A CHEAP TEMPORARY SMOKE HOUSE

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This illustration will give some idea of how a tempo- rary smoke house can be rigged up with very little trouble, which will answer the purpose nicely.

Very often it becomes necessary for a butcher to re-smoke some bologna that has been shipped to him from a packer, and it is sometimes necessary to re- smoke Hams and Bacon. Also, a butcher will often want to cure a small quan- tity of meat and would like' to smoke it.

When butchers who not equipped with a smoke house have to do this, they may be at a loss to know what to do.

Take a clean sugar barrel and knock out the bot- tom; then set the barrel on top of a box about four feet long, one or two feet high and as wide as the barrel. If a box of this shape cannot be obtained, a large dry goods box will answer. Bore auger holes through the box under the barrel, to let the smoke through. Get a large piece of tin, galvanized iron or sheet iron, about one foot wide and 2 feet long and bend it into the shape of a pan, or take an old roast- ing pan. Dig a hole in the ground at the front end of the box, so fire can be put onto this piece of tin, sheet iron or pan and then placed under the box with the fire on it. After the fire is placed under the box, place a board over the hole. All crevices must be banked with dirt around the box, to keep the smoke in.

The meats to be smoked should be hung on sticks with long strings on them, so as to let them down to about the middle of the barrel. Cover the barrel up with a gunny sack, so as to let a draft pass through and still retain the smoke in the barrel.

This makes a first class temporary smoke house with very little trouble and expense.

HOW TO KEEP HAMS, SHOULDERS, BA- CON, DRIED BEEF, AND ALL KINDS OF PICKLED MEATS IN BRINE FOR A YEAR OR LONGER.

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All kinds of pickled meat after it is fully cured, if stored in a cooler in which the temperature is kept down to 28 degrees can be kept in this cooler for a year, or even longer, and when removed will come out similar to fresh cured meat. During the time when Hams and other meats are low in price, they can be stored in a freezer, and kept there until such a time as they are in greatest demand and will sell at the high- est price. This enables the packer to reap a larger profit. At a temperature of 28 degrees, the meat will not freeze after it is cured, and the brine of course does not freeze, as salt water will not freeze, at that temperature. When meat is taken out of such coli storage to be smoked, it should first be soaked for three to five hours in fresh water, then washed in boiling hot water and smoked the same as regular fresh cured meat.

WASHING CURED MEAT BEFORE SMOKING.

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Hams, Shoulders, Ba- con 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.

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BRINE ABSORBS FOREIGN ODORS

(Copyrighted by B. Heller & Co.; Reprint Forbidden.) Warm carcasses of meat should never be put into a cooler where meat is being cured in open vats, as the cold pickle will absorb the impure animal heat, and odors which these carcasses give off. Never allow sour pickle of any kind to remain in the curing room, as cold brine or water will absorb all foreign odors. To demonstrate this, take a glass of cold water, set it on a table next to a glass of taint- ed brine, and cover both with a bucket or pan; allow them to remain over night, and the next morning the cold water will have the same odor as the tainted brine. This will easily prove how meat can be tainted when curing in open tierces or vats, if anything sour or spoiled is in the cooler; therefore, curing rooms must be kept as clean as possible.

HOW LONG BRINE SHOULD BE USED

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The length of time that brine should be used depends entirely upon the quantity of brine that you have in the barrel and the amount of meat that you put in each week. When the meat is packed solid it takes about 5 gallons of brine to each 100 pounds of meat. On the other hand if you put 25 gallons of brine in a tierce in which you place but a few pieces of corned beef from time to time as the meat accumulates your brine would be sufficient to cure 500 pounds of meat; if the barrel was nice and clean, the meat in good condition when put in the brine, and gener- ally speaking conditions are favorable it will cure a great deal more than 500 pounds.

The brine may be used until it begins to get thick and show foam on the top; then of course it is advisable to make a new brine, at the same time washing the tierce out thoroughly.