Meat Curing Plus Sausage Making Information Part 6

MEAT CURING SAUSAGE MAKING Q&A (b)

Q&A Part b: Advice to assist packers, butchers, and sausage makers with Meat Curing and Sausage Making Advice.

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.

Answer.—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.”

Answer.—It would not be practicable to use our Lard and Tallow Purifier in the tank. It can be used to the 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:

Place the Glucose and water in a dish and heat on the 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 cheesecloth 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 smokehouse.

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.

Answer.—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 that 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 slaughterhouse, and where you can 223 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 livestock 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.

Answer.—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?”

Answer.—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.

SOURING OF HAM IN SMOKE HOUSE

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?”

Answer.—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 smokehouse. 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 226 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 overnight. 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.”

Answer.—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 icebox 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?”

Answer.—If your cooler is kept at 35 degrees, you must have an ice machine instead of the regular icebox 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.

The 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 livestock 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 overnight. We send you our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which you will find full of valuable information in reference to the 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?”

Answer.—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?”

Answer.—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?”

Answer.—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?”

Answer.—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 percentage 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.

Answer.—In reply to your inquiry we beg to say that Rosaline for coloring bologna or another 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 percent, 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 sausages. 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. writes: “We render our tallow and other slaughterhouse 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.”

Answer.—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 mold 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 molded, but it has had a pine taste.

Answer.—As requested, we have sent you a hydrometer by express. You wish to know if fresh beef stored in a cooler for ten or twelve days should begin to become moldy. 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 icebox 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 molding.

If the cooler is perfectly dry then the beef will keep about two weeks without molding, then it is liable to mold 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 like 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 the meat a taste; if it has been made from boards not thoroughly dry it will cause the meat to taste of pine and it might even be responsible for some mold. Then again the walls 234 may have been stuffed with green pine sawdust, and this will cause trouble.

It may be that your cooler is a homemade one, not properly constructed; perhaps the circulation is not right. You merely state that the meat molds 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 previously 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.”

Answer.—You have been very fortunate indeed to have escaped trouble if you have always cured your bacon as you explain. There are many things that 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 235 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 for 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?”

Answer.—Salt pork is usually put down in very strong brine, therefore it is perfectly proper that pickled pork should be very salty. If it is desired to store the pork for a long time, it should be left in the strong brine, and in order to freshen it so that it will not be so salty, the pork should be washed in fresh water. It is best to handle one barrel at a time as it is to be sold or used in the market.

The water in which the pork is soaked should be as cold as possible; in fact, it would do no harm to put a little ice in it. By allowing the pickled pork to soak in the fresh water, a great deal of the salt will be drawn from the meat. The meat should be soaked twenty-four hours altogether, and during the daytime, the water should be changed every six hours.

After the meat has been soaked, it can be placed in a mild brine, which should not be over 40 degrees strength, but if the meat can be disposed of in a few days, it is not necessary to keep it in the brine at all. It will be sufficient to place it on a shelf in the icebox; at the end of three or four days, it might be necessary to wash it off with fresh water.

IMITATION BULL-MEAT-BRAND SAUSAGE BINDER

QUERY.—G. H. F. writes: We recently ordered from a jobber 50 lbs. of Freeze-Em Pickle and 100 lbs. of Bull-Meat Sausage Binder. The Freeze-Em Pickle was not shipped but we received a barrel of what is claimed to be Bull-Meat Sausage Binder. We notice that the Bull-Meat Sausage Binder is not put up in the regular way. It is in a plain keg without any of your labels upon it. We are suspicious about its genuineness. Do you ever ship Bull-Meat Sausage Binder in this way? As yet we have not opened the package to test it.

Answer.—You can rest assured that you have not received our goods and you should return them at once. We never pack goods of ours of any description except in our well-known packages with labels on the outside and circulars inside. We never sell Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder in any other manner than in red drums, which are familiar to you and the trade generally. These drums vary only in size, otherwise, they are identical in every particular.

