_Query.--M. P. M. writes: “I am having trouble with my hams souring in
the smokehouse. They seem to get too much smoke. What can you suggest
that will help me to avoid this trouble and to keep my hams sweet?”_
Ans.--You are mistaken in supposing that your hams sour from getting
too much smoke; that is not the trouble. Hams will not sour from such
cause. Your trouble is owing entirely to the fact that the hams are not
properly and fully cured before going into the smoke house. Smoke aids
to preserve hams and will not cause them to sour. They sour because the
portion that has not been thoroughly cured, which is generally close
to the bone, has not been reached by the brine. In many cases souring
comes from imperfect chilling of meat before putting it into the brine;
then again you may not have overhauled the meat at the proper time and
with the frequency which good curing requires. In the first place,
the hog should not be killed when overheated or excited. Second, after
they have been scalded and scraped, they must be dressed as quickly
as possible, washed out thoroughly with clean water, then split and
allowed to hang in a well ventilated room until partly cooled off.
They should then be run into a cooler or chilling room as quickly as
possible, where the temperature should be reduced to 32 to 34 degrees
Fahrenheit. They should be allowed to thus chill for 24 hours for
medium size hogs. When hogs are properly chilled, the temperature of
the inside of the ham or shoulder will not be more than one to one and
one-half degrees higher than the cooler. Those without ice machinery
for curing, who are using common ice houses, can employ the crushed
ice method for chilling the meat. By this is meant to put the meat on
the floor and throw cracked ice over it, and thus allow it to remain
over night. After being thoroughly chilled, the hams must undergo the
various processes which you will find set forth in our book, “Secrets
of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which we take pleasure in sending
to you free of charge. If you will follow the directions contained in
this book you will never have trouble with soured hams from imperfect
curing or other causes.
CLEANING CASINGS.
_Query.--S. & H. write: “I would like to know if you have any
preparations for cleaning casings. We clean all the casings we get and
would like to get some chemicals to take the tallow and lard off of
them.”_
Ans.--There is no preparation that will free the lard from casings. If
you use something that is strong enough to take off the fat, it will
eat up the casings as well. The only thing practicable that can be done
is to wash the casings thoroughly and change the water a number of
times. In the last washing water it would be advisable to put in some
washing soda as that will soften the water and assist in cleaning the
casings. The fat you will have to remove by hand. There are machines
made for removing the fat from casings, but it will not pay you to go
to the expense of making such a purchase unless you clean a very large
amount of casings per day.
CAUSE OF “RUSTY” MEAT.
_Query.--R. J. B. writes: “We keep our meat in an ice box 35 degrees
cold and the barrels we used in curing it were galvanized, and we have
used them for five years. We use the regular pickling salt. Our meat
comes out rusty. What can you suggest?”_
Ans.--If your cooler is kept at 35 degrees, you must have an ice
machine instead of the regular ice box or cooler, and 35 degrees is
too cold for curing purposes. An even temperature of 38 degrees is the
proper one for curing meat, and all packers who use ice machines should
endeavor to keep their coolers at a temperature not varying from 37 to
39 degrees, and they never should be allowed to get above 40 degrees.
Meat will not cure in any brine or take on enough salt when dry salted
if stored in a room that is below 36 degrees. If meat is packed even in
the strongest kind of brine and put into a cooler which is kept at 32
to 33 degrees and thus left at this degree of cold for three months,
it will come out of the brine only partly cured; it will, therefore,
only keep for a short time and will start to decompose when taken into
a higher temperature. If you have used galvanized iron tanks for five
years, it is possible that the zinc or the galvanizing is worn off on
the inside of the vats so as to expose the iron. Brine will rapidly
rust iron and that will cause your meat to become rusty. Galvanized
iron tanks for curing are all right until the galvanizing is worn off
and the moment this happens, the tanks are useless for curing purposes.
