I have a place in the country now where I could actually build a small cabin and a smokehouse as one might encounter at a small trading post or fort. Any ideas on where to find construction suggestions cirac 1810 or so?
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Cabin, smokehouse construction
- Thread starter BillinOregon
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When encountering something from life in the "good old days", or needing information on such, my first impulse is always the same.
The Foxfire Books
Book one has hog dressing and curing, but no plans for the smokehouse.
www.earthisland.org/map/smkhs.htm
has the plans.
my grandad just built a small fire in a firepit inside the smokehouse (dirt floor)
The Foxfire Books
Book one has hog dressing and curing, but no plans for the smokehouse.
www.earthisland.org/map/smkhs.htm
has the plans.
my grandad just built a small fire in a firepit inside the smokehouse (dirt floor)
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I really need to own the Foxfire books. This smokehouse thing was prompted by a visit to a local antique shop that has baskets full of drawknives and hog scrapers for sale. I got to thinking about genuine country smokehouse cured hams and how I have always wanted to try something more adventurous that smoking salmon and venison in the Little Chief.
Guest
Grandad got poorly toward the end, so 1963-64 was the last time he smoked a hog. I can still remember all of those hams and slabs of side meat and sacks of sausage hanging from the rafters of that shed.
That's the kind of food a kid remembers for the rest of his life!
This is not a technical marvel to construct. You can throw together a small building from plywood, hook a couple of sections of pipe to a "stove" made from a big metal bucket and pipe the smoke into the house.
The wood you choose is going to be more important than how fancy the building is.
:thumbsup:
That's the kind of food a kid remembers for the rest of his life!
This is not a technical marvel to construct. You can throw together a small building from plywood, hook a couple of sections of pipe to a "stove" made from a big metal bucket and pipe the smoke into the house.
The wood you choose is going to be more important than how fancy the building is.
:thumbsup:
Ghost: Those sound like wonderful memories. I'm in the newspaper business, and many years ago interviewed a hilarious old gal born in the 1880s. She had an encylopedic memory and when she got to describing how the neighbors all got together for hog killing, it was fascinating. They literally used everything but the squeal.
As to the smokehouse, I was thinking more along the lines of hand-cut planks and logs, and trying to keep away from plywood. I am just wondering about how long after smoking that the hams need to cure, and at what temperature.
As to the smokehouse, I was thinking more along the lines of hand-cut planks and logs, and trying to keep away from plywood. I am just wondering about how long after smoking that the hams need to cure, and at what temperature.
I remember an old geezer here in arvada who had a real nice
stone smokehouse, which in the long run would last quite a while, so if you got a lot of rock laying around,
just invest in some morter.
are the fox fire books still in print? ::
BB
stone smokehouse, which in the long run would last quite a while, so if you got a lot of rock laying around,
just invest in some morter.
are the fox fire books still in print? ::
BB
Guest
I'll explain what I remember about this process. Hopefully there are others on the forum that have done this more often and more receintly than myself.
The last time I was involved in a hog killing was 1969-70, so I reserve the right to be completely wrong on any of the specifics.
Kill and block out the meat into the cuts you prefer.
Tempature on kill day and espically the night of the kill is critical. The meat must chill to below 40 degrees, but must not freeze.
Hogs were usually killed in the autumn around Thanksgiving (in TN)
After the first couple of days in the salt box the tempature is not a critical factor at this time of year.
While the meat is still cold it must be salted and packed into the salt box. Rub the salt in generously and pack the pieces into the box in a fasion where they will not touch other pieces of meat. (Layer of salt--layer of meat--layer of salt)
The salt is often a mixture of salt and sugar blended to your taste. This is what gives the individual products of each farm their different flavors. One can still buy blends at some meat markets.
The cuts must remain in the salt box for 6 weeks. It is the salt/sugar combination that actually cures the meat. The smoke just enhances the flavor.
When the cuts were removed from the salt they were usually not washed or wrapped. They were hung in the smoke house and the smoking process bagan.
I never remember meat being placed on racks for smoking. It was always hung from the rafters with bailing twine.
I have seen sheds of any and all kinds used as smoke houses. Logs, boards, old truck boxes, sheet metal, tool sheds, anything with a roof and walls. The most important thing was that the meat was protected from the vermin and rain.
Wood selection was critical to the old folks. Most would use only seasoned hickory. I supose mesquete would be a good choice out west. Whatever your tastes run too.
They smoked the meat from two days to two weeks. You can get the flavor too intense, but some like it strong. Three or four days was usually enough for me. If you stop the smoke process and it is not intense enough you can always build up the fire and shoot some more smoke to the meat.
Some tried to keep the smoke going day and night, but most just lit up the fire and let it burn. If it went out they lit if back up and didn't worry about it too much.
This is the procedure for hogs. Here the critical factor is the chilling and the quick application of the salt.
