The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-12-30
MAKING BREAKFAST BACON
POINTS on killing, Sailing and Sm
Ing to Get Best Rcsults-Brinc , Il,
ter Than Dry Sailing.
The Progressive Farmer.

must assume that the hog has .,.
bred right, fed right slaugh =. - ,
right and the strips Of bacon trim
med properly. When these conditions
are met the following directions will
insure an excellent quality OF coun-
try-cured bacon:
AS soon as the hair is thoroughly
removed the bodies should be hung
up. washed with clean. cold water,
and the internal organs removed.
This should be done before gases de-
velop in the intestinal tract. After
the hogs are dressed the carcasses
should be opened as wide as possible
in front, washed again with clean
cold water and hung in the coolest
possible place until the following
morning. 1t Is not meant by this,
however, that the meat should be al
lowed to become frozen. Many good
farmers cut the bodies into rough
pieces very soon after the hog is
dressed; If the day has been warm
and the probability is that the nights
will also be warm, 1t Is usually wise
to do this, especially with large hogs
The writer has found it to be a good
practice to cut up the carcass very
early the morning following the day
on which the hogs were killed and
immerse the pieces in the brine be-
fore the warm part of the day. If
the day following bids fair to be
warm 1t becomes almost necessary
to put the meat away early the first
morning. If the weather, however,
is unusually cold the day following
the killing it is probably wise to rub
the pieces of meat with salt and let
them stand over one day before plac-
ing them in the brine or salt.
Immersc in Brine.
The process Of common dry sailing
Is we'll understood. Many farmers
have never used any other method.
Very excellent meat can he made by
this method, but as a rule the meat
becomes too dry, hard, and salty.
Better meat can be made by other
methods, and the danger of loss is re-
duced probably so per cent. Proba-
bly, the best results-Or at least the
best results ever secured by the writ.
er-are secured when the meat is i'm.
mersed In the following brir~ -r,r-
tion:
To each 100 pounds of mea
IL pounds Of &C mnion salt,
3 pounds Of brown sugar,
3 ounces Of saltpetrc,
6 gallons of water,
AS the brine must be perfectly cool
when the meat Is immersed, it should
be made the day before using. Or
dinary syrup may be used in place Of
the sugar. The above articles should
all be placed in Kettle and boiled
gently for about one hour. Any kind
or clean vessel, as an carthen jar
or wooden barrel. may be used for
holding the brine and meat; clean
syrup barrels are usually very easily
obtained. Extreme care, however.
should be exercised to obtain new
and thoroughly clean barrels; old
and tainted barrels should never lie
used.
After the pieces Of meat are neatly
trimmed into the proper shape and
size they should be laid in the barrel
with the meat side up. heavy weight
placed upon them and the brine
poured into a depth not less than two
inches above the top piece Of meat.
The brine should be examined every
few days, as it sometimes becomes
"ropy" especially during a long per-
iod Of hot weather. If the brine
shows signs of becoming "ropy" or
tainted the trouble can usually be
checked by removing the meat, drop
ping in a small amount of common
soda, and stirring we'll. If this
treatment does not Immediately COR
rect the trouble. the meat should be
taken out. each piece thoroughly
washed, and put down again in new
brine and barrels. The bacon strips
should remain in the brine "a to Sc
days.
After the meat has been i'm the
brine sufficient length of time it
should be taken out. hung in the
smokehOusc, allowed to drip two or
three days, and the smoke applied.
If the meat is to be smoked properly
and kept pure and sw net Il good, but
rot necessarily an expensive smoke.
house must he erected. a cement
iioor is almost an absolute neccs-
sity, as such Il floor can be easily and
completely cleaned, while it does not
"a ta.l l.... 4