is by the brine process. If these hams had been pumped before packing
them in the salt, there would not have been so much danger of shank
sour. Hams being very thick, it takes a long time for the salt to
draw through them; therefore, if they are first pumped and packed in
dry salt, you can readily see that the salt draws through quicker and
thus gives them a chance to cure from the inside as quickly as they
would cure from the outside. Only under one condition can you pump
these hams, make them sweet and save them. For instance, if the hams
are taken from the salt and upon trying them with a ham trier they
are found to be sweet but turn sour when they are placed in the smoke
house, then you can save them. Such a condition would show that the
hams are not fully cured around the bone and around the shank joints.
In that event, they can be pumped with pickle and fully cured around
the bone so that they will not sour when placed in the smoke house. It
is necessary to explain that meat is frequently perfectly sweet when
it comes out of cure, but it is not fully cured. In such a condition
when it is placed in a warm smoke house, it will sour in the smoke
house. This, of course, can be avoided by fully curing the hams. If, on
the other hand, the hams are already sour and tainted when they come
out of the cure, whether it be dry salt or sweet pickle, then nothing
can be done with them to make them sweet. Meat once spoiled, remains
spoiled. If the hams are sour when they come out of the cure, but sour
only in the shank, then the proper thing to do is to cut off the shank;
in other words, cut off all the sour or tainted meat and use the butt
ends for boiled hams. You can boil and slice them and sell them in your
store. You must be careful to cut off all the tainted parts because
any of the tainted meat which is left will taint all the rest of the
meat when the butt is boiled. You, of course, understand that during
the process of boiling, the good meat will absorb the taint from the
bad meat. We regret that you did not write us for advice before you
began curing the hams, as we would have advised you to cure in brine.
We will send you by mail, free of charge, our book, entitled “Secrets
of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which covers every point that its
title indicates. The advice given in this book as to the handling of
meats, you will find very valuable and covers the whole ground, from
the condition of the animal before killing to the handling of the meat
through the chill room and through the entire curing process. We call
your special attention to the various articles for curing meats, which
will give you the temperature for curing, how to overhaul the meat, how
to pump the meat and how to make the brine for pumping. Full directions
for curing the hams you will find carefully indexed. By following the
advice given in these pages, you will have no loss from the souring of
meats, but on the contrary, will be enabled to turn out meat of the
highest quality possible.
BUILDING A COOLER.
_Query.--W. G. H. writes: I have about completed a cooler except the
floor and am undecided whether to make it of plank or cement. I thought
you could give me the desired advice. One room is 16 feet square
inside; 7 feet to joist with 7 feet of solid ice above, or about 50
tons capacity. The walls are 2 feet thick; 8 inches sawdust, 4 inches
dead air space, 8 inches sawdust, with four thicknesses of one-inch
boards, thus making the 2 feet. The building has these walls on all
sides and partitions. I expect to use the drip from the above to
cool another room, 8 feet by 16 feet inside, and will have the water
run around this room in gutters (sheet iron) fastened to the wall. I
want this as dry and as free from mould and dampness as possible and,
therefore, am not sure as to whether a cement floor will be what is
needed, though it was my intention to use cement. There is a 2-foot
stone wall under the cooler which sets on sand--this sand having been
washed up at times past by the lake. There are now fifty tons of ice
over the cooler and back of this is an ice house, 16 feet square,
inside filled with ice 14 feet high. This makes the building 20 feet
wide by 48 feet long, by 20 feet studding. For ventilation a four-inch
square flue will run from the bottom in one corner and from the top in
the opposite corner of the cooler to the top of the roof, and above
it, acting as chimneys. I want to use these coolers for fresh meats,
packing hams and bacon, storing eggs and most anything that there is
any money in, which requires to be kept in good condition. Your advice
will be appreciated._
Ans.--You are building your cooler on very good plans. However, we
would advise the use of cement for the floors. It will be found much
better than wood, much purer and cleaner, and withal much drier.
You speak about putting two ventilators in your cooler, which is
all right, but you should be sure to provide these ventilators with
slides, so you can shut them off and regulate the ventilation according
to your wishes. Of course, you understand that it is not well to
have the ventilators open all the time, as it would result in quite
a loss of ice. The ventilators should be open only when the room
needs ventilation, which will be at well-defined periods, or varying
according to the amount of material in storage. Your plan of using the
drip water of the ice and running it in pans will work all right. We
have seen this method applied, and it was always satisfactory. Be sure
to use galvanized iron gutters for the pans, not sheet iron, as it will
rust easily.
WHY BOLOGNA “TAKES WATER” IN COOKING.