They have our large label on the head and our long label on the side, just as you see them illustrated in the cuts which you will find in our circulars and advertisements. You have received some substituted article which the shipper has sought to impose upon you with the hope that you would not question its genuineness. We leave to your own ideas of fairness as to just how such a firm should be regarded.

Our goods are the first and genuine of their kind and have won great prestige among butchers all over the United States. Unscrupulous parties in trade seek to reap some advantage from our great reputation by substituting worthless preparations upon which they make a big profit.

You should always be careful in ordering your goods to specify the article wanted and insist that the name of B. Heller & Co. shall be upon the package and that you will accept no other. Upon receiving the goods, you should always inspect the labels and see that they are ours. Do not be misled by similar names or packages resembling ours.

COMPLYING WITH FOOD LAWS IN CURING MEATS

Query.—F. K. writes: “We should like to have you inform us what we can use in our state for curing meat and at the same time keep within the restrictions of the law. They have prosecuted butchers all over the state of Pennsylvania for using preservatives of some kind, and it leaves everyone in the meat business at a loss to know what to do. We can’t keep meat or cure it without using preservatives of some kind. What would you advise us to do?”

Answer.—We manufacture a preparation known as Freeze-Em-Pickle, which can be used for curing purposes and fully keep within the requirements of all food laws, both state and national, as well as laws of foreign countries. This article can be used in all kinds of sausage, fresh or dried.

We guarantee that the use of this article will not in any manner conflict with the pure food laws of your state, and you are perfectly safe in using it. Its uses are so various that it would be impossible for us to give full directions for using it within the limits of these columns, but we take pleasure in sending you a booklet which will give you all necessary instructions and much other valuable information.

KEEPING CURED MEATS IN CELLARS DURING SUMMER

Query.—We have not enough cooler room to cure meat during the summertime, and we want to know if there is any way we can keep cured meat in our cellar during June weather without it becoming too salty.

Answer.—Even if you cure the meat in the winter and keep the cooler at a proper temperature and then leave the meat in the brine during the summer, the brine will turn sour, or become ropy, or thick, and will spoil the meat. To store meat in brine, it is absolutely necessary to keep it at a very low temperature. In fact, it is necessary to have an ice machine to keep the temperature in the cooler or storage room as low as 30 degrees. You could get it as low as 28 degrees.

The meat would not freeze, but by having the temperature so low, the meat would not take on any more salt. You seem to be of the opinion that if the pickle on the meat were reduced you could keep the meat in the brine and keep it in a warm temperature. That would be impossible. Of course, having the brine weaker, it would not cause the meat to become so salty, but nevertheless, the brine would spoil, and it would then spoil the meat.

To store meat in brine it is absolutely necessary to have the proper facilities and that means an ice machine. Our advice is that you cure enough meat during the winter according to the Freeze-Em-Pickle process to carry you until the middle or end of May, and then about the first of May begin curing some more meat in your regular cooler where the temperature is low enough so that the meat will cure properly.

STRONG LARD FROM BOARS

Query.—J. A. S. writes: “I have rendered 100 lbs. of lard made as follows: 75 lbs. from fat barrows, 25 lbs. from fat boars. I find that the lard is strong. Can you give me the cause of it?”

Answer.—The odor from boar fat is so strong that such fat should not be used in first-grade lard. Boar fat will only make a second grade of lard. We advise that you always keep it separate and sell it at a discount as a second grade of lard to bakers. The strong boar odor cannot be removed from the lard and the only thing that can be done is to whiten and purify it. In future render your barrow fat and boar fat separately.

TO MAKE HEAD CHEESE AND NEW ENGLAND STYLE HAM SOLID

Answer.—To make Head Cheese sticky and solid without putting hog rinds in it, use Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, putting from ten to twelve pounds of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder into 100 pounds of meat. The quantity used must be governed by the percentage proportion amount allowed by your State Pure Food Law. This will make a firm, solid Head Cheese, filling all the holes with a jelly-like mass. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder is an excellent binder for Head Cheese and other sausage products.

