Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-01-09
Curing Meats for the Family.

Farmers are now beginning to butcher
the hogs and the COWS or heifers to be
packed down for the winters use, and
for next summer also. Many know Just
how to pack pork or beef so that it will
keep indefinitely and still retain all its
d1gestibiiity, and many others do not.
For the benefit of the latter class the
following directions are given, derived
from over 80 years personal experience
Every one knows that salt, if applied in
sufficient quantity, will preserve fat
meats, and even those that are lean, if
the salt is brought into contact with
every fiber of the muscles or lean flesh
So Will sugar and saltpeter, and many
other substances, most of which are
poisonous when taken into the stom-
ach and therefore cannot be used for
the preservation of meats. The object
of using any of these things is to coagu-
late the album;nous portions of the
meat SO that they will not change on
exposure to the air under ordinary cir
cumstances. The fats in meat, if freed
from albumen, will keep without any
salt or other preservative, as every
farmers wife knows who has tried
out" lard and tallow The heating
given cooks the albumen. SO that even
if any should be left in the fat, it will
not putrefy or change in any way. So
| if butter is washed entirely free of but
termilk (caseine or albumenl it will
| keep, even if not sailed at all.
! In order to have meat cure well it
| must be entirely free from animal heat
| and not at all frozen, even on the sur
| face. If carcass has been frozen, it
should be carried into the cellar, or a
| warm room, and be left until thawed
out. If it is pork. the hams, shoulders,
and ribs must be taken out, and the
hams and shoulders should have a sc D.
arate pickle, as most people prefer to
have them "sugar-cured." The ribs
and neck pieces are eaten fresh, usual
| ly, although some use the neck pieces,
! jowls, and trimmings from the hams and
shoulders for sausage meat. l. the fat
pork, or sides, are to be made into ba-
con, they are simply piled up in clean
| boxes with layer of salt between each
two sides, and the top well covered with
salt After week or ten days it should
| be taken up, washed to remove any blood
| which the salt had extracted, and re-
packed with a mixture of 10 pounds of
salt. ounces of saltpeter, and ounces
of ground black pepper to each 100
pounds of meat. After four weeks
more it can be taken up, brushed fire e
from salt and smoked, or hung up to
dry in warm room without smoking,
as pre- ferred. Some prefer to pickle
bacon exactly as they do hams and
shoulders, and then smoke or dry it.
] Such bacon is sugar-cured and is very
toothsome even to people who do not
! usually like pork. It keeps well and if
| the pepper was good and the smoking
/ well done, no insects will attack it. IT
| there are no conveniences for smoking
meat on the premises, procure small
quantity OF pyroligneous acid from a
/ druggist. dilute it with an equal quantity
! of water and wash the meat in it when
/ read y to hang up. Use brush or swab ii
I the odor of smoke on the hand is not
liked. 1t will take week for this odor
to wear off the bands. Otherwise the
preparation is harmless and is no
different in effect from real smoking.
The acid is made from the burning OF