I have smoked jerky and dried fish over the years and the smoke and drying is the critical factor in those operations.
and thats all I've got to say about smoking meat.
I hope I remembered right!
The last time I was involved in a hog killing was 1969-70, so I reserve the right to be completely wrong on any of the specifics.
Kill and block out the meat into the cuts you prefer.
Tempature on kill day and espically the night of the kill is critical. The meat must chill to below 40 degrees, but must not freeze.
Hogs were usually killed in the autumn around Thanksgiving (in TN)
After the first couple of days in the salt box the tempature is not a critical factor at this time of year.
While the meat is still cold it must be salted and packed into the salt box. Rub the salt in generously and pack the pieces into the box in a fasion where they will not touch other pieces of meat. (Layer of salt--layer of meat--layer of salt)
The salt is often a mixture of salt and sugar blended to your taste. This is what gives the individual products of each farm their different flavors. One can still buy blends at some meat markets.
The cuts must remain in the salt box for 6 weeks. It is the salt/sugar combination that actually cures the meat. The smoke just enhances the flavor.
When the cuts were removed from the salt they were usually not washed or wrapped. They were hung in the smoke house and the smoking process bagan.
I never remember meat being placed on racks for smoking. It was always hung from the rafters with bailing twine.
I have seen sheds of any and all kinds used as smoke houses. Logs, boards, old truck boxes, sheet metal, tool sheds, anything with a roof and walls. The most important thing was that the meat was protected from the vermin and rain.
Wood selection was critical to the old folks. Most would use only seasoned hickory. I supose mesquete would be a good choice out west. Whatever your tastes run too.
They smoked the meat from two days to two weeks. You can get the flavor too intense, but some like it strong. Three or four days was usually enough for me. If you stop the smoke process and it is not intense enough you can always build up the fire and shoot some more smoke to the meat.
Some tried to keep the smoke going day and night, but most just lit up the fire and let it burn. If it went out they lit if back up and didn't worry about it too much.
This is the procedure for hogs. Here the critical factor is the chilling and the quick application of the salt.
I have smoked jerky and dried fish over the years and the smoke and drying is the critical factor in those operations.
and thats all I've got to say about smoking meat.
I hope I remembered right!
Plans, plans, and more plans... not 100% PC unless YOUR PC has to do with the CCC, but a 5x8x8 smoker hasn't changed that much between 1700 and now, pretty much just the materials and some construction techniques.
Here's one smokehouse smokehouse plan
and the main page for all sorts of buildings, cabins, etc... North Dakota State University
Here's one smokehouse smokehouse plan
and the main page for all sorts of buildings, cabins, etc... North Dakota State University
6 Weeks? :shocking: Although my granddad quit about the same time as yours, my one remaining uncle swears it was 21 days. My wife says she don't remember how long, but they had to soak their meat overnight to git some of the salt out, we never did that. :m2c: The meat was covered with a moist salt covering and not packed in a box. You had to go down to the cold cellar every day to replace what fell off.
Our smoke house was 5x5x8', with a small hickory fire, on the dirt floor. It was only allowed to smolder not burn. I don't recall how long it stayed in there. :boohoo:
Our smoke house was 5x5x8', with a small hickory fire, on the dirt floor. It was only allowed to smolder not burn. I don't recall how long it stayed in there. :boohoo:
Guest
Somkeing alone will NOT cure .
You must use salt or salt and sugar or you can use saltpeter
or you can buy cure.
I cure hams and bacons every year and I do it in a food grade plastic 5 gallon bucket in a brine. I also inject the brine into the meat before they are placed into the bucket of brine.
Brine a turkey and then smoke it and you will swear it is ham. Now I am getting hungry
Woody
PS: The bucket MUST be FOOD GRADE or an old fashion crock
Some plastic will give of toxins
You must use salt or salt and sugar or you can use saltpeter
or you can buy cure.
I cure hams and bacons every year and I do it in a food grade plastic 5 gallon bucket in a brine. I also inject the brine into the meat before they are placed into the bucket of brine.
Brine a turkey and then smoke it and you will swear it is ham. Now I am getting hungry
Woody
PS: The bucket MUST be FOOD GRADE or an old fashion crock
Some plastic will give of toxins
OK we have the smokehouse built can any of us help
BillinOregan with circa 1810 cabin as it applied to
the RMFT era. I did some research and could not find
anything but i know there are plans there somewhere.
maybe foxfire books maybe somewhere else!
snake-eyes :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
BillinOregan with circa 1810 cabin as it applied to
the RMFT era. I did some research and could not find
anything but i know there are plans there somewhere.
maybe foxfire books maybe somewhere else!
snake-eyes :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
Guest
Should this be a new thread?
Yep, foxfire has one whole book on cabin building, from saddle notch to dovetailing the joints and making the punchon floor.
