Another way was to make a very strong salt brine. To this brine would be
added a little sugar and saltpetre, and, after packing the meat the same
as in the other case, enough of this brine would be added to entirely
cover the meat. By not letting the brine get old, or by keeping plenty
of salt on it, the meat could be kept in this way for several months,
but would be available for use at any time.
Hams and shoulders were always smoked at the end of about two months.
When getting ready to smoke some pieces, the farmer would first soak
them twenty-four hours in clear, cold water. By tying a string through
the shank of a ham and running this string up through a hole in the
bottom of an inverted barrel, he could secure it by tying to a small
stick on the outside of the hole. Under the barrel he would build a
small fire, sometimes of corncobs, sometimes of hardwood and sawdust. It
was the task of the small boy of the family to start this fire in the
morning and maintain it all day, the idea being to keep a fire which was
not too hot but which would give off plenty of smoke.
[Illustration: TAMWORTH BOAR.[22] Bacon Type Hog.]
[Illustration: TAMWORTH SOW.[22] Bacon Type Hog.]
[Illustration: BERKSHIRE BOAR.[22]]
[Illustration: BERKSHIRE SOW.[22] Dual Purpose Hog.]
At the end of three days the meat was considered thoroughly smoked,
although some men liked it smoked much longer. After it had cooled off
from the smoking it was hung in a cool, dry place or packed in a barrel
of oats, so as to keep it from getting a damp mold and spoiling.
When a farmer had killed a hog, he would render out certain of the fats
in an iron caldron. He would take certain parts of the meat and make his
home-made sausages, but further than that, by-products were practically
unknown.
The foregoing might be considered a short synopsis of the pork-packing
industry up to the point which we will call the Modern Era.
This period had a small start back in the early days when a small dealer
would kill a few hogs, sell the sausage and lard and cure and smoke the
parts, carrying them as far into the summer months as he could, selling
them out to his trade. Various methods were resorted to in order to keep
mold and insects from spoiling the product. Perhaps the most generally
used of these methods was to sew the piece of meat in a canvas sack and
paint it with barytes. This gave them an airtight container for the meat
and enabled them to keep smoked meats all during the summer months.
The advent of refrigeration, however, really marked the beginning of the
modern packing era. When men learned the control of temperature it
became possible for slaughter houses to assume such proportions as to
warrant scientific research for the best possible methods of carrying on
the business.
The story of the development of these methods would be almost endless,
but a trip through an up-to-date packing plant of the present day will
show what time has brought about.
As the hogs come in from the farmers and shippers they are received by
the live stock department, where they are carefully sorted and graded,
and then run into holding pens, to carry over until they shall be driven
to slaughter. These pens must hold thousands of hogs, for although the
stock is held two or three days at the most before it is slaughtered, we
must remember that the more important of the packing houses kill
thousands of hogs each day, so these pens must be more or less gigantic
affairs. The more modern of them are constructed of concrete and brick,
and are a picture of cleanliness and sanitation. They are well protected
by substantially built roofs and side walls so that the animals are not
exposed to the weather at any time of the year.
Veterinarians in the employ of the government examine all the hogs that
come into these pens, and any that seem to be at all sickly, or for any
reason unfit for food, are held out.
On the killing floor a small army of men is engaged in the business of
cleaning and dressing the carcass of the hog. Each man has his
particular part of the work to do, and to this end the hogs are conveyed
around the room past the various workmen by means of an endless chain
and trolley, so that each butcher’s work is put right before him and he
does not have to make any unnecessary moves. The whole department works
like one vast machine, and each man is a very definite and necessary cog
in the whole scheme of procedure.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this department is the perfection
that they are able to reach in cleaning the carcasses. The hogs are
first run through a great machine which takes all but a few stray hairs
from them. This machine contains a number of rotating beaters and
high-pressure streams of water.
As soon as they come out of the machine, the men on the rail finish the
job of cleaning the carcass and each animal is then run through a
high-pressure washing machine so that it is absolutely clean before a
single incision is made in it.