Salt that is rusted or salt that is shoveled with a rusty shovel will
also cause rusty meat. It is absolutely necessary that the salt be
pure and free from rust. If live stock is driven for some distance and
slaughtered while it is overheated, the meat will not cure properly
and will also turn out rusty. Stock that has been driven should always
be allowed to remain in the pens over night. We send you our book,
“Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which you will find full
of valuable information in reference to curing of meat. If you will
follow the directions contained therein closely, you will always have
good results.
SALT FOR BRINE--BOILING BRINE--ROPY BRINE.
_Query.--W. M. writes: “Is common barrel salt or rock salt the best and
cheapest to use for making brine? I have been using rock salt and I
think it is sweet, but in using rock salt I have to boil it in order to
dissolve the salt. Is it necessary to boil the water if it is pure? I
am having trouble with my brine. It becomes jelly-like in summer and in
winter. What is the cause of this?”_
Ans.--Evaporated salt, or what is known as the ordinary barrel salt of
a good quality, is generally approved by butchers for making brine.
Rock salt is much used by the large packers, as it is a stronger salt,
but their facilities for curing meat are altogether different from
those of the butcher and the ordinary curer.
It is not necessary to boil the water for brine if you know it to be
perfectly pure. If its purity is doubted, it should always be boiled
and the impurities which rise to the top should be thoroughly skimmed
off, or if they precipitate the water should be carefully drawn off.
When brine becomes jelly-like, you mean that it gets ropy. This
condition is owing to a great many causes; sometimes it is due to the
sugar which may be of low grade or unrefined, or where molasses and
syrup are used, it quite often results. The best grade of granulated
sugar should always be used for brine. Sometimes the ropiness of brine
is due to the packages in which the meat is cured. This is especially
true when syrup barrels are used. One of the most common causes of
ropy brine is owing to the fact that the meat is cured in too warm a
temperature. If the curing temperature is kept from 38 to 40 degrees,
the brine will remain thin and not get ropy, but there is always risk
in a temperature higher than we have given. If the meat has not been
properly chilled before putting it in pickle, ropiness will also
result. Great care should always be given to meat before putting it in
the brine, as it will become soft and spongy if not chilled through
to the bone. When in this condition it becomes pickle-soaked and
contaminates the brine.
PACKING EGGS.
_Query.--D. B. writes: “I have been using your goods for some time back
and they give the best of satisfaction. Can you give me a good recipe
for packing eggs?”_
Ans.--You will find the following very efficient for preserving eggs:
To each pailful of water add two pints of fresh slaked lime, one pint
of salt and one ounce of White Berliner Konservirungs-Salze; mix well
and then fill a barrel half full of this fluid, put the eggs into it
and they will keep for a long time. The eggs, of course, should be
stored in a cool room. A cool cellar will answer, but the temperature
should never be allowed to get too low--never lower than 38 degrees.
HOW TO TEST VINEGAR.
_Query.--G. G. writes: “Do you sell a thermometer or gauge for testing
vinegar? How am I to know the degree of strength of the vinegar without
a gauge?”_
Ans.--Vinegar is tested with a special apparatus called a Twitchel
Tester. Unless you use large quantities of vinegar, it would hardly
pay you to go to the expense of buying such an apparatus as they are
rather expensive and cost about $15 each. If you buy the vinegar
by the barrel from the wholesale grocers and specify the degree of
strength, they will give you the article desired. If you have any
doubts as to the purity of vinegar there are various ways to test its
purity. The adulterant of vinegar is sulphuric acid, which increases
its indicated strength. Sulphuric acid can be detected by placing some
of the vinegar to be tested in a saucer. Put some white sugar in the
vinegar and evaporate to dryness by placing the saucer on top of a
boiling water kettle. After the water has evaporated if the sugar turns
black, the vinegar contains an adulterating acid. In lieu of a saucer,
a teacup can be used in which the vinegar and sugar can be placed.
