Hot-smoked (cooking smoke)
hot smoke
Smoke at cooking temperatures (60-90°C) that fully cooks the meat. American smokehouse tradition; less common in European charcuterie.
- Cure (wet or dry depending on tradition)
- Hot-smoke at 60-90°C until internal temperature reaches safe cooking temp
- Optional: further smoke for flavor after target temp reached
- Cool and package
Hot-smoking applies smoke at cooking temperatures (typically 60-90°C / 140-194°F) — high enough to actually cook the meat through to safe internal temperatures. The category includes most American smokehouse work (smoked sausages, smoked ham, smoked turkey) plus various smoked-then-aged products from European traditions (some German Schinken variants, certain Polish kielbasy). Hot-smoking is much closer to barbecue and slow-cooking than to traditional European charcuterie — the product is fully cooked at the end of smoke, ready to eat without further cure-aging, and shelf-stable primarily from cooking rather than from cure or water-activity reduction.
Editorially, hot-smoking is more central to American food culture than to European cured-meat tradition. Many products marketed as 'smoked ham' in US supermarkets are hot-smoked wet-cured products distinct from the dry-cured cold-smoked European originals. The Schwarzwälder Schinken PGI is cold-smoked; American 'Black Forest ham' in grocery is typically hot-smoked and bears little resemblance to the German original beyond name.
Typical products
- American smoked ham
- Smoked sausages (kielbasa, andouille)
- Smoked turkey
- Hot-smoked salmon