Smoking meat

[w1na11day]

I know there might be a mod out there for this but i really believe there should be another method to curing meat for storage for early game in the base game. A traditional method of preserving meat was to smoke meats in meat smoking sheads back then. There is already some custom multi block things like charcoal smokers, i think that there could be some meathods added like in ground smoking simular to glasing pots or a shead you build from wood plank so you have to reach copper age first. and there is already multiple types of twine and string or rope that can be used to craft hangable meat smoking sacks.

[V1ncent]

Your suggestion is exactly the idea implemented in mod Primitive Survival, which I really enjoyed.

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums and the game! Primitive Survival is the only mod that handles meat smoking, to my knowledge. I'm not sure anyone else has really tried to make a standalone meat smoking mod given that most players who mod their game tend to include Primitive Survival on their modlist. But I could be wrong.

On 2/3/2026 at 2:20 PM, w1na11day said:

i really believe there should be another method to curing meat for storage for early game in the base game.

I do agree that smoking meat would be a great addition. However, I will also note that purchasing salt from Commodities/Survival Goods traders is a good option if a player has not found a halite deposit. Likewise, cooking the meat into stew and sealing it into crocks is quite a good option for early long-term storage.

[Kulze]

The issue with the primitive Survival mod is that for some eldritch reason I cannot follow it has... well.. eldritch content included in it. Didn't know we had that stuff in primitive times!  

A vanilla inclusion of meat preservation outside of salt would be highly enjoyed though, actually the 'proper preservation' methodology overall would be fantastic!

Meaning a mixture of salt (extractable from the seawater and as a mineral optimally) together with sodium nitrate (curing salt) as well as smoking and drying.
Medieval style original cured meats lasted several years after all, in comparison it's absolutely untenable to keep meat long-lasting in the game sadly, you're mandated to live off of husbandry rather then hunting. Actually it would provide a great option to make bush meat into a proper food source, allowing it to be treated and gaining caloric value for it, which would allow it to stay a viable long-term source without setting up husbandry, increasing the potential playstyles without removing the early-game struggles of feeding yourself.

I imagine a well-designed immersive option for making long-lasting food is the following:
- Curing meat in salt.

- Storing it in a root-cellar/pantry to allow the curing process to take place instead of rot.
- Followed by smoking it in a smoking chamber, using wood chips/sawdust which could be created as a side-effect of cutting planks with the saw.
- Drying it while making sure it's not exposed to rain.

Each step improving the lifespan of the meat a bit further.

I could imagine the need for meat hooks where individual pieces have to be hanged onto, the process being a lengthy one (in-game day+) where the process is based on how long the smoldering wood is kept 'lit', hence providing smoke and with it the lignines inside the wood.

[LadyWYT]

37 minutes ago, Kulze said:

The issue with the primitive Survival mod is that for some eldritch reason I cannot follow it has... well.. eldritch content included in it. Didn't know we had that stuff in primitive times!

The eldritch stuff can be turned off in the mod's config. I believe it's just a matter of toggling off the relics and setting the spawn instances of the mod's monsters to 0.

39 minutes ago, Kulze said:

I imagine a well-designed immersive option for making long-lasting food is the following:
- Curing meat in salt.

- Storing it in a root-cellar/pantry to allow the curing process to take place instead of rot.
- Followed by smoking it in a smoking chamber, using wood chips/sawdust which could be created as a side-effect of cutting planks with the saw.
- Drying it while making sure it's not exposed to rain.

Outside of the smoking and drying steps...that's already how meat is preserved for really extended periods in the game. That is, the salted meats will last for a handful of in-game years, with the current drawback of being unable to be added to meals. I don't think it's really necessary to extend the shelf life even further than that, as there's really no reason to be storing food for more than a year or two unless you're trying to create supply caches at outposts or something. There will be plenty of opportunities to acquire fresh food otherwise, unless the game balance is changed to make fresh meat incredibly difficult to acquire(I don't really see this happening).

As for smoking, I think Primitive Survival has a rather good balance for it. A smoker is easier to set up than trying to find a halite deposit or trading for salt. The smoked meat doesn't keep as long as salted meat, but the shelf life is enough to last through roughly a year and the smoked meat can also be cooked into meals.

[Kulze]

Yes, there is no need to expand the shelf-life further then it already is.

I more meant a immersive integration. Hence keeping the long-lasting aspect existing, maybe increasing the absolute end-result a bit while reducing the result if not the whole range of steps is done.

We already cure but salt is a mess to access currently which makes it very untenable to achieve, and salt is not a resource that's hard to acquire in reality if you know what to do. The major reason it was worth so much historically was majorly in africa since water access there is limited. In Europe salt access was initially water evaporization and later salt mines. Still valuable since labor intensive and otherwise only available in miniscule amounts but sufficing for personal usage at least. It also created the word 'salary' hence from the roman word 'salarium' where soldiers were paid in salt (or the value of salt in comparison, we don't know fully) for providing their service.

The other parts though are missing, and salt alone doesn't provide such a massive boost to let food last longer.

My recommendation hence is reducing the effect of salt substantially, creating a reliable production method through water evaporization (be it fireplace and pot or leaving it exposed in the sun to 'dry' bowls and get a very small amount this way) and adding a official method of smoking since we also now have the beehive kiln which provides a very similar mechanic as what could be used to build a smoking chamber.

So my recommendation is having dry-curing from salt available with massive amounts of salt usage but no further process needed or being possible.
A alternative option for dry curing with significantly less salt usage (rubbing rather then submerging) for a far less inferior preservation but allowing follow-up methods like dry-storage for mild dehydration which needs actively looking out to not forget it already. Then the smoking process which does need a distinct built setup and large investment in effort. Leading to the best preservation effect possible though.
Also wet curing would be a possible solution then for shorter-term preservation which does provide a caloric boost though at the cost of having significantly reduced shelf-life and higher effort needed.

Salt is underutilized in the game currently with only halite as a source, but then massive amounts, making it a 'either I have all or none' situation.
I simply think that a more gradual system which enforces supply and demand necessities is a viable approach here, making halite a long-lasting source but with a limit and evaporation created miniscule amounts available as a early-game method.

Immersion and variety without removing gameplay meaning.

[LexicalAnomaly]

On 2/5/2026 at 10:40 PM, LadyWYT said:

Welcome to the forums and the game! Primitive Survival is the only mod that handles meat smoking, to my knowledge. I'm not sure anyone else has really tried to make a standalone meat smoking mod given that most players who mod their game tend to include Primitive Survival on their modlist. But I could be wrong.

I do agree that smoking meat would be a great addition. However, I will also note that purchasing salt from Commodities/Survival Goods traders is a good option if a player has not found a halite deposit. Likewise, cooking the meat into stew and sealing it into crocks is quite a good option for early long-term storage.

Butchering has smoking as well if you want something that doesn't add all the random eldritch stuff of Primitive Survival.

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, LexicalAnomaly said:

Butchering has smoking as well if you want something that doesn't add all the random eldritch stuff of Primitive Survival.

I've thought about trying it, but not really keen on that level of gore, even if the mod itself isn't particularly grisly. Much easier to just turn off the eldritch stuff in Primitive Survival and take advantage of all the other goodies the mod has to offer.

[ItzWalterino]

I'll be remembering the name of this mod, "Primitive survival". Thanks for the tip!