With no refrigeration, meat preservation posed some
challenges to the early Texas settlers, but offered a paramount source of
protein. Most commonly, one of the first things built along with the main cabin
would be a good, old fashioned smokehouse. On the morning of the first
frost—early November to mid-December—the whole family went to butchering hogs.
With the meat hung in the smokehouse, usually a
windowless log structure, they built hickory, pecan, or oak, depending on taste
preferences, fires. Conduit—often clay pipe—ran six to eight feet from the fire
to the structure. For the duration, the community kept the fire going
twenty-four/seven until all the meat cured properly, sometimes upward to
fourteen days.
This procedure is mentioned in more than one of the
historical Texas Romance Family Saga series. It provided a good way to sustain
their families. I put Sue’s smokehouse exactly where the first cabin we built
on the nine hundred acre McAdoo ranch south of
Clarksville, Texas.
I’d love to share book one VOW UNBROKEN with a commenter. It's book one in the Texas Romance Family Saga series, when Suzannah Baylor meets Henry Buckmeyer an dhires him to help get her cotton crop to market.
I’m offering to draw from those who leave a comment for a blessed person to send a
print book to!
Bio: Christian author Caryl McAdoo prays her story
gives God glory! With four series—each a different genre—the award-winning,
best-selling hybrid releases at least three new titles each year, steadily
adding to her total of twenty-seven books published through 2016. She also
loves singing new songs the Lord gives her, her husband Ron, and two grandsons
live five miles south of Clarksville, in the far Northeast corner of Texas.
Links: Author
Pages: BookBub Amazon / Website / Blog /
Bio: Christian author Caryl McAdoo prays her story
gives God glory! With four series—each a different genre—the award-winning,
best-selling hybrid releases at least three new titles each year, steadily
adding to her total of twenty-seven books published through 2016. She also
loves singing new songs the Lord gives her, her husband Ron, and two grandsons
live five miles south of Clarksville, in the far Northeast corner of Texas. 
I love that this blog shares the real life information about history and how everyday things were done. So interesting!
ReplyDeleteYou know, we always hear about smoking meat, but to have all the information laid out in one place, priceless. Doris
ReplyDeleteSo that is what a smokehouse did! I bet it seemed like tiring work keeping the fire going for two weeks or however long it seemed to take.
ReplyDeletelattebooksAThotmailDOTcom
I recall my father telling about getting bacon and ham from the smoke house back in the Carolinas. today my husband smokes bacon and hams in a smoker on our back patio. Hugs and blessings, EydeeDowd
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