Chapter XV: Preface (8)

Ans.--If your cooler is kept at 35 degrees, you must have an ice machine instead of the regular ice box or cooler, and 35 degrees is too cold for curing purposes. An even temperature of 38 degrees is the proper one for curing meat, and all packers who use ice machines should endeavor to keep their coolers at a temperature not varying from 37 to 39 degrees, and they never should be allowed to get above 40 degrees. Meat will not cure in any brine or take on enough salt when dry salted if stored in a room that is below 36 degrees. If meat is packed even in the strongest kind of brine and put into a cooler which is kept at 32 to 33 degrees and thus left at this degree of cold for three months, it will come out of the brine only partly cured; it will, therefore, only keep for a short time and will start to decompose when taken into a higher temperature. If you have used galvanized iron tanks for five years, it is possible that the zinc or the galvanizing is worn off on the inside of the vats so as to expose the iron. Brine will rapidly rust iron and that will cause your meat to become rusty. Galvanized iron tanks for curing are all right until the galvanizing is worn off and the moment this happens, the tanks are useless for curing purposes. Salt that is rusted or salt that is shoveled with a rusty shovel will also cause rusty meat. It is absolutely necessary that the salt be pure and free from rust. If live stock is driven for some distance and slaughtered while it is overheated, the meat will not cure properly and will also turn out rusty. Stock that has been driven should always be allowed to remain in the pens over night. We send you our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which you will find full of valuable information in reference to curing of meat. If you will follow the directions contained therein closely, you will always have good results.

SALT FOR BRINE--BOILING BRINE--ROPY BRINE.

_Query.--W. M. writes: “Is common barrel salt or rock salt the best and cheapest to use for making brine? I have been using rock salt and I think it is sweet, but in using rock salt I have to boil it in order to dissolve the salt. Is it necessary to boil the water if it is pure? I am having trouble with my brine. It becomes jelly-like in summer and in winter. What is the cause of this?”_

Ans.--Evaporated salt, or what is known as the ordinary barrel salt of a good quality, is generally approved by butchers for making brine. Rock salt is much used by the large packers, as it is a stronger salt, but their facilities for curing meat are altogether different from those of the butcher and the ordinary curer.

It is not necessary to boil the water for brine if you know it to be perfectly pure. If its purity is doubted, it should always be boiled and the impurities which rise to the top should be thoroughly skimmed off, or if they precipitate the water should be carefully drawn off. When brine becomes jelly-like, you mean that it gets ropy. This condition is owing to a great many causes; sometimes it is due to the sugar which may be of low grade or unrefined, or where molasses and syrup are used, it quite often results. The best grade of granulated sugar should always be used for brine. Sometimes the ropiness of brine is due to the packages in which the meat is cured. This is especially true when syrup barrels are used. One of the most common causes of ropy brine is owing to the fact that the meat is cured in too warm a temperature. If the curing temperature is kept from 38 to 40 degrees, the brine will remain thin and not get ropy, but there is always risk in a temperature higher than we have given. If the meat has not been properly chilled before putting it in pickle, ropiness will also result. Great care should always be given to meat before putting it in the brine, as it will become soft and spongy if not chilled through to the bone. When in this condition it becomes pickle-soaked and contaminates the brine.

PACKING EGGS.

_Query.--D. B. writes: “I have been using your goods for some time back and they give the best of satisfaction. Can you give me a good recipe for packing eggs?”_

Ans.--You will find the following very efficient for preserving eggs: To each pailful of water add two pints of fresh slaked lime, one pint of salt and one ounce of White Berliner Konservirungs-Salze; mix well and then fill a barrel half full of this fluid, put the eggs into it and they will keep for a long time. The eggs, of course, should be stored in a cool room. A cool cellar will answer, but the temperature should never be allowed to get too low--never lower than 38 degrees.

HOW TO TEST VINEGAR.

_Query.--G. G. writes: “Do you sell a thermometer or gauge for testing vinegar? How am I to know the degree of strength of the vinegar without a gauge?”_

