BEEF MISCELLANY
BEEF MISCELLANEOUS -- LIVERS -- SWEETBREADS -- BEEF HEARTS -- TAILS
-- WEASAND MEAT -- BEEF TONGUES -- WASHING -- HANGING -- TRIMMING
-- CURING -- FREEZING -- SURPLUS ROUNDS -- STRIPPING BEEF HAMS --
FORMULAS FOR CURING -- SMOKING -- TESTS -- GLASS JAR BEEF -- BEEF
TRIMMINGS -- BARREL BEEF -- TRIPE -- CLEANING TRIPE -- PICKLING --
COST OF PRODUCTION.
=Beef Miscellaneous.=--The rising value of all flesh foods makes it
imperative to carefully conserve all kinds of products and this chapter
is devoted to a description of the care and handling of these products.
=Livers.=--There is no edible part of the animal which becomes stale
as quickly as the liver. The large proportion of water in its makeup
together with the presence of blood and the residual matter from its
function in the body all contribute to this rapid decay, and only by
the most careful attention will they keep a very great length of time
unless they are frozen. The vital point in handling livers successfully
is to promptly send them to a proper cooler.
As soon as they are taken from the animal they should be trimmed, care
being taken that in cutting the gall bag from the liver they are not
contaminated with gall, the trimming consisting of cutting around the
lower lobe so as to permit the blood contained therein to drip out.
The cooler in which they are stored should be of the same character
as a beef cooler with an overhead loft and a positive and good
circulation. The livers should be separated so that warm ones will not
come in contact with cold ones. The temperature of the cooler should
be about 32° F. In hanging, the cooling racks are preferably metal,
frequently cleansed by scalding and should be arranged so that livers
do not drip on those below.
At certain times of the year it is profitable to freeze them for the
winter trade. Where this is done it will be found that if they are
first properly dried and chilled, they freeze in much better condition
than if put into the freezer when they are full of moisture. They
should be frozen at a temperature as near zero Fahr. as possible, for
if frozen quickly they retain their natural color, whereas, if they are
put into a higher temperature and the freezing is delayed, they will
have a dark appearance when thawed.
=Sweetbreads.=--This is a delicate piece of meat and practically the
only one in the packing house that improves by being kept in water.
The sweetbread should be cut out before the animal is stuck, thereby
avoiding their becoming bloody and discolored. After washing and fat is
trimmed off, they should be put in ice water in the coolers and held
over night; the next day they are ready for shipment and should be
packed in cracked ice.
If they are to be frozen they should be allowed to drain properly
before placing them in the freezers. A low temperature is very
essential for the preservation of sweetbreads, in order to obtain the
best possible appearance. When frozen quickly they retain a bright
appearance when thawed. If they are frozen slowly they turn slate
color when thawed and have an undesirable and unwholesome look, which
operates against their being disposed of to advantage.
Western or range cattle, yield a very small proportion of sweetbreads,
they being undeveloped by the animal when living in their natural
state. Cattle which have been fattened in feed lots, however, yield
much larger sweetbreads.
=Beef Hearts.=--This piece of meat is generally used in sausage and
canning, largely in the former. The hearts after being taken from the
animals are trimmed and washed and should be hung in a cooler where
there is a temperature of from 33° to 36° F. After they are thoroughly
chilled they are used for sausage purposes, either fresh or cured.
=Tails.=--There is little to be said on the handling of tails, except
that they should be kept clean, for if handled carelessly and allowed
to become stained it is impossible ever to get them clean afterward,
and it is always preferable not to wash them, as this has a tendency to
discolor them when chilled. If they are to be frozen they should be put
into the freezer under a low temperature in order to have them come out
in desirable condition.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.--MECHANICAL WASHER.]
=Weasand Meat.=--This is a meat taken off the weasands. It is a low
grade of meat and is at times “tanked” rather than saved. When cured
it should be packed in tierces, and to a tierce of 400 pounds sprinkle
through thoroughly a mixture of twenty pounds of salt and one pound of
saltpetre. The goods should be held in storage at from 36° to 38° F.
during the process of curing.
=Beef Tongues.=--The tongue should receive careful attention from the
time it is taken out of the head, until it is cured. In taking the
tongue out of the head it should be left smooth on the bottom, leaving
on all fat. It should be cut close to the jaws, taking off with it all
fat possible, as it is worth much more on the tongue than if left on
the head.
