The illustration depicts the structure of a home smokery and the steps involved in preparing smoked fish and meat.
Overall, this process comprises 3 main stages: air enters the structure from outside, a fire is lit inside an underground chamber, and smoke is channelled through a pipe into an overhead box, where the food is finally smoked.
First, air continuously flows in from outside through a sloped lid into the first underground chamber, before moving into the second chamber, where a stack of logs is set alight to produce smoke. This chamber, like the first, is covered by a lid and positioned below ground level.
At the following stage, the smoke travels through a pipe into a brick-lined chamber, before rising up into the box situated above ground level. There, fish and meat are hung from a covered frame with a small roof, where they remain until fully smoked
