Wikipedia explains that smoking alone is not sufficient to act as a preservative, meat also has to be salted and dried : it makes me smile because watching chunks of freshly butchered pork dry in the sun was my job, at the age of six. They were salted earlier. under a heavy rock, in a tub. Nets shielded the meat, but our hungry raptors were savvy thieves and I waived a tree branch at them all day log. In North America, hickory and apple tree branches are commonly used for their flavour. In Goa, the stuffed sausage meat in casings was suspended over the fireplace where we cooked, using the branches of mango trees. I used smoked ham hocks for a vindaloo, this week. They were boiled first, to extract the salt and the liquid discarded. Salmon and herring are enjoyed smoked, as is gouda cheese.
