The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-12-25
Curing the Products Of the Hog.

The season for curing meats for fam
lily use 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 tc
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 ought
never to be slaughtered except on a
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 or hams, shoulders and the like,
which outwardly appear in good condi-
ton.
For picked pork cut the middle
crosswise into pieces about five inches
wide, taking out the backbone 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 neces-
sary. Next apply a generous layer of
salt; follow this with layer OF meat
placed according to directions given
for the first one, and SO on until the
barrel is filed, taking care that the
last layer of meat is we'll covered with
salt. If the weather is cool The meat
may stand several days in this condi-
ton, 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 be-
fore applying the brine. Cover the
meat entirely, 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 dissolved in
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 it is possible there to decom-
pose and contaminate the contents of
the cask. To avoid trouble in this
direction, farmers-especially at the
South, where it is more liable to occur
occasionally draw off the brine and
subject it to boiling, skimming off the
impurities. When this is done great
caution should be observed that the
brine is entirely cold before again pour
ing over the meat. When barrels con-
taining 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 treat
ed. 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.