_Query.--H. P. writes: “Sometimes I have bother with my bologna taking
water when cooking them. Can you tell me what to do to prevent this
trouble?”_
Ans.--The difficulty you mention is caused by the sausage not being
properly boiled. Ordinary round or long Bologna should be boiled in
water of 160 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit for about thirty to forty
minutes, and thick, large Bologna should be boiled in water of 155 to
160 degrees for from three-quarters to one hour, according to the size.
If the sausages are very large, it will take from one and one-quarter
to one and one-half hours to cook them properly. After sausage of any
kind have been cooked, they should be handled as follows: Pour boiling
water over them to wash off all the surplus grease that adheres to the
casings, and then pour cold water over them to shrink and close the
pores of the casings. This is very important and should be closely
observed by all packers and sausage makers who wish to have their
sausage look nice and keep their fresh appearance. The shrinkage and
quality of cooked Bologna depends considerably upon the temperature in
which they have been boiled. It is very necessary for every man who
cooks sausage to use a thermometer.
WHY BOLOGNA SHRIVELS.
_Query.--T. B.: Can you tell me the reason bologna shrivels when it is
taken from the hot water? It looks fine until it gets cold._
Ans.--There are several reasons why your bologna might shrivel when
taken out of the boiling water. First, it might be that you do not cure
your meat right before the bologna is made, and second, you probably
do not use the right kind of a binder, and third, you probably boil
the bologna in too hot water. If when the meat is cured properly and
you do use the right kind of a binder, the bologna shrivels when
taken out of the boiling water, it is because you are boiling it at
too high a temperature. Before making bologna you should sprinkle
=Freeze-Em-Pickle= over the meat and leave it for a few days. We refer
to our instructions for preparing bologna trimmings, which will be
found in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making.”
ADVICE ON CURING HAMS AND BACON.
_Query.--E. A. S. & Co. write: I have taken a barrel of meat, hams and
shoulders, which I cured in my ice box after your instructions, and I
wish to say that it is as fine as was ever produced by anyone. My ice
box holds well, standing at from 38 to 39 degrees, but it is small and
only has room for one barrel in it. I have made arrangements to try
packing in the house this winter. I have a closet made of brick on
both sides and by proper ventilation in cold weather so as to keep it
from 35 to 40 degrees, I think I can save hams all O. K. in tierces.
I have about ten oak tierces for the purpose. (Is that all right?) I
have an old ice box in the rear 8×8 feet with a good roof on it, walls
filled with sawdust. I would like to know if I can fill this with hams
and shoulders when the weather gets cold and just dry salt them. Can I
save them by just letting them stay there all winter until next spring?
I can put in a layer of hams and cover them with salt, then put in
another layer and cover with salt, and so on until I fill it. I would
like your opinion and advice as to these methods. I kept side meat this
way last winter just leaving it in salt._
Ans.--If you keep the temperature of the small room which you mention
at from 35 to 40 degrees it will answer the purpose for curing. The oak
tierces for curing are all right provided they are new. We advise that
you wash them out with scalding hot water, so as to get rid of the oak
taste. If the tierces are not new, then you must make doubly sure that
they are scalded out thoroughly and at the same time you should use our
Ozo for cleansing them.
The old ice-box which you mention can be used for dry salting hams
and shoulders when the weather gets cold, provided you do not let the
meat freeze. You must not let the temperature get below 35 degrees,
because at a lower temperature, meat will not take on salt. Hams can
be dry salt cured just the same as side meats, but when hams are very
thick, we would advise that you pump them. Our book, “Secrets of Meat
Curing and Sausage Making,” will give you full information as to the
pumping process and a formula for making the pumping brine. Hams are
very seldom dry salt cured; they are nearly always sweet-pickle cured.
A sweet pickle or sugar cured ham has a much finer flavor than the dry
salt cured ham.
If you pack side meat properly and overhaul it regularly until it is
fully cured, and if you keep the temperature of the curing room at
about 38 degrees, you will have no trouble in keeping dry salt meat in
salt all winter. Of course if you keep it in salt too long, it will
get very salty. Our book on curing meats will give you full directions
for dry salt curing. Hams, after they are fully cured in brine, can
be rubbed with salt and kept in a cooler for several months, and if
desired, all winter, but the shrinkage will be great and they will take
on salt and might become too salty for your trade.
WHY OIL SEPARATES FROM LARD.
