TOUGH AND SALTY CORNED BEEF

Query. — E. W. G. writes: I have had complaints from several large institutions I serve that my corned beef i& tough and too salty. I would like to Know about what proportions of salt and saltpetre to use. It is only re- cently that I have had these complaints, in fact, I have been in the retail business for about ten years and have been very successful with my corned beef.

Ans. — If you will use the following in curing plates, rumps, briskets, etc., for corned beef /you will have no trouble. Use for 100 Ibs. of meat:

Five pounds of common salt, 1 Ib. of Freeze-Em- Pickle, 2 Ibs. of best granulated sugar, 5 gallons of cold water.

Cure the meat 'in this brine fifteen to thirty days/ according to weight and thickness of the pieces. If you are taking pieces out of the brine from day to day and adding others, you should keep up the strength

of the pickle to sixty degrees by adding a small quan- tity of Freeze-Bm-Pickle and salt from time to time as you withdraw and replace the meat. One of the first essentials to producing first-class corned beef is to be careful about the temperature during the curing period. An even temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit is always the best for coolers and for curing meat. If maintained at this degree, there will be no trouble from taking on too much salt, provided, of course, the meat has been properly chilled through before placing it in the brine for curing. In order to produce a good cure, all the animal heat must be extracted from the meat before it is packed, otherwise it will become soft and spongy in the brine, and pickle-soaked.

KEEPING HAMS AND BACON SIX MONTHS.

Query. — A. J. M. writes: I would like to know how to keep hams and bacon in first class shape for the next six months without their getting mouldy and with the least possible shrinkage.

Ans. — There is no practical method for keeping hams and bacon for so long a time after they are smoked without their getting mouldy. There is a method for keeping them in sweet pickle for any length of time, provided you have cold storage facilities. All kinds of pickled meat if stored in a cooler in which the tem- perature is kept down to 28 degrees can be kept in this cooler for a year or even longer, and when removed will come out like fresh cured meat. Hams and other meats are often purchased when the market is low and stored in a freezer and kept here until such a time that they are in greatest demand and will sell at the high- est price. At a tejnperature of 28 degrees the meat will not freeze after it is cured, and the brine, of course, does not freeze at that temperature. When meat is taken out of such cold storage to be smoked, it should be first soaked from three to five hours in fresh water, and then washed and smoked the same as regu- lar fresh cured meat. Farmers often bury their smoked meats in their oat bins, and are enabled to keep them in good condition for some time, but this is a method which, perhaps, does not suit your purpose. It is best to keep the meat in sweet pickle until you are ready to smoke it, as this will insure a much better article.

i. U. S;