If you desire your New England Style Ham to be more sticky, you must take your pork trimmings and cut them about the size of an egg and mix with every 100 pounds of meat 1 pound of our Freeze-Em-Pickle, but do not put any salt with them whatsoever. Let the meat stand in the cooler for a week and you will find that the juices in the meat will have been thickened like glue and be sticky. Then take the meat out of the cooler; add 1½ pounds of salt to 100 lbs. of meat and season with Zanzibar-Brand Seasoning.

Take a small quantity of this meat and grind it very fine and then mix the fine with the coarse pieces and stuff it. Cook it very carefully with slow heat, then put it in the cooler in a press or put boards on it and press it down with stones. Your New England Style Pressed Ham is then finished. Of course, you can use some Zanzibar-Carbon to color the casings. See directions for momentary dipping.

• Frankfurt Casings, Momentary Dipping

HOW TO PREVENT MOULD ON SAUSAGE, HAMS AND BACON

Query.—L. B. writes: “Will you please let me know if there is anything to prevent the molding of summer sausage, hams, and bacon?”

Answer.—It is first necessary that you hang the sausage and meat in a dry, cool room. If you keep it in a room where the air is moist, it will mold rapidly. If lard is rubbed on the sausage and also the meat, it will aid materially in preventing molding. When so used, it should be applied with a cloth and rubbed on both the meat and the skin side. If your meat has already begun to mold, it should first be washed with warm water and then permitted to dry for a few hours. When dry apply a little of the lard with a cloth.

SHARPENING KNIVES AND PLATES OF MEAT GRINDERS

Query.—F. W. F. Co. asks how to sharpen knives and plates of meat grinders.

Answer.—If the plates are grooved and rough, it will be necessary to have them turned off in a lathe. Then the knives should be sharpened on the cutting-edge just like scissors. We do not mean the flat side which runs against the plate. But if the knife is also rough on the flat side, then the flat side should be smoothed off a little on a grindstone, and after the plate is turned down the knife should be ground with emery and oil right on the plate to make a tight fit.

If you have no lathe, it will have to be done in a machine shop, and in that event, we would advise you to get into touch with some of the large concerns which supply butchers’ cutlery, etc. We would be pleased to give you the names of some very good firms if you desire.

HOW TO CURE MEAT FROM FARM-KILLED HOGS

Query.—C. A. J. writes: I have more or less trouble in curing hams from farmer killed hogs. The trouble I have is in the marrow. Would you please tell me the best way for farmers to kill and chill hogs and how is best to cure such meat?

Answer.—We take pleasure in sending you by mail under separate cover, our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making.” This book will give you all the needed information with reference to meat curing and sausage making.

You should study this carefully because it gives you the needed information for handling the meat before it is put in brine and during the time it is in the brine. It tells you how to pump the meats; how to make the brine for pumping; when to overhaul the meat; the temperature to cure in, etc. If you will follow all information given in these articles you will overcome the trouble you have had.

You should also use Freeze-Em-Pickle for curing because by its use you will be able to turn out the finest mild-cured sweet pickled meats having a most delicious flavor, of good appearance. Moreover, you would have a uniform cure and no loss from sour meats. You say that you have had trouble from hams souring at the marrow. Read carefully our article relating to the pumping of meats. By pumping you will overcome the souring at the marrow.

CAUSE OF FAILURE IN CURING MEATS

Query.—H. B. writes: I have been trying to cure corned beef, but it has a very funny taste. If you can tell me what is the trouble and how to avoid it I will be greatly obliged. I boil the water for making it into brine and use refrigerated meats. I thoroughly cleaned the barrel with scalding hot water. I did not cure the meat in a cooler, but in a room where the temperature runs from sixty to sixty-five degrees. The brine was seventy degrees strength, according to the pickle-tester. I did not use either sugar or molasses in the brine. The curing is a failure. Will you please give me all the information you can?

Answer.—Your questions are their own answers. It is impossible to cure Corned Beef or any other kind of meat in a room where the temperature is as high as 60 degrees. It should not be higher than 45 degrees, and 40 degrees will be much better.

We refer you to our directions for curing Corned Beef in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making.”