Ans.--Vinegar is tested with a special apparatus called a Twitchel Tester. Unless you use large quantities of vinegar, it would hardly pay you to go to the expense of buying such an apparatus as they are rather expensive and cost about $15 each. If you buy the vinegar by the barrel from the wholesale grocers and specify the degree of strength, they will give you the article desired. If you have any doubts as to the purity of vinegar there are various ways to test its purity. The adulterant of vinegar is sulphuric acid, which increases its indicated strength. Sulphuric acid can be detected by placing some of the vinegar to be tested in a saucer. Put some white sugar in the vinegar and evaporate to dryness by placing the saucer on top of a boiling water kettle. After the water has evaporated if the sugar turns black, the vinegar contains an adulterating acid. In lieu of a saucer, a teacup can be used in which the vinegar and sugar can be placed. The cup can then be placed in a basin of hot water in which it can be allowed to float until the vinegar in the cup is evaporated. If the vinegar contains free sulphuric acid the dry sugar will be found to be blackened. These are simple methods and are claimed to be more accurate as a test than the use of the Barium Chloride Test. The Barium Chloride Test is as follows: Mix one ounce of Chloride of Barium with ten ounces of water. A little of this mixture dropped in vinegar will quickly test its purity. If the vinegar contains sulphuric acid, this mixture will make it turn flaky at once, but if it remains clear and shows no change, the vinegar is free from sulphuric acid adulteration. Sulphuric acid makes vinegar show a very high test when, as a matter of fact, it is of very poor real vinegar strength.

SEPARATING WATER FROM LARD.

_Query.--C. W. writes: “I have my lard in such a shape that I don’t know what to do with it. It seems that the water will not separate from the lard and the mixture stays about the thickness of cream and about as white. Can you give me any instructions or advice?”_

Ans.--To overcome your difficulty, we would advise you to remelt the lard and heat it quite hot, even up to 190 to 200 degrees, but do not let it come to a boil. Then let the lard settle. The water and impurities will settle to the bottom. The lard will rise to the top. If you heat the lard to the boiling point of water, that is, 212 degrees, it would do no harm except that the lard will then foam and you will have to be careful so that it does not foam over the top of the kettle. When it foams, it will bring the impurities to the surface, besides much of the moisture will evaporate. Either of these methods will remove your difficulty. You can dry the lard by heating it sufficiently or you can melt the lard and have it hot enough so that the water will settle to the bottom. After the lard is melted, dip it from the kettle, or if you have a lard cooler, run it into the lard cooler; be careful, though, that all water which may be at the bottom of the kettle is drawn off first if your intend to run the lard into a lard cooler. You will have to get rid of the water that is in the lard, so do not stir the lard while the water is still in the kettle. If you dip the lard out of the top of the kettle and place it in a lard tierce, when the lard begins to cool, you can stir it and keep on stirring it until it is thick like cream; it should then be run into buckets. You can readily understand that if there is a large per cent of water in the lard, it will keep the lard soft, which is the trouble you are now having.

COLORING SAUSAGE MEAT ARTIFICIALLY IS ILLEGAL.

_Query.--J. R. B.: Will you send me a guarantee that your Rosaline for coloring sausage, etc., will stand the Pure Food Law? Also state particulars of Potato Flour, and whether it is guaranteed or not to be pure. I want to use the goods, and the house I deal with won’t guarantee them to me._

Ans.--In reply to your inquiry we beg to say that Rosaline for coloring bologna or other sausage would not be legal under your state law. However, you can produce even a better sausage, both in appearance and taste, by using =Freeze-Em-Pickle= according to the directions given in the enclosed circular, “A New Way to Make Bologna and Frankfort Sausage.” =Freeze-Em-Pickle= is legal in your state as well as all other states, as it does not contain any ingredient that has been ruled against under any of the food laws. We would urge you to adopt this method of making your sausage, not only because it complies with your law, but because you will make better sausage and will save yourself from loss of the meat juices which would be lost if you made your sausage in the old way. As regards potato flour, we do not handle this product and are not interested in it. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, our guaranteed binder, is far superior to potato flour for this purpose, and it is legal in your state if used in the proportion of not to exceed 5 per cent, which will bind your sausage very nicely, and be greatly to your advantage. 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. =Freeze-Em-Pickle= and Bull-Meat Sausage Binder are guaranteed by us under the Pure Food Laws, and every package of these preparations leaving our factory, carry a label to this effect. Unless these preparations comply with the Pure Food Law, we could not afford to put our guarantee on the package. You will find =Freeze-Em-Pickle= a very valuable aid to you for other purposes than for making your Bologna, Frankfort and other sausage. By its use you can make very fine hams, breakfast bacon, shoulders, corned beef, etc. If there are any other questions you would like to ask, we shall be pleased to have you write us, and we hope you will order a case of =Freeze-Em-Pickle= and a barrel of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, as their use will quickly convince you that you can not afford to do business without them.

WHITENING AND PURIFYING TALLOW.

