The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-01-15
SAVING THE HOG CROP.
CURING MEAT ON THE FARM
The Essentials to Success Are Correct Killing
and Handling; Proper Dressing, Cur
ing and Smoking.

than a minute; this, however, is a
very great advantage as the danger
of setting" the hair is very small
indeed.
The Body Must Be Dressed Promptly.
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
develop in the intestinal tract. At
ter the hogs are dressed the car
casses should be opened as wide as
possible in front, washed again with
clean, cold water and hung in thu
coolest possible place until the fol-
lowing morning. 1t is not meant by
this, however, that the meat should
be allowed to become frozen. Many
good farmers cut the bodies into
rough pieces very soon after the hos
is dressed; if the day has been warm
and the probability is that the. night
will also be warm, it is usually wise
to do this especially with large hogs.
The writer has found it to be 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. r.
the day following bids fair to be
warm it 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 sa 1t and let
them stand over one day before plac-
ing them in the brine of salt.
The Pieces Should be Immered in 4
Brine Solution.
The process of common dry sailing
is well understood. Many farm
ers have never used any other meth
cd, 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, reduced
probably so per cent. Probably the
best results-or, at least the best
results ever secured by the writer
are secured when the meat is i'm
mersed in the following brine solu.
ton:
To each 100 pounds of meat-l2
pounds of common salt, three pounds
of brown sugar, three ounces Of salt.
petre, six gallons of water. q
Ordinary syrup may be used in
place of the sugar. The above ar
ticles should all be placed in a ket-
tie and boiled gently for about one
hour. Any kind of clean vessel, as
an earthen jar or wooden barrel,
may be used for holding the brine
and meat; clean syrup barrels are
usually very easily obtained. Ex-
treme care however, should be exer-
cised to obtain new and thoroughly
clean barrels; old and tainted barrels
should never be used. After the
pieces of meat are neatly trimmed
into the proper shape and size thes
should be laid in the barrel with tho
meat side up. heavy weight placed
upon them, and the brine poured
in to'a depth not less than two inches
above the top piece of meat. If the
brine shows signs of bacomin:5
'ropy'' or tainted the trouble can be
usually corrected by removing the
meat, dropping in small amount OF
common soda, and stirring we'll. If
this treatment does not Immediately
correct the trouble, the meat should
be washed, and put down again in
new brine 80 to 40 days: At one
time the writer kept 3S hams Of
various sizes in a brine for SO days.
The small hams were in the brine too
many days and become somewhat
too salty. Fifty-two days are not,
however, too long brine period for
the larger hams.
Smoking the Meat.
After the meat has been in the
brine a sufficient length of time it
should be taken out, hung in the
smokehouse, allowed to drip two ror
three days, and the smoke applied.
Many farmers smoke meat at ir-
regular intervals for 20 to 40 days.
but there is probably nothing gained
by prolonging the period, especially
if the smokehouse is we'll made and
the smoke is applied continuously for
a short period. If the smokehouse
will not hold the smoke, then it is
necessary to prolong the smoking
period. When the house is tight and
the fire is kept burning continuously