Book excerpt: With this book, A. D. Livingston combines a lifetime of Southern culinary knowledge with his own love of authentic home smoking and curing techniques. He teaches how to prepare smoked and salted hams, fish, jerky, and game—adapting today’s materials to yesterday’s traditional methods. As he writes, “you can smoke a better fish than you can buy, and you can cure a better ham without the use of any chemicals except ordinary salt and good hardwood smoke.” This book shows you how, and includes more than fifty recipes—such as Country Ham with Redeye Gravy, Canadian Bacon, Scandinavian Salt Fish, and Venison Jerky—as well as complete instructions for: * Preparing salted, dried fish * Preparing planked fish, or gravlax * Building a modern walk-in smokehouse * Constructing small-scale barbecue smokers * Choosing woods and fuels for smoking * Salt-curing country ham and other meats