Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: The CHFF smokehouse & root cellar

Hams, jams and alcoholic beverages all had their origins in this quest for preservation. Raw pork didn’t last too long, especially in the days before refrigeration, but salted and smoked hams would keep for many months. Fruits, as everyone knows, rot very quickly, but they lasted for ages mixed with sugar, boiled down and turned into preserves. Freshly harvested barley and grapes also had a limited shelf life. But turned into beer and wine, they’d help sustain people through a winter when other forms of nutrition were scarce.

It’s amazing how quickly modernization has pushed these life-sustaining skills to the fringes of society. Tell someone today that you make hams, bacons or pickles, and they generally conclude that you must be some sort of gun-toting, toothless hillbilly (hey, we have teeth).

The truth is that making your own food from scratch can be a cool way to pass an autumn weekend - without the threat these days of starvation hanging over your head should you fail. At least once a year, we spend an entire three-day weekend drinking Bavarian rauchbier (smoked beer) while tending to the fire as we cold smoke our hams and bacons for the rest of the football season and upcoming holidays. Coupled with modern conveniences like television and extension cords, you don’t even have to miss any football. What a country. Plus, once you get a taste of your own homemade hams, pickles, bacons and sausage you’ll probably give up on the flavorless, mass-produced versions you buy at Wal-Mart.

The best part is that your tailgate guests and neighbors will be truly impressed when they see you slicing up homemade bacon in the parking lot. They’ll be even more impressed when they taste it.

This is just a short collection of some of our favorite recipes. We’ll be adding plenty more in the future.