Smoked meat

“ Smoked Meat.—Smoking meat and fish greatly increases its power of keeping. Creosote is an excellent antiseptic, and is sold to paint over meat as a substitute for the lengthy and troublesome process of smoking. ”

“ The bones require a fierce, hot, and clear fire, and the epicure of grilled bones prefers that the meat should be black. If the fire be not fierce enough, you can make it more so by throwing a little fat upon it, either in the form of dripping, or of odd pieces of fat that may be cut off from the meat. This will make a sufficient blaze, and you will attain without trouble to the coveted degree of blackness, which really is more smoke and scorch than burn, and gives with the grease that kind of smoky taste to the grill that we enjoy so much with ham and any other smoked meats. ”

“ The processes of pickling and smoking are so well known that we speak particularly only of a rapid-smoking process, which consists in painting the meat some three or four times with a brush dipped in pyroligneous acid, after which it acquires the taste and properties of well-smoked meat.
The processes of direct drying, which have long been employed with fruits, have more recently been applied to vegetables. By late improvements they have been brought to a degree of perfection in which the freshness, taste, and tenderness of the fruits and greens, are well preserved. ”

“ Palatable, appetizing smoked bacon and hams are still to be found in our markets by those who know a thing or two, and sternly insist on getting what they ask for; but for the vast majority of consumers smoked meats have disappeared. Meats lose weight—up to 20 per cent.—during the process of smoking, and therefore bring the dealer less profit. What he offers is usually denatured—unappetizing and indigestible. The same holds true of smoked fish, which used to make an epicure's mouth water. ”

“ Sometimes peach-butter is made, with cider, molasses, or sugar, and, in the present scarcity of apples, cut pumpkin is often put into the apple-butter.
Soon after apple-butter-making comes butchering, for we like an early pig in the fall, when the store of smoked meat has run out. Pork is the staple, and we smoke the flitches, not preserving them in brine like the Yankees. We ourselves use much beef, and do not like smoked flitch, but I speak for the majority. Sausage is a great dish with us, as in Germany. ”

“ Dealers have slyly taken advantage of the naturally growing aversion to "smoked" meats. "Slightly Smoked" is a label one often sees now, and ere long, if not checked they will have the audacity to say to a housewife asking for smoked ham or fish or bacon that they have "none in stock," there being "so little demand for it." ”

“ Hams, Shoulders, Bacon and all cured meats whether dry salted or cured in brine, should be washed in hot water and scrubbed with a brush before being put into the smoke house. This is very important, as the meat thus scrubbed will come out of the smoke looking much better. The water should be as hot as the men can work with. The hotter the water, the better the meat will look after being smoked. ”

“ The smoke need not be kept up constantly, unless one is in a hurry to sell the meat. Half a day at a time on several days a week, for two or three weeks, will give the bacon that bright gingerbread color which is generally preferred. It should not be made too dark with smoke. It is a good plan, after the meat is smoked nearly enough, to smoke it occasionally for half a day at a time all through the spring until late in May. It is thought that smoke does good in keeping the Dermestes out of the house. ”

“ This is a matter to which an owner or manager of a smoke house must necessarily give minute and close attention in order to obtain the best results. Perhaps as important a point as any, is when the condition of the meats as to dryness is concerned. Meats should be shipped promptly when in condition and not allowed to remain in the smoke house awaiting disposition.
The following table shows the result of tests on 1,136 pounds of meat hung in smoke house for seven consecutive days, temperature of smoke house about 90° F.
Wrapping Smoked Meats. ”

“ The aim is to smoke out the meat as near green weights as possible, the amount of shrinkage depending largely upon the requirements at points to which meats are to be shipped and the conditions to which they are to be subjected. For instance, hams and shoulders which are to be used for immediate consumption should smoke out 981⁄2 to 100 per cent green weight, whereas meats which are to be held for some length of time after being smoked, or which are intended for a warmer climate, will smoke out from 95 to 97 per cent of the green weight. ”

