How does smoking "cure" meats?

Go ahead make your joke.

What sort of chemical changes does smoking cause in a meat to preserve it?

While we’re at it, why don’t dried foods spoil? For instance the jerky and pemmican that Native American’s ate; even if it’s dried out at first, isn’t there enough moisture in the air to begin the spoiling process?

Ahh, meat, wonderful…

http://www.azstarnet.com/~thead/msfaq.html

The site has some more information about other methods and more about meat.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/facts_smoking.htm

This also has some info from the USDA about the safety of smoked meat

the following site tells you about the chemical compounds in wood smoke and what effect they have on teh meat:
http://www.ansci.uiuc.edu/meatscience/Library/smoking.htm

The rest is too lenghty to post here, check it out…

Ahh, meat, wonderful…

The site has some more information about other methods and more about meat

http://www.azstarnet.com/~thead/msfaq.html

This also has some info from the USDA about the safety of smoked meat

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/facts_smoking.htm
the following site tells you about the chemical compounds in wood smoke and what effect they have on teh meat:
http://www.ansci.uiuc.edu/meatscience/Library/smoking.htm

The rest is too lenghty to post here, check it out…

sorry, first one got stuck, didn’t think it would go thru

As for drying, that works because microbes need water to grow. Remove the water, they can’t grow. Badabing.