 right|thumb|right|250px|pork ribs being smoked thumb|right|250px|smoked beef sandwich  smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as beer,mcgee p. 767: "malt whiskies from scotland's west coast have a unique, smoky flavor that comes from the use of peat fire for drying the malt." smoked beer, and lapsang souchong tea are also smoked. in europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but oak is more often used now, and beech to a lesser extent. in north america, hickory, mesquite, oak, pecan, alder, maple, and fruit-tree woods, such as apple, cherry, and plum, are commonly used for smoking. other fuels besides wood can also be employed, sometimes with the addition of flavoring ingredients. chinese tea-smoking uses a mixture of uncooked rice, sugar, and tea, heated at the base of a wok. some north american ham and bacon makers smoke their products over burning corncobs. peat is burned to dry and smoke the barley malt used to make whisky and some beers. in new zealand, sawdust from the native manuka (tea tree) is commonly used for hot smoking fish. in iceland, dried sheep dung is used to cold-smoke fish, lamb, mutton, and whale. historically, farms in the western world included a small building termed the smokehouse, where meats could be smoked and stored. this was generally well-separated from other buildings both because of the fire danger and because of the smoke emanations. ==history== the smoking of food dates back to the time of primitive cavemen.briefing: smoked food the herald, 2/19/2002janes, hilly smoked food; ...on a plate the intense yet subtle taste of smoked food is achieved using methods perfected over centuries the independent 10/10/2001 as caves or simple huts lacked chimneys, these dwellings could become very smoky. the early men would often hang meat up to dry, and they soon became aware that meat that was stored in smoky areas acquired a different flavor and was better preserved than meat that simply dried out. over time this process was combined with pre-curing the food in salt or salty brines, resulting in a remarkably effective preservation process that was adapted and developed by numerous cultures around the world.luhr jensen smokehouse page 6, isbn#049762205674 until th
Barbecue Cooking_techniques Food_preservation Smoking_(cooking)