_Query.--Messrs. S. B. write: “We render our tallow and other slaughter house offal all together in the regular tanks, and we would like to inquire whether you have anything that will whiten it after it is rendered.”_

Ans.--You can treat the tallow and whiten and purify it after you have rendered it in the regular manner in your tank if you are willing to go to the additional labor of treating it in your open jacket kettle. The proper way to do is to fill your open jacket kettle or caldron, whichever you may use, about one-third full of hot water; dissolve in this a one-pound package of our Lard and Tallow Purifier, then on top of this put the tallow after you have rendered it. It will make no difference whether the tallow is hot or whether it is cold. Get the water boiling hot; stir the water and the tallow frequently, about two minutes each time. This stirring should be at intervals of about five minutes for from fifteen to twenty minutes; then turn off the heat and permit the tallow to settle; next skim off the tallow from the top. More tallow can be treated in the same solution in the same manner; in fact, you can use the same solution in the jacket kettle two or three times. It should then be renewed with a fresh solution because the water will become impure, as the impurities of the tallow remain in the water and contaminate it; while in this condition the Tallow and Lard Purifier will exhaust its strength. Of course, more Lard and Tallow Purifier could be added to the same solution, but it is advisable to change the water occasionally as it will aid materially in purifying the tallow.

MEAT MOULDING IN A COOLER.

_Query.--M. & S. Co.: Please forward to us one of your brine tester hydrometers. Ought fresh beef to mould in a cooler where the temperature is 36 degrees, after being in there ten to fourteen days? We have lost meat this way in a cooler with three coats of white lead throughout and the temperature maintained by ice. Not only has meat moulded, but it has had a pine taste._

Ans.--As requested, we have sent you a hydrometer by express. You wish to know if fresh beef stored in a cooler ten or twelve days should begin to become mouldy. You say that your cooler is cooled by ice and that its temperature is 36 degrees. We are inclined to believe that your thermometer is not accurate. It would be very difficult to get the temperature of a cooler down to 36 degrees with ice. If an ice box is kept closed from Saturday night until Monday morning the temperature runs down to 36 or 37 degrees, but where it is in constant use, and opened from time to time throughout the day it is almost impossible to reduce the temperature to 36 degrees, unless the cooler is a very small one and a large amount of ice is packed in the ice chamber above. Try another thermometer. 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 frequently stored three weeks before it is consumed, and when kept that long it is tender and juicy--in other words, it is “ripe.” You say that your meat tastes of pine. You did not state whether or not your cooler was a new one or not. If it is a new one and has been properly constructed it should not give meat a taste; if it has been made from boards not thoroughly dry it will cause meat to taste of pine and it might even be responsible for some mould. Then again the walls may have been stuffed with green pine sawdust, and this will cause trouble. It may be that your cooler is a home-made one, not properly constructed; perhaps the circulation is not right. You merely state that the meat moulds and tastes of pine, whereas you should have given full details. If you will send us a drawing of your cooler and full details we will be able to give you the cause of your trouble and the remedy as well.

CAUSE OF FAILURE IN CURING BACON.

_Query.--T. K. writes: “We have been having trouble with our bacon. We put it down in second-hand lard tierces which we got from the large bakers here. We thoroughly cleansed them with boiling water before using them, and have been careful to weigh everything and measure the water we made the brine out of. We used brown sugar, the same as we have always used previous to this time. Our bacon was thoroughly cooled out before it was salted, and was never frozen. After being put in the pickle, we let it stand in the back part of the shop, where the temperature was often below freezing, but never cold enough to freeze the meat in the brine. We repacked it by moving from one tierce to another, always putting the same brine on the meat. We usually let our bacon in the brine for six weeks, unless it is very heavy, then we let it in a longer time. We usually keep four tierces full, and by moving from one to another always have the last one ready to take out and smoke. We used just the common barrel salt and have always had good results until now; in fact, this time the meat is perfectly sweet, but the fat of it is very dark colored, while heretofore it has always been nice and white. We do all our own killing. If you can tell us what we have done wrong, we would like to know, as we are always trying to improve whenever we can.”_

Ans.--You have been very fortunate indeed to have escaped trouble if you have always cured your bacon as you explain. There are many things which you have done while curing which are likely to cause you serious trouble, and which should never be done in the future. You are lucky that some of the meat did not spoil completely. It is never advisable to use lard tierces for curing, as the lard is run into the tierces while hot, and the fat naturally soaks into the wood. This fat in time becomes rancid, and is likely to contaminate the brine and also the meat, even though you scald out the tierces, you do not get the grease out of the pores of the wood. It is always best and safest to use new tierces for curing purposes; in fact, there is great risk in using anything else. You should never use brown sugar for sweet pickle, but the very best grade of granulated sugar. Brown sugar is always more likely to contain foreign substances detrimental to the brine, and in most cases causes the brine to turn ropy, sometimes even causing it to ferment. The purest of sugar should always be used for sweet pickle. You have deviated from one of the greatest essentials to successful curing by not observing the most important of all requirements and that is an even temperature of about 38 degrees during the entire period of curing. You state that your meat was sometimes in a temperature below freezing point, but never cold enough to freeze the meat in the brine. Such a degree of temperature is enough to ruin your meat, as the curing room should never be allowed to go below 36 degrees. The moment you get the temperature below 36 degrees, the meat ceases to take on salt and will not cure; besides, it is likely to spoil in the brine. It is all right to cure heavy Breakfast Bacon six weeks, but bacon from light or small hogs will cure perfectly in twenty to twenty-five days. The meat, however, at a temperature below freezing point would not cure in six weeks or even in a much longer time. We, of course, understand that the temperature in your curing room was not always below the freezing point, but it should never be that cold.

