I grew up on a large farm where we did a lot of cold smoking. My father was the meat cutter/sausage maker/ham and bacon maker, etc. We smoked meat from hogs and beef, but we also did a lot of fish, mostly red horse suckers, lake trout, and steelhead.
We had about a 10 x 10 smokehouse where my dad would build a fire in a pit, in the middle of the dirt floor. Twice a day he would add wood to it, let the fire get going, then close it down so it would smolder for 12 hours. This was always done while it was cool in the springtime or late fall/early winter. Everything we smoked was either dry cured or brined, with salt, saltpeter, and sometimes sugar. By the time we smoked it, it was probably OK to eat from the curing process. The whole process was rather long.
I have graduated to a thermostatically controlled electric smoker. Yes, it hot smokes, but I really can't tell the difference anymore. I still do the brining or curing, but I know I can get the product to a safe temperature.
I'm just about to go start brining a turkey that we will smoke for mother's day dinner. It will be put into a 450 degree oven for about an hour, or until it gets to about 140-145 degrees. It will be wrapped tightly in foil. Then it will go into the smoker, with a pan of water, for about 6 hours at 235 degrees. At that point the meat will be about 180 degrees, but very tasty, juicy, and falling off the bone.