_Query.--E. & W.: We are having trouble with our lard; the oil
separates from the lard during the warm weather so part of the lard is
really oil, and we cannot use it in that condition. Our business is too
small to justify us in employing a practical man to take charge of our
lard. We ask you for your advice._
Ans.--To keep the oil from separating from the lard, you should carry
out the following directions: First, you should provide yourself with a
lard cooler with an agitator attached, as the lard after it is rendered
and when it begins to cool should be agitated until it becomes thick
like cream, before it is run into the buckets. If lard is not agitated,
when it is cooled the stearin crystallizes and the oil separates from
the stearin, but by chilling the lard and by agitating it while it
cools, the stearin does not get a chance to crystallize and the oil
will not separate and the lard will keep better in this condition. Lard
that is put up in winter for summer use is much improved by adding
about ten per cent of tallow, but when this lard is sold, it should be
sold as lard with ten per cent of tallow added. If you wish to treat
the lard that you have on hand, we advise you to treat it as follows:
For every 100 lbs. of lard, put 100 lbs. of water in your lard kettle;
add to it four ounces of our Lard Purifier, and throw 100 lbs. of lard
into this water. Start the fire and gradually heat it until the lard
is melted and is as hot as it will stand without boiling over. Keep on
stirring the lard until it begins to melt, so as to thoroughly wash it.
After the lard is thoroughly washed, you will find a certain amount of
scum will come to the top, skim this off and then allow the lard to
settle for about two hours, so that all the water will separate from
the lard and settle down at the bottom. Skim the lard off the top of
the water and then let it cool, but keep on agitating it or stirring it
while it is cooling, until it is thick like cream.
COATING BOLOGNA SAUSAGE NOT NECESSARY TO PREVENT MOULD.
_Query.--E. D. writes: I would like to ask you if you have anything to
coat bologna with after making? I think it is called Gloss or Lustre;
have seen it used, but have not been able to find out where to get it._
Ans.--What you refer to is Bologna Varnish. The use of such a
preparation has been practically discontinued as it does not conform to
pure food laws; it is not proper that a varnish should be put on the
outside of food of any kind. Bologna Varnish is made from shellac, and
shellac is used in all kinds of furniture varnish, so you can readily
see that it is not the proper thing to use on Bologna. In former years,
the use of varnish was quite general, but it was finally discontinued,
and is now practically a thing of the past. If you want to prevent
your Bologna from getting mouldy, you should make them as follows:
First, cure the meat with =Freeze-Em-Pickle= as directed in our book,
“Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” and add Bull-Meat-Brand
Sausage Binder to the meat, as this absorbs the moisture. Bologna made
by the =Freeze-Em-Pickle= Process keeps fine and will not mold for a
reasonable length of time.
MAKING SOAP FROM TALLOW.
_Query.--F. B. writes: We have a little meat business and quite often
have on hand a surplus of tallow. Now we have been thinking probably
we could put this into a soap, something cheap that would not cost us
too much to put on the market. Can you kindly give us any information
in the matter, and if the idea is a practical one for a small shop like
ours?_
Ans.--It would not pay you to undertake to make a hard soap in a small
way, as it would be necessary for you to compete with other soaps on
the market, and you are aware that laundry soap sells at a very low
price and is put upon the market upon a very small margin of profit.
You would also find it quite a task to make hard soap, and the time
required would hardly justify you to undertake it on a small scale. If
you can dispose of soft soap in your locality, we would advise you to
use your surplus tallow in that way, but, of course, this suggestion
from a financial point of view would depend entirely upon whether there
is a sufficient demand for such an article in your vicinity. Possibly
you could work up a trade among private families and sell it to them
for scrubbing purposes, also to hotels, stores and restaurants, but
as your town is small, you might have difficulty in disposing of a
sufficient quantity to make it pay you. On the other hand, it would
not cost you much to make the experiment. You are surrounded by a good
hog-feeding country, and it is possible that you could dispose of quite
a quantity of soft soap to the farmers, as it is a very fine thing for
hogs, and the truth of the matter is, their hogs would be much better
off if they would feed it frequently. You might be benefited more by
this suggestion than by sales from other sources.
The following is a recipe for making soft soap with potash: To 20
pounds of clear grease or tallow take 17 pounds of pure white potash.
