Putting Food By - Janet Greene [163]
Saltpeter has been used for centuries as a means of intensifying and holding the red color considered so appetizing in ham and allied pork products, and in corned beef, etc. Nitrites also help to prevent the growth of C. botulinum.
Storing Cured Meat
Their heavy concentration of salt protects Corned Beef and Salt Pork for several months if the brine in which they’re held is kept below 38 F/3 C.
Freezer storage of sausage and cured meats is relatively limited: after more than 2 to 4 months at Zero F/−18 C, the salt causes the fat to become rancid.
Warning: A home-cured ham is not the same as a commercially processed one that has been “tenderized,” etc. Home-cured pork is still RAW.
Salting Beef
Because they lack what producers and butchers call “finish,” veal or calf meat shouldn’t be used to make corned or dried beef. The product is disappointing.
Corned Beef
Use the tougher cuts and those with considerable fat. Bone, and cut them to uniform thickness and size.
To cure 25 pounds of beef, pack it first in pickling salt, allowing 2 to 3 pounds of salt (3 to 4½ cups) for the 25 pounds of meat. Spread a generous layer of coarse pickling salt in the bottom of a clean, sterilized crock or barrel. Pack in it a layer of meat that you’ve rubbed well with the salt; sprinkle more salt over the meat. Repeat the layers of meat and salt until all the meat is used or the crock is filled to within a couple of inches below the top.
Let the packed meat stand in the salt for 24 hours, then cover it with a solution of 1 gallon of water in which you’ve dissolved 1 pound (2 cups) of sugar, ½ ounce (about 1 tablespoon) of baking soda, and 1 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) of saltpeter.
Put a weighted plate on the meat to hold every speck of it below the surface of the brine; cover the crock/barrel; and in a cool place—not more than 38 F/3 C—let the meat cure in the brine from 4 to 6 weeks.
The brine can become stringy and gummy (“ropy,” in some descriptions) if the temperature rises above 38 F/3 C and the sugar ferments. The baking soda helps retard the fermentation. But watch it: if the brine starts to get ropy, take out the meat and wash it well in warm water. Clean and sterilize the container. Repack the meat with a fresh sugar-water-etc. solution (above), to which you now add 1½ pounds (2¼ cups) of pickling salt; this salt replaces the original 2 pounds of dry salt used to pack the meat.
To store it, keep it refrigerated in the brine; or remove it from the brine, wash away the salt from the surface, and can or freeze it.
Dried (Chipped) Beef
Dried beef—which has about 48 percent water when produced commercially—is made from whole muscles or muscles cut lengthwise. Select boneless, heavy, lean-muscled cuts—rounds are best—and cure as for Corned Beef (above) except that you add an extra ¼ pound of sugar (½ cup) for each 25 pounds of meat.
The curing is completed in 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the size of the pieces and the flavor desired. After it has cured satisfactorily, remove the meat, wash it, and hang it in a cool place to air-dry for 24 hours.
Then it is smoked at 100–120 F/38–49 C for 70 to 80 hours (see Smoking)—or until it is quite dry.
To store, wrap large pieces in paper and stockinette (tubular, small-mesh material, which holds the wrap close to the meat) and hang them in a cool (below 50 F/10 C), dry, dark, insect-free room; certainly refrigerate small pieces. Plan to use all the dried beef before spring.
Salting Pork
All parts of the pig may be cured by salting. Some—such as the fat salt pork for baked beans, chowders, etc.—are used as they come from the salting process. The choice hams, bacon, and, perhaps, loins are carried one step further and are smoked after being cured.
Have the meat thoroughly chilled, and hold it as closely as possible to 38 F/3 C during the process of curing: salt penetrates less well in tissues below 36 F/2 C, and spoilage occurs with increasing speed in