we had this conversation years ago on the forum, and I don't recall if there was a definite answer.

Tim
 
My wife is from oberostereich(upper austria) and her friends and family make their own bacon, which is different from what we americans eat and from what i've gathered, they cold smoke for a couple few weeks with i believe beech. She's overseas now so i cant ask at the moment. They make a small smokehouse and just tend the fire. Off topic, most of them make their own schnapps at home and are very happy to share their hooch. Basically flavored moonshine. It's very common to be offered homemade schnapps while meeting new people in their homes there. It is their pride and joy
 
Beech is pretty standard in Northern Europe.
Our "rookworst" is generally smoked with Beech (rookworst just means smoked sausage, but it describes a particular type).
Beech is also used for cold smoking bacon (in my opinion, cold smoking is still best for bacon :cool:)
I just checked a couple of sites and Beech (Beuk) is recomended for all types of meat and fish. Mind you, that is European Beech....

I wouldn't use pine or conifer or any of those woods....
 
I use American Beech from Smokinlicious > http://www.smokinlicious.com/blog/ ( scroll down )and it's pretty neutral, nice clean smoke color and flavor.
I was doing a school up on the northside by Milwaukee and Kostner and there was a German deli smokehouse. The smell when they fired up the smoker in the morning was intoxicating, totally different from the Beechwood I used in my backyard.

Tim
 
Hi there from Germany,
it's my first post. So please excuse my (probably bad) English. And of course its the cause why i'm answer this late in this thread.
I live in the area where the Black Forest flows into River Rhine-Valley.
If you are interested in Black Forest Style curing the most famous product is the "Schwarzwälder Schinken" (Black Forest Ham).
Traditionally you use for curing spruce and fir.
Some say it's not good for your health. So there is a trick recommended: use beech (preferred) or hardwood until you have your meat covered with this. After that use spruce and/or fir (for different flavours) for the Finish...

Another recipe (german: http://selber-wurst-machen.de/WP/schwarzwalder-schinken/ :)

per 1kg ham:

40g pickling salt
8 pieces of crushed juniper berries
3g of black pepper crushed
2g sugar
2 g crushed coriander
1g of garlic powder
1/2 (half) bay leaf

mix it all slightly by hand.

take a fitting bowl and put the meat in it.
Now the Mixture on top.
knead the mead and the mixture slightly by hand so that absolute everything is covered.
Beware of the furrows... its important that they are covered too!

Now put the meat into a hermetic bag. For each 1kg of meat let it rest 12 days.
Knead carefully the bag and turn it upside down all 2-3 days. This assures that the fluid distributes well.
If you use a plastic box instead, just shake it and turn it upside down all 2-3 days. In this case you don't need to knead ;-)

After this step you wash it carefully (not intensive) and dry it with some clean cloth by sponging (not sure if this the correct word).
Dry it on air for 2-4 days by hanging.
The temperature should be around 12-15 °Celsius (around 53,6 - 59 ° Fahrenheit)


Now comes the smoking.
I just try to translate. Can't really describe it.
First: it's "cold smoked" (hope you know what that means)
One smoke cycle per day with a duration of 6 - 12 hours
You repeat that until it has the dark brown to black colour you want to achieve.
In this recipe the use pine shavings :rolleyes: I'm pretty sure the above mentioned are working as well and from what I know it's more authentic... but just try it out.


After smoking you should hang to get it mature
Humidity should be above 60% and the temperatur again around 12-15 °Celsius (around 53,6 - 59 ° Fahrenheit)
Wait around 2,5 - 3,0 Month.

After this vacuum it for 10 days for best results.


Now you're ready.

The "Schwarzwälder Schinken" should be stored with a temperatur (again ;-) ) of 12-15 °Celsius (around 53,6 - 59 ° Fahrenheit).


Good Luck ;-)



Hope I could help


Kind regards
 
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Danke, und wilcomen, and thats about it for my German, lol
Appreciate the response, it's printed out.
I have family left in Bavaria, but they're all 2 generations removed from the farm, so no help there.They just buy what they want now. Thanks again
 
Thanks!
While geographically near (around 4h by car) bavaria has huge cultural differences to Baden-Wuerttemberg, where i live... but: i love it ;-)
Definitive worth a vacation visit (despite of this i really considered moving there for years).

If you really try the recipe, pls let me know if it worked for you...

Regards
 
Cool post Marc. There's a lot of information there I'm not sure we could find any other way. A lot of these types of products depend on the climate of the area you're at. There's no way in Texas you'd have that type of temp anywhere for 2.5 to 3 months! You usually can't maintain those temps within the same day. You'd need some kind of curing chamber and that gets expensive. Not to mention a smoke house. I guess this is why certain regions are famous for certain things like Black Forest Ham or Spain's Iberico Ham.
 
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