The directions contained therein should always be followed to the letter if good results are desired, and when they are followed you will turn out the very finest Corned Beef; it will be in perfect condition and have the sweet taste so much desired. The brine for 100 pounds of meat should be made as follows: 8 pounds of common salt, 1 pound of Freeze-Em-Pickle, 2 pounds of granulated sugar and 5 gallons of cold water. The meat should be cured in this brine ten to fifteen days, according to the weight and thickness of the pieces. Use only fresh meats that have been thoroughly chilled.

LARDING NEEDLES—HOW USED

Query.—F. P. C. writes: What are larding needles used for? I would like to receive a copy of your book.

Answer.—A larding needle is used for drawing fine or thin strips of bacon through beef tenderloins and other kinds of meat. Frequently small strips of dry salt pork are drawn through beef tenderloins, also through meat to be roasted. This makes the meat nice and juicy and also imparts to it a fine flavor. The strips which are to be drawn through the meat are cut very thin and usually square. They are about ⅛ to 3/32 of an inch in thickness.

WHY COOLER “SWEATS”

Query.—F. B. writes: “I would like a little information in regard to my cooler. In sultry weather it sweats terribly, almost changing its natural finish to white and the sweat rolls down from it. If you can give me any information as to how I can stop it, I will be very thankful to you. The inside of the cooler is perfectly dry; in fact, I could strike a match in it anywhere. Kindly let me know if there is any way of preventing this trouble.”

Answer.—The trouble with your cooler is no doubt due to the moisture of the atmosphere and to some imperfection in insulation. The defect can be remedied by the manufacturers. You say the cooler is perfectly dry inside, therefore, its construction must be very good, but the outside insulation is not just right, so the outside becomes too cool and the moist air coming in contact with the cold surface readily condenses. If the cooler can be insulated in such a way that the outside will not become so cold, we have no doubt your trouble can be overcome.

LEGALITY OF WHITE BERLINER BRAND KONSERVIRUNGS-SALZE

Query.—O. B. writes: “We notice in the Scientific Meat Industry that you claim White Berliner Konservirungs-Salze can be used as a preservative for meats and keep within the requirements of the food laws of Pennsylvania. We wish to inquire whether one is perfectly safe in using this preparation as a preservative in Pennsylvania. Of course, it is well understood that butchers must use a preservative of some kind, but they are interpreting the law in this state very strictly. Please let us hear from you fully in regard to this.”

Answer.—White Berliner Konservirungs-Salze, when used in the proportion of four to eight ounces to every 100 lbs. of meat, complies with the pure food laws of Pennsylvania. No one needs to hesitate to use it for all the purposes for which we have recommended it in these columns, as there would be no grounds for action against anyone for its use. It is perfectly harmless and is everywhere recognized as such. No objection has been made against its use. We advise all butchers in Pennsylvania to make use of this preparation, as it will fully meet their requirements and absolve them from prosecution for the use of a meat preservative.

COLD-STORINE IS NOW LEGAL

Query.—L. B. S.: We notice that you have put Cold-Storine on the market again. Is this product now legal to use?

Answer.—In reply to your favor of the 10th inst. we are pleased to inform you that Cold-Storine is now made under a new improved formula and contains no ingredients that have been ruled out under the National Pure Food Law or the Federal Meat Inspection Law. It is therefore now legal to use everywhere.

As you undoubtedly know, Cold-Storine is used to keep sausage, tripe, tongue, poultry, etc., in a good condition, and it does this work most satisfactorily. Simply by storing the sausage, tripe, and other meats in a solution of Cold-Storine, each night, they can be displayed on the counters during the entire day, and yet keep in a good condition for a week or longer. This preparation can save you considerable money by preventing losses from spoiled goods.

You undoubtedly have your greatest difficulty in keeping link pork sausage in a good salable condition after it has been exposed on the counter for several days. This difficulty is entirely overcome by storing them in a solution of Cold-Storine overnight. It will prevent them from becoming slimy and enable them to retain their full weight and fresh appearance until sold.