[Illustration: REFRIGERATING MACHINERY
These great pumps are used for circulating the brine through the cooling
system of one of the great packing houses in Buenos Ayres, Argentine
_Reproduced by permission of The Philadelphia Museums._]
[Illustration: THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
Cattle from the Western plains gathered in the Union Stockyards awaiting
slaughter and subsequent shipment. The great Union Stockyards in Chicago
are the largest live-stock market in the world. Beef is slaughtered and
cleansed very much in the same manner as the pork described in “The
Story in a Sausage.”
_Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y._]
The workmen all stand on high benches, up from the floor, and under the
hogs we find troughs to keep any scraps from getting under the workmen’s
feet. The floors at all times are kept as clean as can be, and the meat
is taken away quickly so that there is no chance of contamination of the
finished product with the hogs which are just coming from the slaughter
house.
Trained men, some of them veterinarians, in the employ of the
government, make a thorough inspection of the glands and other organs of
the hog. They are so particular that even bruises must be trimmed out
before the animals are allowed to pass and go on with the bulk which are
fit for food. It is surprising to learn how many carcasses, or parts,
are condemned because of one thing or another, for the least sign of
sickness or unfitness of any kind calls forth a government “Condemned
Tag” and holds the animal out to one side to be used for fertilizer or
some other inedible purpose.
Passing through the hog chill rooms, on the way from the killing floor,
one is impressed with the great number of hogs hanging there in a
temperature near the freezing point. This temperature is maintained both
winter and summer, so that the hogs may be thoroughly chilled and the
animal heat entirely eliminated as quickly as possible after the
killing, so that there will be no chance of the meat souring or any
unwholesome condition arising.
After about forty-eight hours in these chill rooms, the hogs are run
onto the cutting floor, where they are made into the various commercial
cuts which are seen in the meat markets at home. They start out with the
whole side of a hog and work it through, until they have what the
packers call the “Commercial Cuts”--that is to say, the hams, loins,
spare ribs, the bacon sides, and so on.
The cutting room is a light, airy room with a high ceiling, and
everything in it seems a perfect example of cleanliness, and men all
work with white aprons, jackets and caps.
The next stop is in the by-products building. As the writer entered, his
guide told him the old bromide about “everything about a packing house
being saved except the squeal, and even that having been known to appear
on a phonographic record.” He thought to have some fun by asking the
guide about the smell, but the laugh was on him, for the guide showed
him how the air containing any odor was simply run through a condenser
into a great volume of water, which absorbed it. The gases which had
made the odor in the first place were then taken out in the form of
solids, simply by evaporating the water away. The big evaporators which
take care of this work are extremely interesting pieces of machinery to
see.
There is a surprisingly large amount of expensive machinery in the hair
plant. Hog hair would probably not appeal to the average person as being
a thing of particular value, but it is processed so as to make the
finished product worth as much as the meat itself.
Certain parts of the hog carcasses which would not be palatable enough
to go into human consumption are made up into stock foods. These are
sold under a guaranteed analysis. Highly-paid chemists are busy all the
time checking up the analysis of these foods, for they must contain
certain amounts of protein and crude fiber, which is said to be very
beneficial to stock in general.
Another department manufactures what is called a balanced ration,
consisting of a certain amount of grain and a certain amount of this
stock food, or “digester tankage,” as it is called. This balanced ration
is said to be the most nutritious food and the quickest fattener which
can be given to animals. It is made up as a result of protracted
experiments and much scientific research, both by state institutions and
by private individuals.
There is always a certain amount of grease which is not edible, but
which is suitable for soap stocks, and the tank products which are not
fit for food are made into commercial fertilizers, which are gotten up
under chemical formulas, and are made up particularly for different
kinds of grains, grasses, flowers and the like.
[Illustration: COLD STORAGE OF MEAT, BUENOS AYRES, ARGENTINE
Interior of one of the great South American cold storage plants. Much of
the meat consumed in Europe is shipped from this point.
_Reproduced by permission of The Philadelphia Museums._]
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Armour & Co._