humidity of the air also makes a difference;
smoke vapors are deposited most efficiently
onto moist surfaces, so “wet” smoking has a
stronger effect in a shorter time.
Fermented Meats:
Cured Sausages
Milk is transformed into long-keeping and
flavorful cheese by removing some of its
moisture, salting it, and encouraging harmless
microbes to grow in and acidify it: and meat
can be be treated in much the same way to the
same effect. There are many different kinds of
sausage, or re-formed masses of chopped,
salted meat (p. 169). Fermented sausages are
the most flavorful thanks to bacteria that
break down bland proteins and fats into
smaller, intensely savory and aromatic
molecules.
Fermented sausages probably developed in
prehistoric times from the practice of salting