Buy the potash in as fine lumps as it can be procured, and place it in
the bottom of the soap barrel, which must be water-tight and strongly
hooped. Boil the grease and pour it boiling hot upon the potash; then
add two large pailfuls of boiling hot water; dissolve 1 pound of borax
in 2 quarts of boiling hot water and stir all together thoroughly. Next
morning add 2 pails of cold water and stir for half an hour; continue
this process until a barrel containing thirty-six gallons is filled
up. In a week or even less, it will be ready for use. The borax can
be turned into grease while boiling, and also 1 pound of rosin. Soap
made in this manner always comes, and is a first-rate article, and will
last twice as long as that bought at a soap factory. The grease must
be tried out, free from scraps, ham rinds, bones, or any other debris;
then the soap will be as thick as jelly, and almost as clear. To make
soft soap hard put into a kettle four pailfuls of soft soap, and stir
in it by degrees about one quart of common salt. Boil until all the
water is separated from the curd, remove the fire from the kettle and
draw off the water with a siphon (a yard or so of rubber hose will
answer); then pour the soap into a wooden form in which muslin has been
placed. For this purpose a wooden box, sufficiently large and tight,
may be employed. When the soap is firm turn out to dry, cut into bars
with a brass wire and let it harden. A little powdered rosin will
assist the soap to harden and give it a yellow color. If the soft soap
is very thin, more salt should be added.
PLANS FOR SAUSAGE FACTORY.
_Query.--O. C. L. writes: I am now in business again on my own hook, so
please send me your book on Meat Curing and Sausage Making. I will, in
the near future, equip my market with an up-to-date sausage factory. I
have the following machinery: 1 six-horse power gasoline engine, silent
cutter, Enterprise machine, 1 bone cutter, 1 steam boiler for rendering
lard, cooking sausage, etc. The room I intend to place this machinery
in is 15×25 feet; would like to hear some of your suggestions, and
plans in placing the machinery; would appreciate this very much. Has
the freezing of pork sausage any detrimental effect on the flavor of
the sausage? Accept my well wishes._
Ans.--The machinery you enumerate will give you a sausage plant that
is quite complete. We think, however, that your room is a little bit
small in which to place so much machinery. If you could put the boiler
and rendering kettle in another room, away from the sausage factory, it
would be better. You would probably be able to make such an addition
as would answer your purpose at a very small cost. This arrangement
would make it much more convenient because the boiler and the rendering
tank in your sausage factory will make it very hot. The arrangement or
disposal of the machinery will not make material difference in a room
of the size mentioned. You can arrange it most any way to best suit
your convenience.
The freezing of pork sausage certainly has a most detrimental effect
on the flavor. Freezing meat always tends, to some extent, to spoil
the flavor of the meat. When the albumen of the meat is frozen, and is
afterwards thawed out, the albumen leaves the cells of the meat and in
that way the flavor is lost and the meat becomes insipid.
PURIFYING TALLOW.
_Query.--T. W. C. writes: “I am tanking mutton and beef tallow together
at 40 pounds pressure, and would like to know the best way to use your
tallow purifier so I can use my tallow with cottonseed oil to make a
lard compound.”_
Ans.--It would not be practicable to use our Lard and Tallow Purifier
in the tank. It can be used to greatest advantage in an open jacket
kettle. You can treat the tallow in the jacket kettle after it is
rendered and comes from the steam tank.
HOW PACKERS BRAND THEIR HAMS
_Question.--W. Z. writes: How do packers brand their hams._
Answer.--Packers brand their hams with Ink made from the following
formula:
Glucose 2¼ lbs.
Lampblack ¼ to ½ lb.
Water 1½ lbs.
Grain Alcohol ½ pint
Place the Glucose and water in a dish and heat on stove until it
becomes thin. Now take the Lampblack, put it in a separate dish and add
enough of the water and Glucose so as to make a thick paste; work this
paste up until all of the lumps are dissolved. Then take the Lampblack
paste and gradually mix it into the water and Glucose until the desired
shade of color is secured. After mixing thoroughly remove from fire and
set aside to cool. When cool add the ½ pint of Grain Alcohol, mixing
thoroughly. Keep in a corked bottle or can.
Spread a small quantity of the Ink thus made over a pad which is easily
made by taking 10 thicknesses of cheese cloth and tacking them on
top of a flat board. The branding itself is done with an iron brand
containing such letters or other marking as you wish to appear on the
hams. The branding should be done before the hams are put into the
smoke house.
STARTING A BUTCHER BUSINESS
_Query.--M. E. A. writes: Will you please forward me another copy of
your desirable book, “How to Cure Meat and Make Sausage”? And if it is
not too much trouble, I would like to have you advise how it is best
to start in the butcher and pork packing business in a small way. I
have about $700 capital and wish to ask how is the best way to fit up a
retail store without too much expense and yet to have it look good, and
also to fit up a sausage kitchen and have everything that a man needs
to run the business successfully. I may as well state that I have had
lots of experience, but after reading your book and the advice that it
gives I am sure that even experienced men can learn a lot by reading
it._
Ans.--With such a limited amount of capital, it would be advisable to
buy second-handed fixtures. These can always be obtained much cheaper
than new ones, and you can get good fixtures which will answer the
purpose, but they must be neat, clean and in good repair. If you intend
to do your own butchering, our advice is that you make arrangements
with some butcher who has a slaughter house, and where you can do your
butchering, and pay him a certain amount for each animal slaughtered. A
very important point that we advise you to follow is to sell everything
for cash only, as your capital is not sufficient to give credit to
anyone. Were you to give credit and make a lot of book accounts, you
would soon run out of money and would not be able to buy large stock
and supplies for your market. We also advise that you induce your
customers to take their meat home with them, and thus relieve yourself
of the necessity of keeping a horse and wagon for delivery purposes.