_Washing._--The tongue should be thoroughly washed in warm water, say
at 80° F., as soon as taken from the head. Mechanical washers like that
shown in the accompanying illustration, Fig. 78, are frequently used
to good advantage. Immediately upon washing they should be chilled in
clean, cold water, when they are hung to drip and then sent to the
cooler.
_Hanging._--In hanging, the tongue should be suspended from a hook
at the point where the tongue was attached to the jaw bone and the
tip also fastened upon the same hook. This gives the tongue a compact
appearance, but if it is hung up by the point alone when warm, its own
weight stretches it out of shape, and it never looks as well as when
hung as described. Tongues should be hung in a temperature of from 32°
to 34° F. for forty-eight hours.
_Trimming._--Tongues are selected for trimming into short and long
cuts. In trimming, the side bones should be cut equally and the side
meats cut with a long knife and a draw movement so as to make a smooth
appearing tongue. “Long cut tongue” means that the gullet and about two
joints of the windpipe are left on. In “short cut tongue” the gullet is
entirely cut away. Long cut tongue should average not less than five
pounds in weight. The trimmings are retrimmed, the lean parts being
suitable for sausage and the fat for tank.
_Curing._--They should first be put into a plain pickle, eighty degrees
strong, at a temperature of 38° to 40° F. for twenty-four hours. This
is done to remove all the saliva from the tongue, which has the effect
of making the pickle “strong,” if the tongues are put direct into the
curing pickle.
After treatment with plain pickle they are put into a sweet pickle to
be cured, the sweet pickle consisting of 280 pounds of salt, English
salt being preferable, to which is added ten pounds of saltpetre and
twenty-four pounds of sugar to each 160 gallons of water. This should
be stirred well to insure thorough dissolving of the ingredients. The
tongues are then put into barrels, hogsheads or vats, as the case may
be, and sufficient pickle put on to submerge them. At the end of five
days they should be shifted from one package to another, and at the end
of fifteen days they should be rehandled, this being done to bring
the pickle into thorough contact with the different pieces. Tongues
should be fully cured at the end of thirty days, ready to smoke, or for
shipment. When tongues are packed in barrels, after being fully cured,
they should be packed, 202 pounds to the barrel, filling the package up
with the same pickle in which they were cured. They are then ready for
shipment. Tongues readily become excessively salty if allowed to remain
in cure too long. It is desirable to have them “off cure” about as
wanted.
_Freezing._--As there is an increased demand for tongues in the warm
months over any other part of the year, it is advantageous to hold them
frozen until the demand develops. In freezing it is necessary that
they should be put in a very low temperature and frozen quickly, as if
handled otherwise it has a tendency to give them an undesirable color
when cured. They can be thawed, cured, and smoked as required.
_Test on Freezing Beef Tongues._--The following is a test on tongues
thus handled, showing the percentage of shrinkage, freezing, curing and
smoking:
TEST ON FREEZING BEEF TONGUES.
Per
Lbs. cent.
Weight of twenty-five 5¹⁄₂-lb. beef tongues to freezer 140
In freezer one week--weight 138
---
Freezing shrinkage 2 = 1.43
Taken from freezer to leacher--weight 138
Leached twenty hours in city water--weight 144
After leaching, drained twelve hours--weight 142
---
Gain leaching from frozen to drained weight 4 = 2.90
Gain leaching from green to drained weight 2 = 1.43
After leaching--pickled--weight to pickle 142
Rubbed in salt and packed in bbls. with seventy-deg.
pickle to remain for forty-five days; overhauled in forty
days, and five days later dumped at forty-five days
weight 141
Drained eight hours--weight 139
---
Shrinkage from green to cured--drained weight 1 = 0.71
Shrinkage from leached to cured--drained weight 3 = 2.11
Weight from cellar to smoke house 139
Smoked fifteen hours--average temperature, 116°
F.--smoked weight 117
---
Shrinkage to smoked from green weight 23 = 16.43
Shrinkage to smoked from leached weight 25 = 17.60
Shrinkage to smoked from cured weight 22 = 15.82
=Surplus Beef Rounds.=--Where cattle are cut in large quantities it is
almost impossible to sell the rounds fresh, there being comparatively
small demand for round steak. It is necessary to use this particular
part of the meat in some other product, which is done by making what is
known as “beef hams.” The very light rounds, or rounds out of canning
cattle, are generally used for canning purposes, they being too light
to suit the trade for “beef hams.”