We are going to send you free of charge our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” and we will ask you to read carefully all we have to say on “General Hints for Curing Meats,” which covers the entire process, including chilling, overhauling, pumping, packing, temperature, etc. You will also note that we advise against the use of molasses and syrup barrels, as they are liable to cause ropiness of the brine. Also note what we have to say in regard to the handling of meat in curing, the chilling room, the condition of the meat, and the proper time to slaughter. If you will read carefully all we have to say in reference to curing in this book and will follow our methods and instructions, you cannot fail to turn out the finest kind of mild cured sweet pickled meat, having a most delicious flavor and a beautiful appearance. We ask you to make the trial and report results.

HOW TO TREAT PORK WHICH IS TOO SALTY.

_Query.--F. B. writes: “We have about twenty barrels of pork that have become very salty in the brine. What would you do and how can we get the brine out?”_

Ans.--Salt pork is usually put down in very strong brine, therefore it is perfectly proper that pickled pork should be very salty. 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. The meat should be soaked twenty-four hours altogether, and during the daytime the water should be changed every six hours. After the meat has been soaked, it can be placed in a mild brine, which should not be over 40 degrees strength, but if the meat can be disposed of in a few days, it is not necessary to keep it in the brine at all. It will be sufficient to place it on a shelf in the ice box; at the end of three or four days, it might be necessary to wash it off with fresh water.

IMITATION BULL-MEAT-BRAND SAUSAGE BINDER.

_QUERY.--G. H. F. writes: We recently ordered from a jobber 50 lbs. of Freeze-Em Pickle and 100 lbs. of Bull-Meat Sausage Binder. The Freeze-Em Pickle was not shipped but we received a barrel of what is claimed to be Bull-Meat Sausage Binder. We notice that the Bull-Meat Sausage Binder is not put up in the regular way. It is in a plain keg without any of your labels upon it. We are suspicious about its genuineness. Do you ever ship Bull-Meat Sausage Binder in this way? As yet we have not opened the package to test it._

Ans.--You can rest assured that you have not received our goods and you should return them at once. We never pack goods of ours of any description except in our well known packages with labels on the outside and circulars inside. We never sell Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder in any other manner than in red drums, which are familiar to you and the trade generally. These drums vary only in size, otherwise they are identical in every particular. They have our large label on the head and our long label on the side, just as you see them illustrated in the cuts which you will find in our circulars and advertisements. You have received some substituted article which the shipper has sought to impose upon you with the hope that you would not question its genuineness. We leave to your own ideas of fairness as to just how such a firm should be regarded. 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. Do not be misled by similar names or packages resembling ours.

COMPLYING WITH FOOD LAWS IN CURING MEATS.

_Query.--F. K. writes: “We should like to have you inform us what we can use in our state for curing meat and at the same time keep within the restrictions of the law. They have prosecuted butchers all over the state of Pennsylvania for using preservatives of some kinds, and it leaves everyone in the meat business at a loss to know what to do. We can’t keep meat or cure it without using preservatives of some kind. What would you advise us to do?”_

Ans.--We manufacture a preparation known as _Freeze-Em-Pickle_, which can be used for curing purposes and fully keep within the requirements of all food laws, both state and National, as well as laws of foreign countries. This article can be used in all kinds of sausage, fresh or dried. We guarantee that the use of this article will not in any manner conflict with the pure food laws of your state, and you are perfectly safe in using it. Its uses are so various that it would be impossible for us to give full directions for using it within the limits of these columns, but we take pleasure in sending you a booklet which will give you all necessary instructions and much other valuable information.

KEEPING CURED MEATS IN CELLARS DURING SUMMER.

