1607. To Cure Beef and Pork

1607.     To Cure Beef and Pork. To each gallon of water add l1/2 pounds salt, 1/2 pound sugar, 1/2 ounce saltpetre, and 1/2 ounce potash. Let these be boiled together until all the dirt from the sugar rises to the top and is skimmed off. Then throw it into a tub to cool, and when cold, pour it over the beef or pork, to remain the usual time, say 4 or 5 weeks. The meat must be well covered with pickle, and should not be put down for at least 2 days after killing, during which time it should be slightly sprinkled with powdered saltpetre, which removes all the surface blood, etc., leaving the meat fresh and clean. Some omit boiling the pickle, and find it to answer well, though the operation of boiling purifies the pickle by throwing off the dirt always to be found in salt and sugar. Ham cured in this manner may be smoked as usual, and will be found excellent. This receipt has been tried with complete satisfaction.

1608. Brine or Pickle for Pork, etc.

1608.    Brine or Pickle for Pork, etc.. Brown sugar, bay salt, common salt, of each 2 pounds; saltpetre, 1/2 pound; water, 1 gallon. Boil gently and remove the scum. Another meat pickle is made with 12 pounds salt, 2 pounds sugar or molasses, 1/2 pound nitre, and sufficient water to dissolve it. To cure hams, mix 5 ounces nitre with 8 ounces coarse sugar; rub it on the ham, and in 24 hours rub in 2 pounds salt, and in two weeks 2 pounds more. The above is for a ham of 20 pounds; it should lie in the salt a month or 5 weeks.

1609. Liebig's Extract of Meat

1609.    Liebig's Extract of Meat. Cut the lean of fresh-killed meat very small, put it into 8 times its weight of cold water, and heat it gradually to the boiling point. When it has boiled for a few minutes, strain it through a cloth, and evaporate the liquor gently by water-bath to a soft mass. 2 pounds meat yield 1 ounce extract. Fat must be carefully excluded, or it will not keep.

1610. To Preserve Meat with Vinegar

1610.    To Preserve Meat with Vinegar. This may be done either by washing the meat, drying and laying in strong vinegar; or by being boiled in the vinegar, leaving it in the vinegar until cold, and then set aside in a cool cellar, where it will keep sound for several months.

1611. To Can Meat

1611.     To Can Meat. Remove the bones from fresh meat, parboil the flesh, put it into a clean tin can, and fill up with rich seasoned soup; solder on the lid, pierced with a very small hole. Next put the tin into a bath of brine and heat until the steam issues from the hole; then solder up and at the same time remove the can from the bath. In a short time the pressure of the air will induce a slight concavity of the top and bottom of the can. If the process has been successfully performed, this concavity will be permanent; but if, at any future time, the concavity has ceased, or the ends become slightly convex, it is a sure sign that the meat has become putrid. The system of canning has been in later years applied to preserving fresh fruits and vegetables, and is done on substantially the same principles, namely, filling the can with steam, and hermetically sealing before the steam condenses. (See No. 1634 (To Can Fresh Fruit).)