Smoked meat in the oven over a drip tray.

Smoked Meat

Smoking of meats as a means of preservation goes back many generations to pre civilization era.  All indigenous cultures learnt that to preserve meat they had to either smoke it or cured it in brine or salty solution.  The practice continues in South Sudan as a necessity as villages and towns still lack electricity to refrigerate their meats. In addition, South Sudanese treasure the unique flavor of smoked meats or fish, that where-ever in the world they travel, they continue to smoke their meat.   There are many traditional dishes that call for the use of smoked meat in South Sudan.  The smoked meat may be cooked in a soup with peanut butter, in a stew with vegetables, in a food called basico with ground raw sesame, and many others.

Local practice

Meats in South Sudan are preserved in a combination of smoking and sun drying. The meat would be cut in long strips and smoked over an open flame of either charcoal or other firewood. The fat drippings being allowed to fall into the fire. After searing the outside, the meat would be further placed in the hot sun to dry and dehydrate for another day.

Another practice to preserve food is to salt and sun dry. They are populations in South Sudan who exclusively use this method, as they are not accustomed to the flavor of smoked meats. The meat or fish would be covered in salt, then hung out to dry in the sun. It helps that many regions of South Sudan have dry, arid, low humidity and hot sunny days.