You are of course anxious to cut down your percentage of losses from spoiled goods, as nothing else eats so large a hole into your profits as this. So we expect you will be glad to hear that you can again use Cold-Storine. Like all progressive meat dealers, you undoubtedly look upon the use of Cold-Storine, not as an item of expense, but as a big money-making proposition. We enclose herewith our folder entitled, “Put a Dollar Into Cold-Storine and Take Out Ten,” which will give you further information on this product.

HOW TO GIVE A BRIGHT, RED COLOR TO BOLOGNA AND FRANKFORT SAUSAGE WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL COLORING

Query.—I am trying to make Bologna and Frankfort sausage, and make it all right except the color of the meat. I cannot get a nice pink color. I have tried Freeze-Em Pickle; it is all right, but it is too slow a process. I want to make my sausage out of fresh meat and smoke it in a smoke-house but cannot get a nice pink color on the meat. It has a gray color and does not look right. I have a color on hand, but it doesn’t give satisfaction. It makes the meat too red and does not look good.

Now, if you have anything that will overcome my trouble and will give my sausage a nice pink color, not red, and will comply with the National Pure Food Law, send it right along. I will remit on arrival. I would send the money now, but do not know the value of it. I make about twenty-five pounds of sausage at a batch.

Answer.—Your letter of recent date received. You say you are trying to make bologna and that you make it all right, but that the color of the meat is not a nice pink color. You say you tried the Freeze-Em-Pickle and that it worked all right, but that it is too slow a process. You further say you want to make your bologna out of fresh meat, but that you do not get a nice pink color when it is made that way. You say the meat is gray.

In all of that, you are correct, and you will always have a gray sausage unless you make it with Freeze-Em-Pickle according to the directions in our circular. If you make bologna sausage out of fresh meat, it, of course, will be gray. If you roast a piece of beef, it will be gray. If you cook a piece of beef, it will be gray. It is the same with bologna.

When bologna is made with fresh meat, it will be gray, just as though you take a piece of fresh meat and boil it. It is impossible to make bologna with a pink color and make it out of fresh meat. For that reason, we recommend you to use Freeze-Em-Pickle and prepare your bologna meat with Freeze-Em-Pickle beforehand. You can do that in about two or three days. It is better, however, to let the meat cure for a week.

All you have to do is to trim out the beef and pork trimmings with which you intend to make the bologna, cut the pieces up about the size of an English walnut and sprinkle on Freeze-Em-Pickle in the proportion of one pound Freeze-Em-Pickle to every 100 pounds of meat. Mix the meat thoroughly and then 245 pack it tightly in a tierce or a box, in fact, a shallow box where the meat is not very thick is better, but pack it in tightly, and then put it in the cooler and let it remain there for at least four or five days, or a week, if possible. Then when you make bologna, the bologna will be better in flavor, will be juicier, will have a fine red appearance, and will be perfect in all respects. This we positively guarantee.

If you want to make bologna and frankfort sausage properly and have it right in all respects, you must take the necessary time and prepare the meat accordingly.

Formerly when artificial colors could be used in bologna and frankfort sausage, then it was all right to make it out of fresh meat and use an artificial inside color, but now, however, the food laws are such that you cannot use an inside color and therefore it is necessary to make it according to the Freeze-Em-Pickle process and with our Freeze-Em-Pickle. Then you will have a nice pink color on the inside of your bologna and frankfort sausage.

You say you have a color on hand but it does not give satisfaction. It is a good thing that it does not give satisfaction, because if you were to use it, you could be arrested and fined and it would cause you a great deal of trouble; in fact, your reputation might be ruined if your name got in the papers stating that you used coloring on the inside of your bologna and frankfort sausage because the food laws prohibit that.

By using the Freeze-Em-Pickle process you will make sausage that will in every way comply with your state food law and will at the same time, have a fine inside color, and excellent flavor, and splendid keeping qualities. This will overcome all the troubles you mention, and all that is necessary is for you to prepare your meats a few days beforehand. In fact, you can prepare a quantity of the meat beforehand and keep it and use it along as you need it, making up 25 pounds at a time whenever you wish to do so, and leave the balance until a later occasion.