_Query.--We have not enough cooler room to cure meat during the summer time, and we want to know if there is any way we can keep cured meat in our cellar during June weather without it becoming too salty._

Ans.--Even if you cure the meat in the winter and keep the cooler at a proper temperature and then leave the meat in the brine during the summer, the brine will turn sour, or become ropy, or thick, and will spoil the meat. 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. That would be impossible. Of course, having the brine weaker, it would not cause the meat to become so salty, but nevertheless, the brine would spoil, and it would then spoil the meat. To store meat in brine it is absolutely necessary to have the proper facilities and that means an ice machine. Our advice is that you cure enough meat during the winter according to the =Freeze-Em-Pickle= process to carry you until the middle or end of May, and then about the first of May begin curing some more meat in your regular cooler where the temperature is low enough so that the meat will cure properly.

STRONG LARD FROM BOARS.

_Query.--J. A. S. writes: “I have rendered 100 lbs. of lard made as follows: 75 lbs. from fat barrows, 25 lbs. from fat boars. I find that the lard is strong. Can you give me the cause of it?”_

Ans.--The odor from boar fat is so strong that such fat should not be used in first grade lard. Boar fat will only make a second grade of lard. We advise that you always keep it separate and sell it at a discount as a second grade of lard to bakers. The strong boar odor cannot be removed from the lard and the only thing that can be done is to whiten and purify it. In future render your barrow fat and boar fat separately.

TO MAKE HEAD CHEESE AND NEW ENGLAND STYLE HAM SOLID

Answer.--To make Head Cheese sticky and solid without putting hog rinds in it, use Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, putting from ten to twelve pounds of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder into 100 pounds of meat. The quantity used must be governed by the percentage proportion amount allowed by your State Pure Food Law. This will make a firm, solid Head Cheese, filling all the holes with a jelly-like mass. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder is an excellent binder for Head Cheese and other sausage products.

If you desire your New England Style Ham to be more sticky, you must take your pork trimmings and cut them about the size of an egg and mix with every 100 pounds of meat 1 pound of our =Freeze-Em-Pickle=, but do not put any salt with them whatsoever. Let the meat stand in the cooler for a week and you will find that the juices in the meat will have been thickened like glue and be sticky. Then take the meat out of the cooler; add 1½ pounds of salt to 100 lbs. of meat and season with Zanzibar-Brand Seasoning. Take a small quantity of this meat and grind it very fine and then mix the fine with the coarse pieces and stuff it. Cook it very carefully with slow heat, then put it in the cooler in a press or put boards on it and press it down with stones. Your New England Style Pressed Ham is then finished. Of course, you can use some Zanzibar-Carbon to color the casings. See directions for momentary dipping on page 117.

HOW TO PREVENT MOULD ON SAUSAGE, HAMS AND BACON.

_Query.--L. B. writes: “Will you please let me know if there is anything to prevent the moulding of summer sausage, hams and bacon?”_

Ans.--It is first necessary that you hang the sausage and meat in a dry, cool room. If you keep it in a room where the air is moist, it will mould rapidly. If lard is rubbed on the sausage and also the meat, it will aid materially in preventing moulding. When so used, it should be applied with a cloth and rubbed on both the meat and the skin side. If your meat has already begun to mould, it should first be washed with warm water and then permitted to dry for a few hours. When dry apply a little of the lard with a cloth.

SHARPENING KNIVES AND PLATES OF MEAT GRINDERS.

_Query.--F. W. F. Co. asks how to sharpen knives and plates of meat grinders._

Ans.--If the plates are grooved and rough, it will be necessary to have them turned off in a lathe. Then the knives should be sharpened on the cutting-edge just like a scissors. We do not mean the flat side which runs against the plate. But if the knife is also rough on the flat side, then the flat side should be smoothed off a little on a grindstone, and after the plate is turned down the knife should be ground with emery and oil right on the plate to make a tight fit. If you have no lathe, it will have to be done in a machine shop, and in that event we would advise you to get into touch with some of the large concerns which supply butchers’ cutlery, etc. We would be pleased to give you the names of some very good firms if you desire.

HOW TO CURE MEAT FROM FARM-KILLED HOGS.

_Query.--C. A. J. writes: I have more or less trouble in curing hams from farmer killed hogs. The trouble I have is in the marrow. Would you please tell me the best way for farmers to kill and chill hogs and how is best to cure such meat?_

Ans.--We take pleasure in sending you by mail under separate cover, our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making.” This book will give you all needed information with reference to meat curing and sausage making. You should study this carefully because it gives you the needed information for handling the meat before it is put in brine and during the time it is in the brine. It tells you how to pump the meats; how to make the brine for pumping; when to overhaul the meat; the temperature to cure in, etc. If you will follow all information given in these articles you will overcome the trouble you have had. You should also use =Freeze-Em-Pickle= for curing because by its use you will be able to turn out the finest mild-cured sweet pickled meats having a most delicious flavor, of good appearance. Moreover you would have a uniform cure and no loss from sour meats. You say that you have had trouble from hams souring at the marrow. Read carefully our article relating to the pumping of meats. By pumping you will overcome the souring at the marrow.

