yeah, you hang stuff like game birds (pheasent etc) and rabbits for a good while before eating too. I guess the reason you hang them is to get a good airflow to keep them dryish or to prevent certain types of nasties (bugs, some mould) getting to it while it gently tendorises (rots, but in a good way). I have no idea exactly how it all works though. It must be magic.
Originally posted by FavsThanks! That is very helpful. Now for another question. Is aging the same as curing? Are cured meats cooked first? What about smoking meat? Is that cooking it? or is it like aging?
http://bbq.about.com/cs/beef/a/aa030301a.htm
try this website for some info!
No. Curing is done many ways....The meat is cured raw. I make jerky using salt and sodium nitrate. You soak the meat in the brine solution (in refrigerator) for 24 hours, along with any spices you want in it, and then dry it in a dehydrator or in a very low temp oven. (about 140 deg). You can cure with sugar also. Smoking is done along with the cure I think for flavor purposes. Not sure about that.
Homemade jerky is so good....I can't keep it in the house. The kids search it out and thats that.....
If the meat is to be slow/cold smoked like hams it will need to be cured so that it wont spoil in the warmer temps of the cold smoker.
A ham could be put into a bucket of nitrate salt and left for a day or so unitl the salt becomes wet and melted. Then you take it out wipe it off and start over with another bucket of curing salts and allow it too to suck all the moisture out of the meat. This preserves the meat and allows you to let it hang in a cold smoke house for a week or two with out it spoiling.
The rigamortis of death is cause by chemicals and those chemicals need to break down before the meat will taste as good as we all are used to. So they hang it to age it and let it unstiffen. Meat would be very very chewy like an old shoe if it wasnt treated that way.
My meat is very very stiff right now too but im at work so I cant let it hang out to soften!