Home Courses - The School of Artisan Food Butchery & Charcuterie Curing and Smoking at Home

Curing and Smoking at Home

£235.00

Beginner , Intermediate

Duration:

1 Day

Timings:

09:00 - 16:30

Course start dates:

14 Nov 2026
24 Apr 2027
26 Jun 2027
24 Jul 2027

Hourly Schedule

Time

9:00
Arrival & welcome
Tea, coffee and warm pastries from the kitchen.

09:30
Course Start

13:00
Lunch
Seasonal lunch prepared by our catering team.

16.30
Course End

On this hands-on one-day course, you’ll explore a range of smoking and curing methods under the guidance of expert tutor Sally-Ann Hunt.

Combining traditional practices with modern techniques suitable for home use, you’ll learn how to create a variety of delicious smoked and cured products in your own kitchen and garden.

Throughout the day, you’ll discover how smoking and curing evolved from essential food preservation methods into techniques prized for their ability to enhance flavour. You’ll prepare and cook food over hot coals and wood while learning the principles behind smoking, curing and preserving a range of ingredients.

What You’ll Learn

Through a combination of demonstrations and practical activities, you will:

Understand the fundamentals of smoking and curing
Learn how traditional preservation methods are used today
Explore different smoking techniques and their applications
Gain confidence using smoking equipment at home
Discover how curing enhances flavour, texture and shelf life
Develop practical skills that can be replicated in your own kitchen and garden

Topics Covered

During the course, you’ll explore:

Cold smoking
Electric smoking
Hot smoking over charcoal
The principles of curing and preservation
Traditional and modern smoking techniques

What You’ll Make

Products made during the course will vary depending on seasonality and availability, but may include:

Home-cured smoked bacon
Cherry and bourbon smoked ham
Salt beef
Kielbasa
Frankfurters
Hot-smoked pork tenderloin
Smoky BBQ ribs
Smoked salmon
Duck prosciutto

Who Is This Course For?

This course is ideal for home cooks, food enthusiasts, smallholders and anyone interested in learning traditional food preservation skills. Whether you’re completely new to smoking and curing or looking to build your confidence and expand your repertoire, you’ll leave with practical knowledge, new techniques and plenty of inspiration to continue experimenting at home.

Towards the end of the day, you’ll have the opportunity to sample a selection of the products prepared during the course.

Please Note:
Whilst we make every effort to adhere to best practices regarding allergen control and cross-contamination at The School of Artisan Food, we sincerely regret that we are unable to cater for severe food allergies or coeliac disease. This is due to the continuous and varied use of our teaching spaces, common areas and food preparation areas.

If in any doubt, please contact us to discuss your individual circumstances prior to making a booking, as this will then enable us to produce a personalised Risk Assessment based on your own specific circumstances and better judge if we can safely accommodate you on site.

Your Tutors

Tutor

Sally-Ann Hunt

Sally-Ann Hunt

Sally-Ann Hunt has always been passionate about good food made from healthy, sustainable ingredients. She first became involved in the world of food in 2011, while living and volunteering on a working estate. It was there that she first began to acquire a taste for artisan food production.

Then in 2018, after 20 years in the financial sector, Sally made the leap to a life centred around artisan skills when she joined The School of Artisan Food as a Course Technician, a skilled role that involves a lot of time in the training room, supporting tutors as they deliver artisan food courses.

Sally fell in love with the school’s ethos, recognising how interrelated food, lifestyle, family, and health are, and becoming inspired help preserve traditional food production methods that might otherwise be lost. For the next 3 years, Sally spent her working days honing her foraging, dairy and butchery skills and spent her free time living a simpler way of life, connecting to the food she was eating, and loving the journey she had embarked on with her family.

In 2021, Sally officially became a tutor at the school, delivering courses in foraging, BBQ, smoking and curing, pie making, sausages, dairy and more, both to the public and in workshops delivered in schools and for charity partners such as the YMCA. She is also a tutor on the Artisan Summer School.

Sally’s passion shines through in all her sessions, particularly her commitment to sustainable meat, continuing to research, test and uncover exciting ways to flavour, preserve and cook in the most ethical way possible – knowledge which she then shares with her students.