To make smoked food (fish or meat) you need a heated room (like a sauna or just a room with fireplace) and some tying equipment (cord for example). Use cookery (cooking skill) and select smoke food. X number of cords will hold a maximum of (10X +9) meat; for example, if 3 cords are used, the maximum holdable is 39 cuts of meat. A maximum of 4 cords, and therefore 49 cuts, can be used at once. The most efficient method of preserving meat, therefore, is to use 1 cord at a time, and 19 cuts each time.
For example, if you are preserving 100 cuts of meat, by using the maximum of 4 cords per recipe, you will end up using 9 cords (49*2=98, one more cord for the last 2 cuts). However, if you use 1 cord at a time, you will only use 6 cords (19*5 = 95, 1 more cord for last 5 cuts).
Large, nutritious fish, such as trout or salmon, can also be smoked. If you manage to catch 19 of them (which is admittedly unlikely), smoking them will give you a huge store of food, even better than meat.
The smoking process takes 16 days.
Smoked meat does not last as long as dried meat, but lasts longer than salted meat.