=Stripping Beef Hams.=--In preparing “beef hams” the rounds are cut by
what is known as the “packing house cut,” which leaves a piece of meat
from the rump on the round, as compared to the ordinary cut. This piece
is what is known as the “knuckle” piece of the set. Rounds cut this
way are considered regular. When rounds, cut for market purposes, are
stripped, they are known as short knuckled rounds and are not accepted
as regular.
Before the round is stripped, the fell, or covering, is skinned off,
and the seam of the knuckle followed around by the knife, cutting clear
to the bone. The round is hung on a hook and an incision made just
above the stifle joint and the knuckle piece peeled from the bone. The
round is then turned on the hook and opened to the bone, making what is
known as the “inside-and-outside piece” of the round.
In opening the round, what is known as the “kernel fat” should be
equally divided. These three pieces are what is known as regular beef
hams when packed in sets. When separated they are known as “insides,”
“outsides” and “knuckles.” These hams are cured and smoked and are sold
at retail as dried beef, the largest sale for this kind of meat being
in warm weather. The piece that is left is the shank.
=Curing.=--On the manner in which beef hams are cured depends, to a
great extent, their sale. The object in curing is to have them not too
salty, thoroughly cured through, and of a bright and attractive color
when smoked.
The hams when cut from the cattle should be either spread out or
hung up in a room held at a temperature of from 33° to 35° F., for
twenty-four hours, thereby insuring proper chilling. They are then best
cured in vats holding 1,000 pounds each; many, however, cure them in
tierces or barrels.
=Formulas for Curing Beef Hams.=--Two formulas for the pickle follow:
_First Formula._--To 1,500 gallons of 80-degree strength pickle, add
300 pounds granulated sugar, 105 pounds saltpetre. Where a smaller
amount of pickle is wanted make it proportionately. As the meat is
packed in vats, sprinkle in a little fine salt. The vat should then
be filled with above pickle, and a rack and weight put on to keep the
meat submerged. The hams should be overhauled three times, first in
ten days, again twenty-five days later and again forty days after the
second overhauling. Beef hams should be considered fully cured in from
seventy-five to eighty-five days. If cured in tierces or barrels, they
should be rolled at the same periods as in the case of overhauling in
the vats, giving the pickle a chance to thoroughly reach all parts of
the meat.
_Second Formula._--Another formula used extensively, where beef hams
are packed and cured exclusively in barrels, is as follows: Dissolve
150 pounds of saltpetre in hot, 88-degree pickle, made from Ashton or
dairy salt, a sufficient amount of pickle being used to make fifty-two
gallons when dissolved. It is necessary to heat the pickle in order to
dissolve this amount of salt. Add 450 pounds of granulated sugar and
sufficient cold 88-degree pickle to make 200 gallons of the finished
solution. This is then chilled to a temperature of 40° to 45° F. One
gallon of this solution is put into each barrel before commencing to
pack the meats.
When packing the meat in barrels, use twenty-three pounds of Ashton, or
dairy salt, sprinkling between the layers as they are put in. When the
barrel is needed, water at a temperature of 40° to 45° F., barrels to
be rolled in ten, thirty and fifty days after being packed. They should
be stored in a temperature of from 38° to 40° F. if they are to be used
in ninety days. If they are to be held for five or six months they
should be kept at a temperature of 35° to 39° F. for the first thirty
days and thereafter at a temperature of from 28° to 29° F. until used.
Meats cured with this formula will be found to have a very good color
and flavor and at the same time will not be too salty. In putting the
meat in packages, pack 215 pounds green weight per barrel.
=Smoking.=--The smoking of beef hams is treated in the chapter on the
Smoke House.
=Tests.=--The following are three smoking tests on regular beef hams,
given to illustrate yields in the finished product from a sample lot of
each cut:
REGULAR OUTSIDES FOR SHIPMENT.
Wt. Per
Packed lbs. cent.
Twenty-three tcs. dry packed 449 lbs.
each, marked weight 440 lbs. each 1,127 pcs. 10,327
Twenty-three tcs. dumped to smoke, actual
weights 1,127 pcs. 10,215
------
Pounds loss while in storage 112
Per cent loss while in storage .0128
Culls not smoked 44 pcs. 235
Actual weights to smoke 1,083 pcs. 9,980
Smoked weights 1,083 pcs. 7,099
-----
Shrinkage in smoking 2,881
Per cent shrinkage in smoking .2887
Smoked 108 hours, temperature 112° to 128° F.
