B. Heller & Co.

“ We cannot urge upon our friends too strongly that they use only pure granulated sugar. Not only from the standpoint of keeping sweet pickle brine in good, clean condition, but from the view point of flavor and thorough cure, the use of pure granulated sugar is absolutely necessary for producing the proper kind of finished meat food products.
Sugar is considered as a natural preservative, but it must be borne in mind that sugar is used in the sweet pickle method of curing meat, not only as a preservative, but also as a flavor. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many Hams are of very coarse grain, especially those that come from boars, stags and old sows, while many other Hams are large and too fat. Those that come from poor, scrawny hogs are too small and thin, and this differentiation exists regardless of the grade or the experience in buying different lots of hogs. Perhaps there is no animal which varies so much in quality and condition of meat as the hog, and he fully represents or reflects the quality of the food from which he is made, or the results of wise or unwise feeding. ”

“ Sugar, as is well known is a great nutrient and, as a food, possesses practically the same value as starch; it is however, much more readily digested. Therefore the use of pure sugar assists in making meat food products more digestible. In preparing a sweet brine, the one great object sought to be attained is that the brine shall have the highest possible penetrative quality. Any adulterant in the sugar tends to prevent the penetration of the sweet pickled brine and lessens its efficiency in proportion as adulterants are contained in the sugar. ”

“ This difficulty is entirely overcome by storing them in a solution of Cold-Storine over night. 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. ”

“ In States where the use of cereal in sausage is forbidden, the one safe-guard against prosecution is to use absolutely Pure Spices and avoid so-called sausage seasonings which contain cereals as an adulterant. In our laboratory we have repeatedly found cases where as much as 50% bread crumbs were mixed into spice to cheapen it. The bread crumbs mixed with the seasoning into the sausage meat would be detected by the chemists and microscopists of the various State Pure Food Departments, making the butcher who used such seasonings liable to prosecution for adding adulterants to his sausage. ”

“ Hams and Bacon from hogs that have been scalded with Hog-Scald are, therefore, cleaner and will be much brighter after they are smoked than when the filth of the hog remains in the pores of the skin.
Those selling dressed hogs will find Hog-Scald very valuable, as hogs that have been scalded with it are cleaner and look whiter and much more appetizing.
The use of Hog-Scald is legal everywhere. It does not come under the regulations of the Food Laws, as it is simply a cleansing agent. Hog-Scald costs very little at the price we sell it, and everyone can afford to use it. ”

“ DRY SALT CURING BY BUTCHERS WHO HAVE NO ICE MACHINE.
Small butchers, who have no ice machines, and simply use an ice box for a cooler, must use the greatest care to see that the meat is well chilled before salting, and they must also use plenty of salt. For the special benefit of small butchers, we will say that we fully realize the conditions which surround them, and we are well aware that they cannot get the temperature in an ice box as low as with an ice machine; but nevertheless, they can always cure meat with the Freeze-Em-Pickle process, and get better results. ”

“ Smoke aids to preserve Hams and cannot cause them to sour. When Hams sour in the Smoke House the cause must be traced to the fact that they are not properly and fully cured before going into the Smoke House, and 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, the meat may not have been overhauled at the proper time and with the frequency which good curing requires. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the hog is properly hoisted by one hind leg, alive, and then stuck while hanging, it will kick considerably and the kicking and jerking of the hog will help in pumping out all of the blood, making a much better bled carcass than if the hog is first stunned with a hammer and stuck on the floor. The better the hog is bled, the better the meat will be for curing. ”

“ Furthermore, Hams will vary in quality even after they have been graded; some medium size Hams, which is the size usually picked for the finest cure, are of much better quality than others. This will be readily admitted when it is remembered that a Ham may be of proper weight, but it can also be too fat for its weight, it can be too lean, it can have a coarse thick skin, the meat can be coarse in grain or it may be properly graded as to size, but come from an old, worn-out sow. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Much of this trouble is owing to the fact that large shippers kill the Chickens, dry pick them or scald them, and the food that remains in the intestines ferments and taints the meat, with the result that the Chicken, when cooked, has an abominable taste.
When a Butcher is so situated that he can dress his own Chickens, and he would be fully justified in making all preparations in that direction, he ought to open, draw and wash out thoroughly every chicken as fast as it is killed, just as he would wash out Hogs, Calves or Sheep. ”