“ Smoke is not only the best of all preservatives, it is also the most valuable of condiments, imparting to meats or fish a delicate aroma without altering their natural flavor. A famous Austrian physiologist, Professor Brücke, pointed out many years ago that smoked meats are more digestible than fresh meats; but he did not give the reason, which is that the delicate yet penetrating Flavor added by the smoke creates an appetite and thus causes a flow of digestive juices to the stomach. ”

“ We are now in a position to understand why so many Americans imagine they do not like smoked meats. They have in mind either such meats as have been chemically "smoked," miles away from any smoke house or stove, or such as have been actually smoked, but too briefly, or in too strong smoke. ”

“ Smoked beef is good if stewed a few minutes with a lump of butter mixed with flour and enough milk to cover the whole, which may be seasoned with pepper. Fried fish that has become cold can be revived in the same way; the flour may be omitted and some salt must be added.
An onion may be boiled in bread sauce, and removed before serving, or pepper may be added; celery chopped and cooked in a stew or sauce adds a peculiarly pleasant flavor. Tough meat of all kinds should be stewed, and except salt pork, meat should be rarely fried. ”

“ Some people prefer the mutton boiled as soon as it is taken from the pickle, before it is smoked; others hang it up till it gets dry thoroughly, and eat it in thin slices, like hung beef. When legs of meat are put in pickle, the thickest part of the leg should be placed uppermost, that is, standing upright, the same as the creature stood when living. The same rule should be observed when they are hung up to dry; it is essential in order to keep in the juices of the meat. Meat should be turned over once or twice during the process of smoking. ”

“ Pork Sausage smoked the day after it is made will keep much better than when they are smoked as soon as made, because Sausage that have been kept in a cooler for 24 hours after being made are thoroughly cured, so they will stand the heat of the smoke house, and will have an entirely different flavor than if they are subjected to the heat when the meat is fresh and is not fully cured. ”

“ Note, The same Boar's Head being well cleaned, may be boiled and pickled like the Brawn, and is as much esteem'd.
This is a good Season to make what they call Hung-Beef: The way of doing it, is, to take the thin Pieces of the Beef, and salting them with Salt-Petre about two Ounces to a Pound of common Salt, and rubbing it well into the Meat, dry it in a Chimney with Wood Smoke. When this is throughly cured, it will be red quite through, which one may try by cutting; for if there is any of the Flesh green, it is not smoked enough. ”

“ In a hundred parts of the meat, only nine of nitrogen are found, fat being forty-eight and water thirty-nine, with but two of salty matters. Bacon properly cured is much more digestible than pork, the smoke giving it certain qualities not existing in uncured pork. No food has yet been found which can take its place for army and navy use or in pioneering. Beef when salted or smoked loses much of its virtue, and eight ounces of fat pork will give nearly three times as much carbon or heat-food as the same amount of beef ”

“ Pork cured and smoked by the new methods, however, does not possess such excellent flavor and such good keeping qualities as that so treated by the longer process. Any one who has the right storage facilities to care for the meat properly will find it much more economical to purchase a whole carcass or a part of one and then salt, smoke, or pickle the various pieces that can be treated in this way than to purchase this meat cut by cut as it is needed or desired. ”

“ The drying flesh acquires a very dark brown color from the smoke and blood left within the tissues. Certain portions of the dry meat, especially those from the flanks and abdominal walls, are quite palatable; they are crisp, and have a rich nutty flavor. The intercostal muscles are also choice portions, while some of the flesh from the haunches is dry and nearly tasteless. The back fat is often dried and smoked, but acquires a disagreeable rancid taste. ”

“ Pig’s head is good baked with beans, or corned and smoked. It is also nice prepared with spices in the following manner. Boil the ears, forehead, and rind, (the cheek is good, but it is better corned and smoked,) till the meat will almost drop from the bones; take them up; when cold cut the meat in strips about an inch long, warm it in a little of the liquor in which the meat was boiled, season it with salt, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Put it while hot in a strong bag, put a heavy weight upon it, and let it remain till perfectly cold. When you wish to eat it, cut it in thin slices. ”

