Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-12-18
Curing the Products Of the Hog.


The season for curing meats for
familyuse is now at hand, and although
many formulas are yearly given a few
hints embracing all that is really neces-
sary On the subject may be welcome to
large class of readers. In the first
place it is important that hogs after the
killing shall hang where they will
thoroughly cool through previous to
being cut up and packed. Hogs oughC
never to be slaughtered except on q
dry, frosty day. Neither should they
be exposed to an atmosphere so cold as
to cause the outside to become frozen
before the animal heat has all escaped.
Freezing the outer surface of dressed
meat surrounds the interior of the flesh
with wall, through which the animal
heat still remaining in and around the
bones cannot escape, and the result will
be souring and speedy decay at the
center Of hams, shoulders and the like,
which Outwardly appear ia good Condi-
ton.
For picked pork cut the middles
crosswise into pieces about five inches
wide, taking out the back bone and
ribs, which leaves the meat in conven-
lent condition to cut in suitable pieces
when required for use. New packages
are to be preferred, but old ones may
be employed repeatedly if clean and
sweet. Avoid using, however, old pork
barrels for beef and the beef tub for
packing pork. Sailing with and with
out brine are both satisfactory methods
when properly accomplished, but the
preference is most generally given to
the latter, as the brine or pickle used
insures immunity from insects during
the picking process. When the pork
is ready for packing sprinkle the bot
tom of the barrel literally with coarse
salt of good quality. Pack the pieces
on their edges, forming a ring around
the inside of the barrel, with the skin
outward; fill the ring in the same way
until complete layer is gained, then
press or pound it down gently if nee
essary. Next apply generous layer
of salt; follow this with a layer of meat
placed according to directions given
for the first one, and so on until the
barrel is filled, taking care that the last
layer of meat is well covered with salt.
If the weather is cool the meat may
stand several days in this condition, but,
as a rule, it is safer to at once add the
brine, which should be made strong
enough to float an egg. Let the scum
rise to the top and skim it off before ap-
plying the brine. Cover the meat en-
tirely and if in open package weight it
down to keep it from rising above the
pickle, Employ enough salt so there
will be some not dissolVedin the barrel
when the meat shall have been used
up. The brine extracts blood and
other juices from the meat which
rise to the surface, and in warm
weather tits possible there to decompose
and contaminated the contents of the cask.
To avoid trouble in this direction, farm
ers occasionally draw off the brine and
subject it to boiling, skimming off the
impurities. When this is done great
care should be observed that the brine
is entirely cold before again pouring
over the meat. When barrels contain
ing picked pork are headed up it is
best to lay them on their sides and turn
them over occasionally.
Bacon, as it is commonly termed, is
the same portion of the hog used for
picked pork, though differently treated.
For the pork barrel there is no danger
of too much salt, but as the best bacon
is that presenting alternate strips of
lean and fat, too much salt makes the
lean part stringy and tough.
Dry sailing is usually resorted to in
making side-bacon. In dry-salting,
whether in barrels, boxes or piles,
without the addition of water to form
brine, it is of the utmost Importance
that no chance be afforded for flies to
deposit eggs or maggots or to come in
contact with the meat. If flies have
had access to the pork it cannot be
saved unless at once put into brine.
A simple way in which to dry-salt any
portion Of the hogs carcass is to spread a
layer of half an inch or more of salt on a
platform-foor or the bottom of a large
box or cask, then layer of meat, on
this liberal application of salt and so
on until all is packed and the top well
covered with salt.-N. 7. World.
The Finger Nails.