This would save quite an outlay in capital, and a great deal of expense
and time. You can then announce with a small advertisement in the daily
paper that you sell for cash only, and that you can afford to be more
liberal with your customers than you could if you carried accounts, and
because you do not incur the expense of delivery. Such an advertisement
with placards in your store, no doubt, would result favorably. You
must remember at all times that your capital is limited and that you
must “trim your sails” accordingly. It is the over-reaching the limits
of the possibilities of capital that make the most failures among
tradesmen. We would not advise you to advertise meat at a cut price
because you sell for cash; people do not want stuff that is cheap, for
if you sell stuff at a low price, they imagine there is something wrong
with it. Charge the same price that all the other butchers do, and in
that way, keep their friendship. If a woman gets something that she
doesn’t like and brings it back, tell her that you are very glad she
brought it back, if it did not suit her, because you never want any of
your customers to keep anything that does not please them.
A sausage room can be rigged up very cheap; all you need to start with
is a small Enterprise grinder, so that you can grind up your trimmings
and work them into sausage, and by working the meat trimmings up into
the different formulas that we give in our book, “Secrets of Meat
Curing and Sausage Making,” you will not have any loss, as all of your
trimmings can be worked up to good advantage. You also should make a
great display of your own cured corned beef and turn out fine corned
beef, so that when your customers buy it, they are well pleased. The
main thing in the success of running a retail market is that the
butcher understands how to buy his live stock so that he gets the
right quality of beef and gets it at the right price. If you have good
meats to sell you will have no trouble in selling them, but if you have
poor goods to sell, you may sell them to a customer once or twice, but
the third time the customer will not come near you. The same thing
holds good with you; if you were buying some of your supplies from the
jobber and the jobber did not send you good goods, you may try him once
more and if he again sends you poor goods, the third time you certainly
will not buy from him, but you will go to some other jobber who will
give you the best goods for your money. Your customers are just as
smart and as sensitive as you are, and want the same kind of treatment
that you like, so if you will always treat your customers as you would
like to be treated yourself if you were buying meat at a market, you
are bound to meet with success.
CUTTING UP MEATS--NECESSARY FOR EXPERIENCE.
_Query.--J. J. writes: I have decided to go into the meat business and
would like to know if you can advise me of some booklet or pamphlet on
cutting up meat; also let me know the price of your book, and if you
know of a good firm handling butcher supplies and refrigerators._
Ans.--We judge from your inquiry that you are inexperienced in the meat
business, and if such is the case, we would advise that you go to work
for some good butcher for a while before going into the business for
yourself. You could there learn the practical side of the business, and
provided you do not now understand how to cut up meat to the greatest
profit, you could acquire knowledge upon these points which would be of
more value to you than volumes that could be written upon the subject.
We most emphatically advise you to learn the business thoroughly before
embarking into it on your own account. We take great pleasure in
sending you our booklet, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,”
which you will find of great value to you in teaching you to cure meat
and make sausage.
IMITATION FREEZE-EM PICKLE.
_Query.--L. M. writes: “M---- & ----, from whom I buy most of my
butcher supplies, handle an imitation of your Freeze-Em Pickle which
they claim is the same as your preparation. I do not want it and will
not have it. They tried to convince me that what they had is what I
want, but I have used Freeze-Em Pickle for years and, knowing from
your advertisements that there are imitations of it, I want to steer
clear of them. Will you please send me the name of a jobber handling
Freeze-Em Pickle near me?”_
Ans.--This is a clear case of an attempt for a substitution of spurious
goods for those of our manufacture. These dealers can not help knowing
that our customers want =Freeze-Em-Pickle=, and nothing else, but for
the sake of reaping an illegitimate profit, they misrepresent imitation
goods as being the same as ours. We wish to state that there is only
one =Freeze-Em-Pickle=, and all claims to the contrary are absolutely
false. They are merely the tricks of illegitimate dealers to pirate
the good reputation made by our preparations. In order to be convinced
of the superiority of =Freeze-Em-Pickle=, it is only necessary to test
it with any preparation purporting to be the same or similar to it and
selling under similar names, which are calculated to deceive.