REGULAR INSIDES FOR SHIPMENT.
Wt. Per
Packed lbs. cent.
Sixteen tcs. dry packed, 449 lbs. each,
marked weight 440 lbs. each 497 pcs. 7,184
Sixteen tcs. dumped to smoke, actual
weights 497 pcs. 7,027
-----
Pounds loss in storage 157
Per cent loss in storage .02119
Culls not smoked 8 pcs. 73
Actual weights to smoke 489 pcs. 6,954
Smoked weights 489 pcs. 5,351
-----
Shrinkage in smoking 1,603
Per cent shrinkage in smoking .2304
Smoked ninety-six hours, temperature 112° to 124° F.
REGULAR KNUCKLES FOR SHIPMENT.
Wt. Per
Packed lbs. cent.
Eight tcs. dry packed 408 lbs. each, marked
weight 400 lbs. each 389 pcs. 3,264
Eight tcs. dumped to smoke, actual weights 389 pcs. 3,190
-----
Pounds loss in storage 74
Per cent loss in storage .0227
Culls not smoked 1 pc. 4
Actual weights to smoke 388 pcs. 3,186
Smoked weights 388 pcs. 2,388
-----
Shrinkage in smoking 798
Per cent shrinkage in smoking .2505
Smoked ninety-four hours, temperature 112° to 128° F.
=Glass Jar Beef.=--A great deal of dried beef is put up in glass jars
under a vacuum, as well as in tin cans. Beef handled in this manner
is cured by formulas given, but in smoking it is handled somewhat
differently, being smoked less and dried more, it being necessary to
have all the pickle and moisture evaporated from the meats to insure
keeping.
After the meat has been handled as described it is generally put in
smoke houses equipped with steam coils, the heat brought up to 110°
to 120° F., and left to dry from three to four days. It then shows a
shrinkage anywhere from 35 to 42 per cent. It is necessary to dry beef
in this manner in order to make it keep satisfactorily when put in cans.
The following test will show the shrinkage of this product when smoked
in the manner described above for canning purposes:
SHRINKAGE OF SMOKED DRIED BEEF HAMS.
Wt.
Packed lbs. Pct.
Thirty-two tcs. beef hams, four months
old, weight to smoke 1,461 pcs. 12,542
Smoked weight 1,461 pcs. 7,254
------
Shrinkage in smoking 5,287
Per cent shrinkage in smoking 42.15
Smoked eleven hours; temperature 112 degrees F.; hanging in house to
dry, seventy-two hours.
=Beef Trimmings.=--In the slaughtering of live stock in large numbers
there is an accumulation of trimmings which has to be cured for the
sausage room or canning department, as the case may be. The following
formula will serve for the curing of beef, pork and sheep cheek meat
and hearts, hanging tenderloins and other meats for sausage and canning
purposes:
To 1,100 gallons of seventy-degree pickle dissolve seventy-nine pounds
saltpetre. Use this pickle for the curing of beef cheek meat, pig
snouts, pork cheek meat, sheep cheek meat, ox-lips, beef hearts, etc.
This material is usually cured in vats and should be overhauled in
five, fifteen and thirty days after being packed. If freezer space is
available it is preferable to box it in convenient sizes and to freeze
it, using it as a fresh product, when thawed.
=Barreled Beef.=--Barreled beef, graded as described, in a previous
chapter, is usually packed in barrels, using a plain pickle fully
saturated. It is cured in the packages with a pickle of the following
formula, for plate beef, rump butts, briskets, clods, and all trimmings
of a similar character:
To 1,500 gallons of 100-degree strength pickle add ninety-eight pounds
of saltpetre. It will be found necessary to dissolve the saltpetre
before putting it into the pickle. Store in a cellar at 38° F.
temperature. Repack with capping salt at time of shipment if for long
exposure.
=Tripe.=--Tripe is an article for which there is a large demand in the
eastern states, comparatively little of it being consumed in other
states, while there is not a very great foreign demand. It is made from
the stomachs of cattle and is a very wholesome and nutritious dish. It
is also being used extensively in sausage.
