curing, and it’s almost exclusively applied in
conjunction with a chemical cure. Bacteria need
water to survive, so fully or partially
dehydrated meat will keep for far longer than
fresh meat. Many sausages, such as Italian
salami, soppressata, and French saucisson sec
are dried by hanging them in the open air,
during which time friendly yeasts and bacteria
partially break down the meat to create a whole
host of wonderful, sweet, pungent, and funky
flavors. European hams and American country
hams lose a great deal of moisture through
hanging as well. By slicing meat thin, you can
increase its surface area, creating more places
for internal moisture to escape—beef jerky and
Native American pemmican are made by drying
thin strips of seasoned meat and fat.Some cured meats go through only one or two of
these processes. Most fresh sausages go through a
chemical cure, with or without a smoking step. Lox
is made by chemically curing salmon overnight.
Cold-smoke it, and you’ve got smoked salmon.
Bacon is chemically cured and smoked but minimally
dried. Italian pancetta (cured pork belly) and
guanciale (cured pork jowl) are cured with salt and
nitrates but not smoked and only minimally dried.
Some products, like, say, Austrian speck or all-
American Slim Jims, go through all three processes,
making them quite long lasting indeed.