38 On the Method of preparing or smoking Beef at Hamburgh. 



room apertures are made about thirty centiinetres diameter: 

 and at one end, one or two other aj)ertares of fifty centimetres in 

 breadth by seventy in heii^ht are made, which may be closed at 

 pleasure by means of a slmtter. 



In large establishment's, where not only jiieces of beef of all 

 sizes are smoked, but also hams, sausages and tongues, the drying- 

 or smoking-room is erected over the salting-ronm, and the smoke 

 is introduced through apertures made in the floor or in the sides, 

 and which apertures may be opened and closed according to 

 the quantity of smoke wanted. 



The method generally pursued, in order to prepare smoked 

 beef, consists in first salting the meat before subjecting it to the 

 action of the smoke in the drying-room. After having chosen 

 the pieces of beef which coutain the fewest bones, they are 

 allowed to remain untouched for two or three days, that the 

 meat may become more tender, taking care to place them in a 

 very cool place, not humid, and defended from the rays of the 

 sun. Care is taken not to employ too lean meat, because it takes 

 salt badly, and the larger pieces of fat are removed, because they 

 on the other hand are prcjudical. Pieces which weigh from eight 

 to twelve kilogrammes are preferable to smaller, which contain 

 always more or less bone, notwithstanding the operation of taking 

 out the bones to wiiich they are subjected. When they smoke 

 pieces of beef which weigh from four to eight kilogrannnes, it is 

 with a view to use them soon afterwards, and in this case they 

 are smoked much less than when they are intended to be ke{)t 

 longer. 



Winter is the j)eriod when the greatest quantities of smoked 

 beef are prepared, because putrefaction is less to be guarded 

 against at this season, and at the same time the meat is always 

 most tender. 



Old salt (clean muriate of soda) is regarded as the best, and 

 it is used grated or pounded. New salt being generally deli- 

 quescent is less adapted for salting, because it comnuuiicates a 

 bad taste to the meat, renders its colour dull, and docs not give 

 it the consistency requisite to its preservation. 



In order to salt meat, the pieces are placed on the oak table 

 before mentioned, when salt is strewed over tliem, and they are 

 afterwards rubbed on all sides with a flat stone, in order that thev 

 may impregnate the more. This operation is repeated until the 

 meat absorbs salt no longer. There is no fear of oversalting ; 

 for it can only absorb a certain quantity of salt, and it is easy to 

 freshen it by steeping it in water before using it. When this 

 operation is terminated, the beef is heaped up in layers in a tub, 

 at the bottom of which some brine has been put. This brine is 

 prepared by boiling salt with seven or eight times its weight of 



water. 