CAUSE OF FAILURE IN CURING MEATS.

_Query.--H. B. writes: I have been trying to cure corned beef, but it has a very funny taste. If you can tell me what is the trouble and how to avoid it I will be greatly obliged. I boil the water for making it into brine and use refrigerated meats. I thoroughly cleaned the barrel with scalding hot water. I did not cure the meat in a cooler, but in a room where the temperature runs from sixty to sixty-five degrees. The brine was seventy degrees strength, according to the pickle-tester. I did not use either sugar or molasses in the brine. The curing is a failure. Will you please give me all the information you can?_

Ans.--Your questions are their own answers. It is impossible to cure Corned Beef or any other kind of meat in a room where the temperature is as high as 60 degrees. It should not be higher than 45 degrees, and 40 degrees will be much better.

We refer you to our directions for curing Corned Beef in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making.”

The directions contained therein should always be followed to the letter, if good results are desired, and when they are followed you will turn out the very finest Corned Beef; it will be in perfect condition and have the sweet taste so much desired. The brine for 100 pounds of meat should be made as follows: 8 pounds of common salt, 1 pound of =Freeze-Em-Pickle=, 2 pounds of granulated sugar and 5 gallons of cold water. The meat should be cured in this brine ten to fifteen days, according to the weight and thickness of the pieces. Use only fresh meats that have been thoroughly chilled.

LARDING NEEDLES--HOW USED.

_Query.--F. P. C. writes: What are larding needles used for? I would like to receive a copy of your book._

Ans.--A larding needle is used for drawing fine or thin strips of bacon through beef tenderloins and other kinds of meat. Frequently small strips of dry salt pork are drawn through beef tenderloins, also through meat to be roasted. This makes the meat nice and juicy and also imparts to it a fine flavor. The strips which are to be drawn through the meat are cut very thin and usually square. They are about ⅛ to 3/32 of an inch in thickness.

WHY COOLER “SWEATS.”

_Query.--F. B. writes: “I would like a little information in regard to my cooler. In sultry weather it sweats terribly, almost changing its natural finish to white and the sweat rolls down from it. If you can give me any information as to how I can stop it, I will be very thankful to you. The inside of the cooler is perfectly dry; in fact, I could strike a match in it anywhere. Kindly let me know if there is any way of preventing this trouble.”_

Ans.--The trouble with your cooler is no doubt due to the moisture of the atmosphere and to some imperfection in insulation. The defect can be remedied by the manufacturers. You say the cooler is perfectly dry inside, therefore, its construction must be very good, but the outside insulation is not just right, so the outside becomes too cool and the moist air coming in contact with the cold surface readily condenses. If the cooler can be insulated in such a way that the outside will not become so cold, we have no doubt your trouble can be overcome.

LEGALITY OF WHITE BERLINER BRAND KONSERVIRUNGS-SALZE.

_Query.--O. B. writes: “We notice in the Scientific Meat Industry that you claim White Berliner Konservirungs-Salze can be used as a preservative for meats and keep within the requirements of the food laws of Pennsylvania. We wish to inquire whether one is perfectly safe in using this preparation as a preservative in Pennsylvania. Of course it is well understood that butchers must use a preservative of some kind, but they are interpreting the law in this state very strictly. Please let us hear from you fully in regard to this.”_

Ans.--White Berliner Konservirungs-Salze, when used in the proportion of four to eight ounces to each 100 lbs. of meat, complies with the pure food laws of Pennsylvania. No one need hesitate to use it for all the purposes for which we have recommended it in these columns, as there would be no grounds for action against anyone for its use. It is perfectly harmless and is everywhere recognized as such. No objection has been made against its use. We advise all butchers in Pennsylvania to make use of this preparation, as it will fully meet their requirements and absolve them from prosecution for the use of a meat preservative.

COLD-STORINE IS NOW LEGAL.

_Query.--L. B. S.: We notice that you have put Cold-Storine on the market again. Is this product now legal to use?_

Ans.--In reply to your favor of the 10th inst. we are pleased to inform you that Cold-Storine is now made under a new improved formula and contains no ingredients that have been ruled out under the National Pure Food Law or the Federal Meat Inspection Law. It is therefore now legal to use everywhere.

As you undoubtedly know, Cold-Storine is used to keep sausage, tripe, tongue, poultry, etc., in a good condition, and it does this work most satisfactorily. Simply by storing the sausage, tripe and other meats in a solution of Cold-Storine, each night, they can be displayed on the counters during the entire day, and yet keep in a good condition for a week or longer. This preparation can save you considerable money by preventing losses from spoiled goods.

