Let's Make Jerky! or Smoker crafting 101

[piddy3825]

I love finding beef jerky and tins of sardines when I am looting 'cause it seems like they have a good calorie to weight ratio.  300 cal for .10 kilo or 100 grams as compared to fresh venison, wolf and bear, at roughly 800 cal per kilo, I'm no math professor, but I think that's close to 3.5 times more caloric density from the jerky as it is from fresh meat and fish.  I'd like to see a crafting / cooking option that would allow for the creation of a smoke house where both freshly caught fish and game could be smoked into jerky.  

Most of the items are already in place and I propose utilizing the ice fishing huts with doors as "smoker shacks."   So the player would string line on the inside of the shack from which to hang the fish and meat to be dried.  The player would have to use a pan, maybe use one of those pans that can be harvested for scrap metal.  Don't know how hard that would be to turn into an item that could be picked up and taken, but in this case the pan is used to hold the mixture of birch bark and rose hips, maybe even a mushroom or two, that produces the smoke when placed on top of the potbelly stove.  The player then loads stove, builds a long time fire then exits the hut and closed the door.  The smoking process might take a couple of days...  this might make it interesting if the player has to service the fire on a regular basis over the course of 2-3 days.  Obviously, you can't stay in the shack when your smoking, so you either camp outside or else shelter nearby, maybe in a cabin, maybe not?    Might not be so easy to keep a fire going continuously for 72 hours, so lots of prep time would have to done, but it would be nice to be able to turn 30 to 40 kilos of bear meat into 10  kilos while keeping the caloric density.

[Gleudal]

i think that should definitly a mid to late game option. i d also like to prepare a TWM-run like this

[Dirmagnos]

Considering that you completely skipped critical parts, like proper ventilation, i doubt that youl get much of meat out of it.

And what exactly you are trying to achieve ? Smoked meat or meat jerky ? Those are completely different things with completely different preparation processes, that you somehow simply combined to get favorable result, throwing out everything else.

There should be several food preservation processes, that would be worth its own separate update to game. Considering how different they are, what is needed to make each work and what end-result would be.

[piddy3825]

6 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Considering that you completely skipped critical parts, like proper ventilation, i doubt that youl get much of meat out of it.

And what exactly you are trying to achieve ? Smoked meat or meat jerky ? Those are completely different things with completely different preparation processes, that you somehow simply combined to get favorable result, throwing out everything else.

There should be several food preservation processes, that would be worth its own separate update to game. Considering how different they are, what is needed to make each work and what end-result would be.

yeah, lets not over think everything here...  I think you perfectly understood what I was trying to get at and yes it would be a combination of preservation and weight reduction.  

[Dirmagnos]

16 minutes ago, piddy3825 said:

yeah, lets not over think everything here...  I think you perfectly understood what I was trying to get at and yes it would be a combination of preservation and weight reduction.  

Im not overthinking. Youre not simplifying process, but mix completely incompatible ones. Best features are believable ones.

I dont mind simplification for the sake of game process, but i do severely mind making some weird features that doesnt make much sense solely for the purpose of making them. While at the same time it is possible to make relatively realistic, working and fitting features.

[piddy3825]

@Dirmagnos, I think conceptually we are on the same page in that we want to see meat preservation as a crafting option.  

[Dirmagnos]

5 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

@Dirmagnos, I think conceptually we are on the same page in that we want to see meat preservation as a crafting option.  

Amen to that.

Id like to see at least 3 curing options - smoking, salting and drying. Smoking is fastest, but in terms of meat preservation it is also the least efficient. Salting is next, and most hardcore, time and effort consuming and also effective, would be drying.

Salt could be gained by simple evaporation process. And for both drying and curing id got with one of many huts, but on land, not fishing ones, as in both processes temperature will be above 0, eg ice would start to melt.

And turning house into smokery could be actually extremely simple process from gameplay and dev work perspective.

1. Pick a house.

2. Use "turn into smokery" option(or any of other 2, as they use bit different processes, they are not entirely; maybe an upgrade option that allows switching), that would render house unenterable. As result, when player click on door, simple crafting menu appears, with list of materials, tools and time needed to complete renovations.

3. Once renovations complete, door turns into pseudo-container option, but aside of usual slots there will be also slots for fuel and extras, like spices(if there will be any added). Inventory slots could be filled only with raw meat/fish above certain condition(meat with 2 low condition is not suited for such things).

4. Load it up and go about your day, checking on it every now and then, to refuel and check condition of curing.

Could be even separate skill for it. Also house could have upgrade options, allowing more meat and fuel slots, and allowing house usage for different curing processes.

[Rusty_Old_F250]

I've seen a few smokers made from old refrigerators, mostly 50's era stuff. The favorite redneck method seems to be to lay it face up and bash a bunch of holes in the door with a pickaxe.

Sam

[Paolobrandon]

This would be really great to see. Not sure how most folks go about stocking up large amounts of food, so being able to build a smoke house and preserve food (by any means) could be a great way to extend surpluses. Perhaps it could be sections that need to be asembled outside and/or on the workbench? A combination of scrap and reclaimed wood would probably allow for the building of a smoke house. (Small chance the thing catches on fire?!)

[Rada_]

I would actually love to see any way of stocking food. Any. 

[Crimson Foxx]

I love this idea a lot. I know very little ( well nothing) about making jerky or drying meats as i am one of them lazy people that just buys it from the store and goes " mmm..nice" but this would actually teach me how its done too. maybe there could be a skill book for it? It would also add another reason to feel like your starting to live in this frozen world and not just surviving :). Great idea.