_Cleaning Tripe._--The stomach after being made empty is thoroughly
washed in such a manner or with such devices as to permit of removing
all manure from the inside surface. After it is thoroughly washed, put
into a kettle, or vat, scalded, the temperature of the water being
from 140° to 160° F. After a few minutes immersion the inside lining
of the stomach may be easily removed. When sufficiently scalded it is
scraped, leaving a clean, white surface. After scraping it is put into
a vat and boiled for about three hours, or until it is tender. It is
then put into cold water and chilled, the fat from the seams is removed
and the “finishing process” begins, first scraping off all the loose
fat with a sharp scraper and then removing a membrane on the outside
of the stomach, which, when worked carefully, comes off, leaving the
“tripe” perfectly clean and free of any fat, etc.,--the tripe being the
muscular part of the stomach.
_Pickling._--It should first be put into a 45-grain vinegar pickle for
ten to fifteen hours. After it has been submitted to the first pickling
it is ready to be put into barrels and the vinegar in which it was
first pickled should be strengthened with full-strength vinegar, making
it again 45-grain, when it is packed in barrels and should be held in a
temperature of from 45° to 50° F.
There is a remarkable gain in tripe if properly handled. A barrel of
tripe packed at 135 pounds, at the end of three weeks, will weigh out
200 pounds and sometimes as high as 215 pounds. The tripe absorbs
the vinegar, and it is essential in storing tripe that it be kept at
a temperature so this absorption can take place, if it is kept in
too cool a temperature it will not take up the vinegar as it should,
consequently the gain will not be found when the package is opened.
The following test will show the gain in a barrel of honey-comb and a
barrel of plain tripe, one barrel of each being packed in 45-degree
vinegar and one barrel of each in 60-degree vinegar.
TEST PACKING TRIPE HOT DIRECT FROM FINISHING TABLE.
Per
Lbs. cent.
One barrel honey-comb, 45-degree vinegar, 95 pcs. packed
weight 125
Held in cellar for two weeks and unpacked, weight 227
---
Gain 102 = 81.60
Drained over night on racks, weight 183
Loss draining from pickled weight 44 = 19.38
Gain to drained weight from packed weight 58 = 46.40
One barrel honey-comb, 60-degree pickle, ninety-three
pcs. packed, weight 125
Held in cellar for two weeks and unpacked, weight 227
---
Gain 102 = 81.60
Drained over night on racks, weight 194
Loss draining from pickled weight 33 = 14.53
Gain to drained weight from packed weight 69 = 55.20
One barrel plain, 45-degree pickle, thirty-nine pcs.
packed weight 125
Held in cellar for two weeks and unpacked, weight 193
---
Gain 68 = 54.50
Drained over night on racks, weight 182
Loss draining from pickled weight 11 = 5.70
Gain to drained weight from packed weight 57 = 45.60
One barrel plain, 60-degree pickle, thirty-eight pcs.
packed weight 125
Held in cellar two weeks and unpacked, weight 201
---
Gain 76 = 60.80
Drained on racks over night, weight 184
Loss draining, from pickled weight 17 = 8.45
Gain to drained weight from packed weight 59 = 47.20
Temperature all pickle when put on tripe 65° F. Temperature cellar,
from 50° to 52° F.
=Cost of Production.=--The expense of saving tripe is shown in the
following table illustrating the cost of 100 tripe, including packages
and vinegar:
TEST ON 100 TRIPE FINISHED.
100 regular bellies 2,053 lbs. average weight 20.53 lbs.
Honey-comb 400 lbs. average weight 4.00 lbs.
Plain 1,653 lbs. average weight 16.53 lbs.
_Debits:_
5 barrels $0.80 each = $4.00
75 gallons 45-grain vinegar .02¹⁄₂ per gallon = 1.88
100 bellies .1309 each = 13.09
Labor and expense 1.08 per cwt. finished = 7.13
------
Total $26.10
_Credits:_
Scrapings to tank 312 lbs.
Yield tallow 15 lbs. $0.0525 per lb. $0.79
Yield dry tankage 75 lbs. 14.00 per ton .53
Trimmings to tank 200 lbs.
Yield tallow 8 lbs. .0525 per lb. .42
Yield dry tankage 5 lbs. 14.00 per ton .04
Seam fat--finishing bench 83 lbs.
Yield oil 25 lbs. .1035 per lb. 2.59
Grease from cooking into
oil 75 lbs. .6850 per lb. 5.14 $ 9.51
------
Total cost $16.59
Cost per barrel, 135 lbs., $3.31 per cwt., fresh, loose, $2.51.
Green weight, 1,653 pounds; scraped, 1,333 pounds; cooked, 933
pounds; finished, 660 pounds.