“ A fourteen to sixteen pound Ham from a young barrow with a fine, thin, white skin which is not too fat or not too lean, and possessing a nice, fine grained meat is fully up to grade and is taken for the superior quality of Hams. Therefore, a Ham of this description is superior in quality even before it goes into the brine for curing, and it is very easy to understand that when such a quality of Ham is carefully cured, for just the proper length of time, it will be far better than the ordinary run of Hams. ”

“ If your fire gets too hot, you can feed cold air to the interior chamber, and if your smoke house is tall you can create a good draught and will soon get up a circulation which will cool the air so that the meat will not shrink too much. A smoke house built for simply two tiers of meat, that is, two rows, is better than one built wider. The walls of your smoke house can be built either of brick or wood, whichever you prefer, brick being the safer of the two. If you do not intend to smoke fresh sausage but only bacon and hams, it is unnecessary to put in an arch. ”

“ Ans.—It is more difficult to cure hams by the dry salt process than it is by the brine process. If these hams had been pumped before packing them in the salt, there would not have been so much danger of shank sour. Hams being very thick, it takes a long time for the salt to draw through them; therefore, if they are first pumped and packed in dry salt, you can readily see that the salt draws through quicker and thus gives them a chance to cure from the inside as quickly as they would cure from the outside. Only under one condition can you pump these hams, make them sweet and save them. ”

“ The main thing in the success of running a retail market is that the butcher understands how to buy his live stock so that 224 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the improper chilling of the carcasses lies the greatest danger of spoiling the meat. The greatest care must be given to the proper chilling, for if the carcasses are not properly chilled, it will be very difficult to cure the meat, and it will be liable to sour in the curing. Meat from improperly chilled carcasses, even with the greatest care afterwards, will not cure properly. Therefore, one of the first places to look for trouble when Hams are turning out sour is to look to the chilling of the meat, as it is nine chances out of ten that this is where the trouble started from. ”

“ It is important to have one that is right. Do not buy a cheap thermometer for a cold storage tester. If your cooler is constructed properly it should be perfectly dry and all the drip water drained without entering the storage chambers. A cooler, even when cooled with ice, should be so dry on the inside that a match might be struck on the sides. If the cooler is moist, there is no need to search further for the cause of your meat moulding. If the cooler is perfectly dry then the beef will keep about two weeks without moulding, then it is liable to mould slightly, but not enough to do any harm. ”

“ It is also of great advantage to pump Breakfast Bacon, Corned Beef, Dried Beef, Dry Salt Meats, etc. Packers and curers, who do not use a pump and the Freeze-Em-Pickle Process, are suffering losses from sour meats, which during a year’s business would mean a large profit to them.
There is a mistaken idea among many butchers and packers that pumping Hams and Shoulders is injurious to the meat. The facts do not warrant such a belief, as the best cured and the best flavored meats are those that have been pumped. ”

“ The rinds can be put into pickle and stored until a quantity has accumulated and then they can be cooked and utilized in Liver Sausage, Head Cheese or Blood Sausage. When the rind is cooked with the lard, it always causes more or less detriment to the lard.
Before rendering, if one has the machinery, the fat should be run through a regular fat hasher or a Meat Grinder, and it should be ground up into small pieces. The smaller it is ground the better, for if the fatty tissues are thoroughly mangled and disintegrated, the oil will separate more readily when the heat is applied. ”

“ They make the Sausage dry and instead of improving the quality of the Sausage, they are a great detriment to it. If the Butcher takes a pride in his goods and wants to make Sausage that his trade will like, he should not buy these Binders, as he is simply throwing his money away and spoiling his goods by using them. Therefore, it is always advisable when buying from jobbers to insist upon getting the Genuine B. Heller & Co.’s Bull-Meat-Brand Flour, as you will then know exactly what you are getting, as our guaranty is on every package. ”

“ Under such circumstances the Hams must be taken out of the brine and smoked, or must be stored in a low temperature for ten or twenty days longer, but the moment they are kept beyond the full curing time they are not as good as when taken out of the cure at the moment they are fully cured. Furthermore, if a large quantity of the superior quality of Hams have been smoked and they are not disposed of rapidly enough, they begin to lose in appearance, and must again be culled and sold with the cheaper grade of Hams. ”