Lapin Poron kylmäsavuliha

Appearance & taste

The meat consists of whole muscles or pieces of muscle from reindeer. The connective tissue between the muscles can be seen, but no visible fat. The fibres are very fine and dense. The colour ranges from dark red to almost black with a slightly brownish tone; the edges are darker from drying. Depending on the degree of drying, the cut surface is matt and smooth or, if dried less, glossy.

On the outside the meat is firm, on the inside somewhat softer. It is juicy, tastes soft, smoky and slightly salty and has the intense aroma of reindeer meat. A long-lasting aftertaste of smoke and reindeer is typical. When eaten it melts easily and seems tender and delicate. It is sold in whole or cut pieces or in slices, in packs from under a hundred grams to several kilos; the pack states whether it comes from an adult reindeer or a calf.

Production

The reindeer are born, raised and slaughtered in the Finnish reindeer herding area. From spring to the beginning of winter they graze freely and eat mainly grasses, mushrooms and lichens. 70 to 75 % of the animals slaughtered are calves aged 5 to 8 months. Boned roasting joints, shoulder pieces and fillets with a pH below 5.8 are used, cut into pieces of equal size from half a kilo to a few kilos.

The meat is laid in containers in layers with sea salt, lactic acid bacteria and, where applicable, nitrite, and is cured and fermented at 2 to 4 °C for one to two weeks, then rinsed with cold water. It ripens for about a week in cold-smoking chambers, at first at about 24 °C so that fermentation starts, then at falling temperature and humidity. About two days after the start, smoke from alder, birch and juniper sawdust is fed in once or twice a day for at most four hours. The meat then ripens further for one to two weeks at 7 to 16 °C until it has become about 30 % lighter. Weight, acidity and evaporation are checked daily. It is then packed immediately in the area of origin so that it does not dry out too much.

Origin & history

The reindeer herding area lies between the 65th and 70th parallels north. It covers the region of Lapland without Kemi, Tornio and Keminmaa, as well as several municipalities in the Oulu region, including Kuusamo, Pudasjärvi, Suomussalmi and Taivalkoski. Production takes place at temperatures below zero, in late autumn or winter, so that the air is dry during smoking. This means only about 1 % moisture evaporates each day, and no crust forms on the surface; according to the specification, this is why production takes considerably longer than for industrially produced smoked meat.

Besides drying, smoking is the most common way of processing reindeer meat. Most processing businesses belong to families who own reindeer themselves. Smoked reindeer meat is first mentioned in writing in the late 18th century; since the beginning of the 20th century, smoking has been described in detail in the literature.