Air-dried, cold-smoked, cooked and smoked: the difference

Three ways of curing meat, three textures and three price levels. Which to take for a platter, which for sandwiches and which for every day.

Air-dried

The meat is never heated at all. It is salted and dried in a chamber at around 12 degrees for one to two months. Moisture leaves slowly and the flavour concentrates.

The result is a firm texture, a deep taste and long keeping. It is the dearest category, because of the weight lost and the length of the cycle — see it in the catalogue under air-dried.

Cold-smoked

Also never cooked, but cold smoke is added, at up to 25 degrees. The meat is smoked for several days and then left to mature. The smoke acts both as a preservative and as flavour.

The slice is firmer than a cooked product and softer than a fully dried one — a middle ground: cold-smoked.

Cooked and smoked

Heat first, until fully cooked, then smoke. The shortest cycle of the three — cooked and smoked, with cold-smoked beside it in the catalogue.

Soft, mild and ready to serve. It keeps the least of the three, so buy it for the next few days rather than for a stock.

Which to choose

For a platter with wine, take air-dried and cold-smoked: they hold their shape and slice thin. For sandwiches and an everyday table, cooked and smoked is easier and cheaper.

If you are putting a board together, the note on meat platters explains the proportions.