The cup can then be placed in a basin of hot water in which it can be
allowed to float until the vinegar in the cup is evaporated. If the
vinegar contains free sulphuric acid the dry sugar will be found to be
blackened. These are simple methods and are claimed to be more accurate
as a test than the use of the Barium Chloride Test. The Barium
Chloride Test is as follows: Mix one ounce of Chloride of Barium with
ten ounces of water. A little of this mixture dropped in vinegar will
quickly test its purity. If the vinegar contains sulphuric acid, this
mixture will make it turn flaky at once, but if it remains clear and
shows no change, the vinegar is free from sulphuric acid adulteration.
Sulphuric acid makes vinegar show a very high test when, as a matter of
fact, it is of very poor real vinegar strength.
SEPARATING WATER FROM LARD.
_Query.--C. W. writes: “I have my lard in such a shape that I don’t
know what to do with it. It seems that the water will not separate from
the lard and the mixture stays about the thickness of cream and about
as white. Can you give me any instructions or advice?”_
Ans.--To overcome your difficulty, we would advise you to remelt the
lard and heat it quite hot, even up to 190 to 200 degrees, but do
not let it come to a boil. Then let the lard settle. The water and
impurities will settle to the bottom. The lard will rise to the top. If
you heat the lard to the boiling point of water, that is, 212 degrees,
it would do no harm except that the lard will then foam and you will
have to be careful so that it does not foam over the top of the kettle.
When it foams, it will bring the impurities to the surface, besides
much of the moisture will evaporate. Either of these methods will
remove your difficulty. You can dry the lard by heating it sufficiently
or you can melt the lard and have it hot enough so that the water
will settle to the bottom. After the lard is melted, dip it from the
kettle, or if you have a lard cooler, run it into the lard cooler;
be careful, though, that all water which may be at the bottom of the
kettle is drawn off first if your intend to run the lard into a lard
cooler. You will have to get rid of the water that is in the lard, so
do not stir the lard while the water is still in the kettle. If you dip
the lard out of the top of the kettle and place it in a lard tierce,
when the lard begins to cool, you can stir it and keep on stirring it
until it is thick like cream; it should then be run into buckets. You
can readily understand that if there is a large per cent of water in
the lard, it will keep the lard soft, which is the trouble you are now
having.
COLORING SAUSAGE MEAT ARTIFICIALLY IS ILLEGAL.
_Query.--J. R. B.: Will you send me a guarantee that your Rosaline
for coloring sausage, etc., will stand the Pure Food Law? Also state
particulars of Potato Flour, and whether it is guaranteed or not to
be pure. I want to use the goods, and the house I deal with won’t
guarantee them to me._
Ans.--In reply to your inquiry we beg to say that Rosaline for coloring
bologna or other sausage would not be legal under your state law.
However, you can produce even a better sausage, both in appearance and
taste, by using =Freeze-Em-Pickle= according to the directions given
in the enclosed circular, “A New Way to Make Bologna and Frankfort
Sausage.” =Freeze-Em-Pickle= is legal in your state as well as all
other states, as it does not contain any ingredient that has been ruled
against under any of the food laws. We would urge you to adopt this
method of making your sausage, not only because it complies with your
law, but because you will make better sausage and will save yourself
from loss of the meat juices which would be lost if you made your
sausage in the old way. As regards potato flour, we do not handle
this product and are not interested in it. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage
Binder, our guaranteed binder, is far superior to potato flour for
this purpose, and it is legal in your state if used in the proportion
of not to exceed 5 per cent, which will bind your sausage very nicely,
and be greatly to your advantage. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder is
a pure and wholesome article of food in itself; it tends to absorb
the juices and fats and helps retain them in the sausage when it is
cooked, thus making a more palatable and pleasing sausage than where
no binder is used. Whenever a sausage in which a binder has been used
is shipped out of the state, it is necessary to label the container
to show that a binder was used, in order to comply with the National
Meat Inspection Law, which controls the interstate shipment of all meat
food products. =Freeze-Em-Pickle= and Bull-Meat Sausage Binder are
guaranteed by us under the Pure Food Laws, and every package of these
preparations leaving our factory, carry a label to this effect. Unless
these preparations comply with the Pure Food Law, we could not afford
to put our guarantee on the package. You will find =Freeze-Em-Pickle=
a very valuable aid to you for other purposes than for making your
Bologna, Frankfort and other sausage. By its use you can make very fine
hams, breakfast bacon, shoulders, corned beef, etc. If there are any
other questions you would like to ask, we shall be pleased to have you
write us, and we hope you will order a case of =Freeze-Em-Pickle= and
a barrel of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, as their use will quickly
convince you that you can not afford to do business without them.