The meat will keep this way in a good cooler indefinitely. This is the only way we can recommend your making sausage that will comply with your law and at the same time have the color you desire. Of course, it is a little more trouble, but it is a trouble that will well repay you because your sausage will really be of better quality and it will make a much better appearance.

HOW TO REMOVE WOOL FROM GREEN AND DRY SHEEP PELTS

Question.—K. M. Co. writes: Can you give us a method for pulling the wool from green hides and also from dry hides? We get the dead carcasses from the feed and transit yards—a good many hundred pelts during a year. Lots of these pelts are torn. If we can pull the wool we will be able to realize more money out of handling these pelts.

(Copyrighted by B. Heller & Co.; Reprint Forbidden.)

Answer.—As a general rule, wool is pulled from pelts by concerns that make this work a business. The method used is sweating and steaming the pelts. The pelts are hung on racks in a room into which live steam is turned. The pelts are kept hot for a number of days and the heat loosens the wool. It can then be easily pulled from the skin. The wool is then dried and baled.

You could not adopt this method profitably on a small scale, but we will give you a method that you can use which will prove a satisfactory way for small handlers of pelts who desire to pull the wool.

Make a pile of your pelts, wetting the pelts as you pile them. Cover the pelts with blankets or gunny sacks and allow the pile of pelts to sweat. The wet pelts being covered uptight, will become hot and sweat. This will loosen the wool and it can be readily pulled off.

Another way of removing the wool from pelts is to spread the pelts upon the floor, with the wool down next to the floor. On the skin side of the pelts place crushed fresh lime and dampen the lime. This wetting of the lime will cause it to slake and soak into the skin. The wool will be loosened by this treatment of the pelts and it can be easily pulled. This method, however, will spoil the skins and render them of no value.

The simpler method of handling the green hides by a butcher or other dealer who has only a small business equipment is to use the sweating process. By this method, both the wool and the skins can be saved and sold. Ordinarily, by the sweating method, the pelts are piled one on top of the other, some water sprinkled on each pelt, and the piles made from two feet to three feet high, and allowed to sweat.

Great care must be taken not to let the pelts sweat too much, otherwise, the hide will decay and in pulling the wool 247 the hide will tear. As soon as the wool is sufficiently loosened from the pelt it should be pulled. The skins can then be salted and cured, or the skins can be put into a brine and cured. After the skins are thoroughly cured they are ready to be shipped to the tannery.

HOW TO MAKE PEPPERED BEEF

Question.—G. E. O’F. writes—Can you furnish me with a recipe for making (Postromer) Peppered Beef? I am a user of your goods and will be under obligations to you for this information.

(Copyrighted by B. Heller & Co.; Reprint Forbidden)

Answer.—We do not clearly understand your question. If you mean cured Briskets that are covered with red pepper or Paprika Compound, and then smoked, you can proceed as follows:

Cure your boneless briskets in corned beef brine with garlic in it. You will find a formula for this in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” a copy of which we are sending you. After the meat is cured, and before you place it in the smoke-house, rub our Chile Powder all over the outside of it, and then smoke it. Or, you can smoke it and cook it, and then rub the Chile Powder over it after it is cooked. In this way, you will use less Chile Powder.

If this does not fully answer your question write us again giving us a more complete statement of what is desired.

UTILIZING FAT TRIMMINGS

Question.—H. A. writes: Please send me information as to how to use up my fat trimmings.

Answer.—The best way to make use of your fat trimmings is to work them up into Pork Sausage, using plenty of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder to absorb the fat. When plenty of Bull-Meat Sausage Binder is used the fat stays in the sausage when fried instead of frying out. This keeps the meat from shrinking.

Meat Curing Sausage Making links:

Meat Curing – Part 1
General Hints For Curing Meats – Part 2
Hints For Handling Of Meats – Part 3
Sausage Making – Part 4
Meat Curing Sausage Making Q&a (a) – Part 5
Meat Curing Sausage Making Q&a (b) – Part 6
Meat Curing Sausage Making Products – Part 7