“ Fire having been discovered, mankind endeavoured to make use of it for drying and afterwards for cooking their meat; but for ages the methods and appliances employed in the preparation of food were of the crudest description. Meat brought in actual contact with fire is apt to become smoked, and have an unpleasant flavour. ”

“ Behind the kitchen is the big brick smokehouse—empty now, but a century ago filled with the great supply of hams and bacon needed for the feeding of a large household and a hundred slaves—not to mention the numerous guests. A normal supply of meat when hogs were killed and the hams and sides salted down and smoked was from 20,000 to 25,000 pounds. ”

“ In four to six weeks more, or sooner, if need be, break up and wash the meat nicely, preparatory to smoking it. Some farmers do not wash the salt off, but the meat receives smoke better and looks nicer, if washed.
CURING PORK FOR THE SOUTH.
This requires a little different treatment. It is dry-salted and smoked. The sides, hams and shoulders are laid on a table and rubbed thoroughly with salt and saltpeter (one ounce to five pounds of salt) , clear saltpeter being rubbed in around the ends of the bones. The pieces are laid up, with salt between, and allowed to lie. ”

“ Salt and Smoked Meats.—These meats are best when they are put over the fire in cold water, brought gradually to a boil, and then set back from the fierce heat of the fire, so as to keep scalding hot WITHOUT BOILING; they take longer to cook this way, but they are tender and delicious, and very little fat is wasted. ”

“ The goodness and preservation of hams and shoulders depends on their smoking as well as their salting. Owing to some misconstruction of the smoke-house, and to the surface of the meat not being properly freed from saline matter, or other causes, it not unfrequently happens that during the process of smoking, the meat is constantly moist, and imbibes a pyroligneous acid taste and smell, destructive of its good qualities. ”

“ Of course many farmers never attempt to smoke their cured meats but use them directly from the brine but if possible it is more satisfactory to smoke them before using for several reasons. First, the process of smoking helps to preserve the meat. The creosote formed by the combustion of the wood closes the pores of the meat to a great extent thus excluding the air and helping it to keep and at the same time makes the meat objectionable to insects. ”

“ All sorts of meat, both raw and cooked, some grilled, roasted, and boiled, were exposed in tobacco smoke and then given to animals, and in all cases produced symptoms of acute poisoning. Even the process of boiling could not extract from the meat the nicotine poison. Grease and similar substances have facilities of absorption in proportion with their fineness and fluidity. Fresh-killed meat is more readily impregnated, and stands in order of susceptibility as follows—pork, veal, rabbit, poultry, beef, mutton, horse. ”

“ Care is taken not to allow the fire to get too large and hot, so as to endanger the meat hung nearest to it. Should the fire grow too strong, as it sometimes will, a little water is thrown on, a bucketful of which is kept always on hand. The fire requires constant care and nursing to keep up a good smoke and no blaze. Oak and hickory chips or wood impart the best color to meat. Some woods, as pine, ailanthus, mulberry and persimmon, are very objectionable, imparting a disagreeable flavor to the bacon. Corn cobs make a good smoke for meat, but they must be wet before laying them on the fire. ”

“ If too far from the fire to catch them, the drippings will not only be lost, but the meat will be blackened, and spoiled by the fetid smoke, which will arise when the fat falls on the live cinders. The meat must be well basted, to keep it moist. When it does not supply dripping enough for this purpose, add some that has been saved on former occasions, and nicely prepared, which answers as well or better than butter. Meat should not be sprinkled with salt till nearly done, as it tends to draw out the gravy. ”

“ A single rim of fat on the chop or steak will tend to keep the edge moist and baste the meat, but too much will cause flame to rise in continuous jet, making the surface smoky. If there is absolutely no fat on the piece to be broiled, morsels of finely chopped suet may be occasionally thrown into the fire, so the sudden spurt of flame from this source leaves a deposit of fat on the meat which improves the flavor, and, without softening the albumen, prevents its becoming uneatably hard and dry. ”