WHITENING AND PURIFYING TALLOW.
_Query.--Messrs. S. B. write: “We render our tallow and other slaughter
house offal all together in the regular tanks, and we would like to
inquire whether you have anything that will whiten it after it is
rendered.”_
Ans.--You can treat the tallow and whiten and purify it after you have
rendered it in the regular manner in your tank if you are willing to
go to the additional labor of treating it in your open jacket kettle.
The proper way to do is to fill your open jacket kettle or caldron,
whichever you may use, about one-third full of hot water; dissolve in
this a one-pound package of our Lard and Tallow Purifier, then on top
of this put the tallow after you have rendered it. It will make no
difference whether the tallow is hot or whether it is cold. Get the
water boiling hot; stir the water and the tallow frequently, about two
minutes each time. This stirring should be at intervals of about five
minutes for from fifteen to twenty minutes; then turn off the heat and
permit the tallow to settle; next skim off the tallow from the top.
More tallow can be treated in the same solution in the same manner; in
fact, you can use the same solution in the jacket kettle two or three
times. It should then be renewed with a fresh solution because the
water will become impure, as the impurities of the tallow remain in the
water and contaminate it; while in this condition the Tallow and Lard
Purifier will exhaust its strength. Of course, more Lard and Tallow
Purifier could be added to the same solution, but it is advisable to
change the water occasionally as it will aid materially in purifying
the tallow.
MEAT MOULDING IN A COOLER.
_Query.--M. & S. Co.: Please forward to us one of your brine tester
hydrometers. Ought fresh beef to mould in a cooler where the
temperature is 36 degrees, after being in there ten to fourteen days?
We have lost meat this way in a cooler with three coats of white lead
throughout and the temperature maintained by ice. Not only has meat
moulded, but it has had a pine taste._
Ans.--As requested, we have sent you a hydrometer by express. You wish
to know if fresh beef stored in a cooler ten or twelve days should
begin to become mouldy. You say that your cooler is cooled by ice and
that its temperature is 36 degrees. We are inclined to believe that
your thermometer is not accurate. It would be very difficult to get the
temperature of a cooler down to 36 degrees with ice. If an ice box is
kept closed from Saturday night until Monday morning the temperature
runs down to 36 or 37 degrees, but where it is in constant use, and
opened from time to time throughout the day it is almost impossible
to reduce the temperature to 36 degrees, unless the cooler is a very
small one and a large amount of ice is packed in the ice chamber above.
Try another thermometer. It is important to have one that is right. Do
not buy a cheap thermometer for a cold storage tester. If your cooler
is constructed properly it should be perfectly dry and all the drip
water drained without entering the storage chambers. A cooler, even
when cooled with ice, should be so dry on the inside that a match might
be struck on the sides. If the cooler is moist, there is no need to
search further for the cause of your meat moulding. If the cooler is
perfectly dry then the beef will keep about two weeks without moulding,
then it is liable to mould slightly, but not enough to do any harm.
It is frequently stored three weeks before it is consumed, and when
kept that long it is tender and juicy--in other words, it is “ripe.”
You say that your meat tastes of pine. You did not state whether or
not your cooler was a new one or not. If it is a new one and has been
properly constructed it should not give meat a taste; if it has been
made from boards not thoroughly dry it will cause meat to taste of pine
and it might even be responsible for some mould. Then again the walls
may have been stuffed with green pine sawdust, and this will cause
trouble. It may be that your cooler is a home-made one, not properly
constructed; perhaps the circulation is not right. You merely state
that the meat moulds and tastes of pine, whereas you should have given
full details. If you will send us a drawing of your cooler and full
details we will be able to give you the cause of your trouble and the
remedy as well.