You undoubtedly have your greatest difficulty in keeping link pork sausage in a good salable condition after it has been exposed on the counter for several days. 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. We enclose herewith our folder entitled, “Put a Dollar Into Cold-Storine and Take Out Ten,” which will give you further information on this product.

HOW TO GIVE A BRIGHT, RED COLOR TO BOLOGNA AND FRANKFORT SAUSAGE WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL COLORING.

_Query.--I am trying to make Bologna and Frankfort sausage, and make it all right except the color of the meat. I cannot get a nice pink color. I have tried Freeze-Em Pickle; it is all right, but it is too slow a process. I want to make my sausage out of fresh meat and smoke it in a smoke-house, but cannot get a nice pink color on the meat. It has a gray color and does not look right. I have a color on hand, but it don’t give satisfaction. It makes the meat too red and does not look good._

_Now, if you have anything that will overcome my trouble and will give my sausage a nice pink color, not red, and will comply with the National Pure Food Law, send it right along. I will remit on arrival. I would send the money now, but do not know the value of it. I make about twenty-five pounds of sausage at a batch._

Ans.--Your letter of recent date received. You say you are trying to make bologna and that you make it all right, but that the color of the meat is not a nice pink color. You say you tried the =Freeze-Em-Pickle= and that it worked all right, but that it is too slow a process. You further say you want to make your bologna out of fresh meat, but that you do not get a nice pink color when it is made that way. You say the meat is gray.

In all of that you are correct, and you will always have a gray sausage unless you make it with =Freeze-Em-Pickle= according to the directions in our circular. 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. You can do that in about two or three days. It is better, however, to let the meat cure for a week.

All you have to do is to trim out the beef and pork trimmings with which you intend to make the bologna, cut the pieces up about the size of an English walnut and sprinkle on =Freeze-Em-Pickle= in the proportion of one pound =Freeze-Em-Pickle= to every 100 pounds of meat. Mix the meat thoroughly and then pack it tightly in a tierce or a box, in fact a shallow box where the meat is not very thick is better, but pack it in tightly, and then put it in the cooler and let it remain there for at least four or five days, or a week, if possible. Then when you make bologna, the bologna will be better in flavor, will be juicier, will have a fine red appearance, and will be perfect in all respects. This we positively guarantee.

If you want to make bologna and frankfort sausage properly and have it right in all respects, you must take the necessary time and prepare the meat accordingly.

Formerly when artificial colors could be used in bologna and frankfort sausage, then it was all right to make it out of fresh meat and use an artificial inside color, but now, however, the food laws are such that you cannot use an inside color and therefore it is necessary to make it according to the =Freeze-Em-Pickle= process and with our =Freeze-Em-Pickle=. Then you will have a nice pink color on the inside of your bologna and frankfort sausage. You say you have a color on hand but it does not give satisfaction. It is a good thing that it does not give satisfaction, because if you were to use it, you could be arrested and fined and it would cause you a great deal of trouble; in fact, your reputation might be ruined if your name got in the papers stating that you used coloring on the inside of your bologna and frankfort sausage, because the food laws prohibit that.

By using the =Freeze-Em-Pickle= process you will make sausage that will in every way comply with your state food law and will at the same time, have a fine inside color, and excellent flavor and splendid keeping qualities. This will overcome all the troubles you mention, and all that is necessary is for you to prepare your meats a few days before hand. In fact, you can prepare a quantity of the meat before hand and keep it and use it along as you need it, making up 25 pounds at a time whenever you wish to do so, and leave the balance until a later occasion. Meat will keep this way in a good cooler indefinitely. This is the only way we can recommend your making sausage that will comply with your law and at the same time have the color you desire. Of course, it is a little more trouble, but it is trouble that will well repay you, because your sausage will really be of better quality and it will make a much better appearance.

HOW TO REMOVE WOOL FROM GREEN AND DRY SHEEP PELTS

_Question.--K. M. Co. writes: Can you give us a method for pulling the wool from green hides and also from dry hides? We get the dead carcasses from the feed and transit yards--a good many hundred pelts during a year. Lots of these pelts are torn. If we can pull the wool we will be able to realize more money out of handling these pelts._

(_Copyrighted by B. Heller & Co.; Reprint Forbidden._)

Answer.--As a general rule, wool is pulled from pelts by concerns that make this work a business. The method used is sweating and steaming the pelts. The pelts are hung on racks in a room into which live steam is turned. The pelts are kept hot for a number of days and the heat loosens the wool. It can then be easily pulled from the skin. The wool is then dried and baled.