You have to remember that a cabin is a piece of material culture. The people that specialize in historic cabin building and restoration are historic preservationists, not construction workers.
Contact the American Association of State and Local History in Nashville, TN. They can put you in touch with the proper people in your area.
One thing that helps with construction is seeing how they made the rafters and joints in the logs in origional cabins at GOOD historic sites.
Get on I-71 and drop down to Ceasar's Creek State Park. They have some of the best preserved cabins in OH. Some of them date back to 1802.
Yep, foxfire has one whole book on cabin building, from saddle notch to dovetailing the joints and making the punchon floor.
You have to remember that a cabin is a piece of material culture. The people that specialize in historic cabin building and restoration are historic preservationists, not construction workers.
Contact the American Association of State and Local History in Nashville, TN. They can put you in touch with the proper people in your area.
One thing that helps with construction is seeing how they made the rafters and joints in the logs in origional cabins at GOOD historic sites.
Get on I-71 and drop down to Ceasar's Creek State Park. They have some of the best preserved cabins in OH. Some of them date back to 1802.
Guest
With meat I think the main preservations were salting, smoking and drying.
You can salt the meat without smoking it
you can also dry the meat without smoking it
I believe that the smoke has only a limited preservation benefit, mostly associated with the drying process. It was always used to enhance the flavor and not to preserve.
Fish and foul will dry into a form of jerky, as will any of the lean meats like beef or the deer or goat family. This can be accomplished with or without the assistance of smoke. The Indians sun dried much of their buffalo and fishermen still sun dry their fish in 3rd world nations.
No fancy macheinery or equipment needed, you can just hang the meat on bushes on crude racks in the sun, or spread it on the ground.
Pork and bear do not lend themselves to being made into jerky. They are too fatty. Fatty meats, or animals that carry parisites, are not good choices for jerky.
I have read of people placing cooked meats in crokery jars and covering it with lard. This sealed the meat from the air and prevented bacteria growth.
'course a lot of folks died from unidentified intestinal disorders back then too!
:results:
You can salt the meat without smoking it
you can also dry the meat without smoking it
I believe that the smoke has only a limited preservation benefit, mostly associated with the drying process. It was always used to enhance the flavor and not to preserve.
Fish and foul will dry into a form of jerky, as will any of the lean meats like beef or the deer or goat family. This can be accomplished with or without the assistance of smoke. The Indians sun dried much of their buffalo and fishermen still sun dry their fish in 3rd world nations.
No fancy macheinery or equipment needed, you can just hang the meat on bushes on crude racks in the sun, or spread it on the ground.
Pork and bear do not lend themselves to being made into jerky. They are too fatty. Fatty meats, or animals that carry parisites, are not good choices for jerky.
I have read of people placing cooked meats in crokery jars and covering it with lard. This sealed the meat from the air and prevented bacteria growth.
'course a lot of folks died from unidentified intestinal disorders back then too!
:results:
Fellas, you have been most helpful.
Woodhick, I would love to hear more about how you cure your hams and bacon.
As to the cabin, I wish I had been more attuned to history when I was at Caesar Creek about 15 years ago, but all I had on my mind was finding trilobite fossils.
I've been to a number of forts out West here over the years, from Bent's Fort in Colorado to Fort Nisqually, Fort Clatsop, Fort Vancouver and Fort Ross, but just wasn't paying attention to the proper details.
I'd like to build a very small cabin, say, 8 by 12 with a porch and floor. If I had a saw pit and a partner we could saw out some planks, but now this is sounding like way too much work!
Woodhick, I would love to hear more about how you cure your hams and bacon.
As to the cabin, I wish I had been more attuned to history when I was at Caesar Creek about 15 years ago, but all I had on my mind was finding trilobite fossils.
I've been to a number of forts out West here over the years, from Bent's Fort in Colorado to Fort Nisqually, Fort Clatsop, Fort Vancouver and Fort Ross, but just wasn't paying attention to the proper details.
I'd like to build a very small cabin, say, 8 by 12 with a porch and floor. If I had a saw pit and a partner we could saw out some planks, but now this is sounding like way too much work!
Hey Bill,
My folks picked up a book that Readers Digest put out back in the late 70s or so called "Back to Basics". I'm pretty sure it covered smokehouses and cabins (and a whole buncha other neat stuff). My wife and I picked up a copy from a book club a few years back, so I think it is still in print.
My folks picked up a book that Readers Digest put out back in the late 70s or so called "Back to Basics". I'm pretty sure it covered smokehouses and cabins (and a whole buncha other neat stuff). My wife and I picked up a copy from a book club a few years back, so I think it is still in print.
CrackStock
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http://www.martinsstation.com/gallery/index.php?action=view&gll=1
Not plans, but some pretty pics and people that you might contact.
CS
Not plans, but some pretty pics and people that you might contact.
CS
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