CAUSE OF FAILURE IN CURING BACON.
_Query.--T. K. writes: “We have been having trouble with our bacon. We
put it down in second-hand lard tierces which we got from the large
bakers here. We thoroughly cleansed them with boiling water before
using them, and have been careful to weigh everything and measure the
water we made the brine out of. We used brown sugar, the same as we
have always used previous to this time. Our bacon was thoroughly cooled
out before it was salted, and was never frozen. After being put in
the pickle, we let it stand in the back part of the shop, where the
temperature was often below freezing, but never cold enough to freeze
the meat in the brine. We repacked it by moving from one tierce to
another, always putting the same brine on the meat. We usually let our
bacon in the brine for six weeks, unless it is very heavy, then we let
it in a longer time. We usually keep four tierces full, and by moving
from one to another always have the last one ready to take out and
smoke. We used just the common barrel salt and have always had good
results until now; in fact, this time the meat is perfectly sweet, but
the fat of it is very dark colored, while heretofore it has always been
nice and white. We do all our own killing. If you can tell us what we
have done wrong, we would like to know, as we are always trying to
improve whenever we can.”_
Ans.--You have been very fortunate indeed to have escaped trouble if
you have always cured your bacon as you explain. There are many things
which you have done while curing which are likely to cause you serious
trouble, and which should never be done in the future. You are lucky
that some of the meat did not spoil completely. It is never advisable
to use lard tierces for curing, as the lard is run into the tierces
while hot, and the fat naturally soaks into the wood. This fat in time
becomes rancid, and is likely to contaminate the brine and also the
meat, even though you scald out the tierces, you do not get the grease
out of the pores of the wood. It is always best and safest to use new
tierces for curing purposes; in fact, there is great risk in using
anything else. You should never use brown sugar for sweet pickle, but
the very best grade of granulated sugar. Brown sugar is always more
likely to contain foreign substances detrimental to the brine, and in
most cases causes the brine to turn ropy, sometimes even causing it to
ferment. The purest of sugar should always be used for sweet pickle.
You have deviated from one of the greatest essentials to successful
curing by not observing the most important of all requirements and that
is an even temperature of about 38 degrees during the entire period of
curing. You state that your meat was sometimes in a temperature below
freezing point, but never cold enough to freeze the meat in the brine.
Such a degree of temperature is enough to ruin your meat, as the curing
room should never be allowed to go below 36 degrees. The moment you get
the temperature below 36 degrees, the meat ceases to take on salt and
will not cure; besides, it is likely to spoil in the brine. It is all
right to cure heavy Breakfast Bacon six weeks, but bacon from light or
small hogs will cure perfectly in twenty to twenty-five days. The meat,
however, at a temperature below freezing point would not cure in six
weeks or even in a much longer time. We, of course, understand that
the temperature in your curing room was not always below the freezing
point, but it should never be that cold.
We are going to send you free of charge our book, “Secrets of Meat
Curing and Sausage Making,” and we will ask you to read carefully all
we have to say on “General Hints for Curing Meats,” which covers the
entire process, including chilling, overhauling, pumping, packing,
temperature, etc. You will also note that we advise against the use of
molasses and syrup barrels, as they are liable to cause ropiness of
the brine. Also note what we have to say in regard to the handling of
meat in curing, the chilling room, the condition of the meat, and the
proper time to slaughter. If you will read carefully all we have to say
in reference to curing in this book and will follow our methods and
instructions, you cannot fail to turn out the finest kind of mild cured
sweet pickled meat, having a most delicious flavor and a beautiful
appearance. We ask you to make the trial and report results.
HOW TO TREAT PORK WHICH IS TOO SALTY.
_Query.--F. B. writes: “We have about twenty barrels of pork that have
become very salty in the brine. What would you do and how can we get
the brine out?”_