[Fitz]

I love the Idea of curing meat however I really don't think that being able to craft a smokehouse fits with the general aesthetic of the game. A small makeshift drying rack over a fire might fit, considering we are able to build snow shelters, especially if it degrades in a similar manner. But a large scale operation involving building a large structure or converting a structure doesn't seem to fit with the game as it is.

On the other hand I think it would be completely appropriate for small smoking/drying sheds to be added in specific locations such as Jackrabbit Island/Misanthrope's Homestead/Fishing Village, Trapper's Homestead/Lone Lake Cabin, Draft Dodger's Cabin, Old Spence Family Homestead.

[Thrasador]

I agree I would at least be able to dry or salt meat for the preservation process.

That was a good idea on getting salt from evaporating the salt water at CH or DP. I didn't think of that to be honest...

Obviously salted meats would make you thirsty like salty crackers or beef jerky, but that's pretty easy to fix...lots of snow to melt, lol....

[Hackfleisch]

I'd like to bump this one since I've been thinking about it last week. I would love more options to preserve meat, could be especially useful for fish since smoking/drying would also decrease its weight. Maybe craft a little smoking hut with leather and wood, or like Fitz said a simple rack over a fire. I've been a little over-enthusiastic in trying out my new bow and fishing for the fun of it, so that I now have quite a bit of meat stashed on my porch. Would be cool if I could turn a bunch of it into jerky or do some other form of long-term preservation.

Of course it might make the game too easy in the long run, but laying up a storage for when times are tough or you go on a nomadic streak would be nice.

 

[Mroz4k]

First of all, compared to your addition to how much calories it provides compared to the normal meat - lets not forget that normal meat provides some raw calories, but by being better at cooking, the amount of calories you get from cooking that meat increases. On the highest level, the calories you get from a cooked meat compared to processed food is not that different, I dont know the math from the back of my head but I think they actually might be even better.

Now, for the different preservation methods - it would be nice from the perspective of a long term goals, but as far as game goes it is not currently neccesary - all meat can be preserved indefinitedly in its raw form, you just cook it to get it to 50% from ruined state and you can consume it. More realistic approach would be cool, though. 

If nothing else, these food items would have much smaller smell penalty, I reccon - so I can totally see the advantages of these processes. But yea, I would like to see more realistical 

What I would also like to see is more cooking methods then just a simple steak. With the use of a pot and some water, one could boil the meat instead - both meat and the water would become rich in calories, the water gets calories othervise lost by cooking a steak, it would spoil faster but could be heated for the warm core bonus, and could even provide boost to "energy" similarly like coffee does (without the bonus that makes energy degradation slower, just an immidiate energy).

[Mroz4k]

On 25. 7. 2017 at 2:12 PM, Fitz said:

I love the Idea of curing meat however I really don't think that being able to craft a smokehouse fits with the general aesthetic of the game. A small makeshift drying rack over a fire might fit, considering we are able to build snow shelters, especially if it degrades in a similar manner. But a large scale operation involving building a large structure or converting a structure doesn't seem to fit with the game as it is.

On the other hand I think it would be completely appropriate for small smoking/drying sheds to be added in specific locations such as Jackrabbit Island/Misanthrope's Homestead/Fishing Village, Trapper's Homestead/Lone Lake Cabin, Draft Dodger's Cabin, Old Spence Family Homestead.

I could not agree with Fitz more in this. I would rather see a pre-build smoking shacks then to be able to craft one, because really, any sort of "building" in TLD would be an impossible feat. Naturally I am all for having an improvised campfire option on top of this - so in a way, the shacks would be used to create a bigger amount of such food, but for small practical purposes, the improvised option may be generally useful as well. 

[godhelpme89]

On a side note, did you know you can make beef jerky without a smoker? All you need is a fan or a constant wind. A guy at work made some and it was delicious. You can see videos of how to do it on you tube.

[Prestermatt]

1 hour ago, godhelpme89 said:

All you need is a fan or a constant wind.

Should be easy in TLD, then.  If there's one thing we can count on, it's a stiff wind blowing from wherever it is we want to go.

[WanderingPalm]

Just for the record, I'm also in favor of preserving meat and fish in some way. Would loooove to see something like this implemented. I actually quite like all of the ideas I've read from this thread so far.

[Stormwolf1O1]

2 hours ago, WanderingPalm said:

Just for the record, I'm also in favor of preserving meat and fish in some way. Would loooove to see something like this implemented. I actually quite like all of the ideas I've read from this thread so far.

Yes, I think this would be a very good idea! Leaving meat to 'cure' in a sense until it turns to jerky, then its condition will decay much more slowly over time. Perhaps it would also make you very thirsty, comparable to Salty Crackers or even more-so. 

Don't Starve pulled it off, so why not TLD?

[Amon Triskel]

I too was really surprised that Smoking fish,  Jerking/Dehydrating or simply Salting meat weren't among the first methods of preservation they introduced in the game.  For instance, they could have a slab of venison or rabbit 'cure' in a similar manner to hides. But requires the use of salt or a brine.

The salt could be acquired by boiling off water or salvaged from the environment where honestly it should be some what plentiful as it such an important staple. that I can guarantee you would be found in every kitchen on Great Bear. 

The salted meat would then take X amount of time to dehydrate depending on the weight of the meat. Keeping the calorie count the same or slightly less while drastically reducing the weight and improving the condition of the meat similar to cooking

[CitrinePeridot]

I really like this idea. I also do not know the processes, but I suppose it could be one of the books one must study in order to "learn" about them.