Ole Smokey

We all have memories from childhood, and growing up in rural St. James Parish in the 1950s, I have many. I was an adolescent before we had electricity and the bathroom was a two-seater outhouse. We were uptown with a double toilet! Several years ago I salvaged the outhouse, which had fallen into disrepair over the years. I have refurbished it and am now able to smoke a selection of meats and sausages. I configured the smokehouse for two smoking methods: hot and cold.  Hot smoking is a method of curing, preserving and flavoring meats by exposing the food to smoke at temperatures of 200 – 250 °F. Cold smoking requires the use of a heat source outside of Ole Smokey. The smoke is channeled from the exterior smoke box into the smokehouse through a pipe to dissipate the heat. The meats are cured and flavored at temperatures of 50 – 85 °F for a prolonged period of time.