You could not adopt this method profitably on a small scale, but we will give you a method that you can use which will prove a satisfactory way for small handlers of pelts who desire to pull the wool.

Make a pile of your pelts, wetting the pelts as you pile them. Cover the pelts with blankets or gunny sacks and allow the pile of pelts to sweat. The wet pelts being covered up tight, will become hot and sweat. This will loosen the wool and it can be readily pulled off.

Another way of removing the wool from pelts is to spread the pelts upon the floor, with the wool down next to the floor. On the skin side of the pelts place crushed fresh lime and dampen the lime. This wetting of the lime will cause it to slake and soak into the skin. The wool will be loosened by this treatment of the pelts and it can be easily pulled. This method, however, will spoil the skins and render them of no value.

The simpler method of handling the green hides by a butcher or other dealer who has only a small business equipment is to use the sweating process. By this method both the wool and the skins can be saved and sold. Ordinarily, by the sweating method the pelts are piled one on top of the other, some water sprinkled on each pelt, and the piles made from two feet to three feet high, and allowed to sweat. Great care must be taken not to let the pelts sweat too much, otherwise the hide will decay and in pulling the wool the hide will tear. As soon as the wool is sufficiently loosened from the pelt it should be pulled. The skins can then be salted and cured, or the skins can be put into a brine and cured. After the skins are thoroughly cured they are ready to be shipped to the tannery.

HOW TO MAKE PEPPERED BEEF

_Question.--G. E. O’F. writes--Can you furnish me with a recipe for making (Postromer) Peppered Beef? I am a user of your goods and will be under obligations to you for this information._

(_Copyrighted by B. Heller & Co.; Reprint Forbidden_)

Answer.--We do not clearly understand your question. If you mean cured Briskets that are covered with red pepper, or Paprika Compound, and then smoked, you can proceed as follows:

Cure your boneless briskets in corned beef brine with garlic in it. You will find a formula for this in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” a copy of which we are sending you. After the meat is cured, and before you place it in the smoke-house, rub our Chile Powder all over the outside of it, and then smoke it. Or, you can smoke it and cook it, and then rub the Chile Powder over it after it is cooked. In this way, you will use less Chile Powder.

If this does not fully answer your question write us again giving us more complete statement of what is desired.

UTILIZING FAT TRIMMINGS

_Question.--H. A. writes: Please send me information as to how to use up my fat trimmings._

Answer.--The best way to make use of your fat trimmings is to work them up into Pork Sausage, using plenty of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder to absorb the fat. When plenty of Bull-Meat Sausage Binder is used the fat stays in the sausage when fried instead of frying out. This keeps the meat from shrinking.

For Curing Hams, Bacon, Shoulders, Corned Beef, and for Curing Beef and Pork for making all kinds of Sausage

Freeze-Em-Pickle is a preparation for Curing Hams, Shoulders, Bacon, Corned Beef, Dry Salt Meat, Pickled Pork and Meat for Making Bologna and other kinds of sausage, etc. The Freeze-Em-Pickle Process retards fermentation and souring of brine when used according to our directions. It gives a delicious, mild flavor, curing the meat more uniformly and with a fine color. By its use curing is made easier, and anyone, without being experienced, can cure meats successfully.

Trimmings and sausage meats treated with dry Freeze-Em-Pickle can be stored away for six months, or even longer, and will then make better sausage than will fresh meats. Dry curing meats for sausage by the Freeze-Em-Pickle Process congeals the albumen in the meat, so that it and the juices do not draw out in the form of brine. It thus keeps more of the nutriment and flavor in the meat and sausage, making it more juicy and better when fried or otherwise cooked.

Those using the Freeze-Em-Pickle Process have an absolute guaranty in its use and can always depend upon getting good results when our directions are followed. It possesses the advantage which the curer of meat has been seeking for years, and it also fully complies with the State, National and Foreign Food Laws.

The Freeze-Em-Pickle Process of curing meats gives a mild, delicious flavored cure. Meats cured by it will not be too salty, but will have that sugar-cured flavor which is so much liked.

MAKING BOLOGNA AND FRANKFURT SAUSAGE

The Freeze-Em-Pickle Process is highly recommended for preparing meat for Bologna, Frankfurts, etc. When the meat for Bologna and Frankfurt Sausage is prepared by this Process, the sausage made will be juicy and delicious.

ELIMINATE MEAT-CURING TROUBLES

Packers, Butchers and Curers have many difficulties in turning out good, sweet-pickle cured meat. By adopting the Freeze-Em-Pickle Process these troubles are eliminated and the finished products are superior to those made in other ways.

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