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FARMER' 8 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



Materials for producing smoke — For 

 producing smoke, oak or hickory sawdust 

 or chips, or green oak or hickory wood, 

 is perhaps best. In many farm smoke- 

 houses corn cobs are used and occasion- 

 ally wheat straw. Ostertag recommends 

 juniper branches, beech chips with jun- 

 iper berries, tanbark with mahogany 

 chips, and other hard wood material. 

 Fir, pine, mulberry, persimmon, etc, are 

 objectionable on account of imparting a 

 bad flavor to the meat. The fire should 

 be kept moist, so as to produce plenty of 

 smoke and not too much flame and heat. 

 If the fires are kept going 15 hours a 

 day, the process may be finished in a 

 week, but smoking may be kept up a 

 few hours a week for two months or 

 more. In freezing weather the process 

 must be shortened, for alternate thaw- 

 ing and freezing hasten the decomposi- 

 tion of the meat. 



Smoking methods — In abattoirs two 

 methods of smoking are recognized — 

 slow and rapid. By the first method 

 meat is smoked for several days at 

 a temperature of about 77° F., while in 

 the second method the duration is only 

 a few hours and the temperature 212° 

 F. On the farm, the smokehouse may 

 be built of any convenient material, but 

 it is desirable to fireproof the inside. 

 The floor may be dirt. If an old kettle 

 is used to hold the fire, it may be placed 

 on a sliding plank, which enables the at- 

 tendant to replenish the fire without 

 going into the smokehouse. A barrel 

 placed over a small pit may serve for 

 smoking small quantities of meat. The 

 fire may be maintained in the pit under 

 the barrel, the pit opening to the outside 

 under the edge of the barrel. If de- 

 sired, the barrel may be placed 6 or 8 

 feet from a small stone fireplace con- 

 necting with the bottom of the barrel 

 by means of a stovepipe in a trench. 

 The advantage in the second method is 

 that the meat does not become over- 

 heated. 



As a brine for curing, Boss recom- 

 mends for 100 pounds of meat, 8 pounds 

 salt, 2 pounds brown sugar and 2 ounces 

 saltpeter in 4 gallons of water. In sum- 

 mer, the brine should be boiled and 

 cooled before using. In this pickle ba- 

 con cures in four to six weeks, ham in 

 six to eight weeks. Again, according 

 to Boss, it is desirable to wash all salt 

 from the surface of the meat before 

 smoking. Unquestionably it will pay 

 the farmer to construct a permanent 



smokehouse, say 6x8 feet, of brick or 

 frame, with a pipe for conducting the 

 smoke from a fire pot outside the house. 

 Ventilation must be provided for near 

 the top of the smokehouse. If the fire 

 is kept up continuously night and day, 

 smoking may be complete within two 

 days, or a fire may be run every other 

 day for two weeks. Properly smoked 

 meat should have a light amber color. 

 As already stated it is important that 

 meat should not be allowed to freeze 

 during the process of smoking, for smoke 

 cannot penetrate frozen meat, and freez- 

 ing and thawing favor decomposition of 

 the meat. 



Ham and bacon curing — In packing 

 houses, curing is done under careful 

 control. Hams are chilled about 48 

 hours and then injected at five points 

 with a mixture containing 80 pounds 

 sugar, 15 pounds saltpeter, 5 pounds bo- 

 racic acid and 5 pounds glycerin in 

 just enough salt solution to dissolve 

 these materials. "Wilder recommends that 

 hams be piled up and dry salted over 

 night before pickling. Most packing 

 house hams are pumped, but the best 

 grades are pickled without the use of a 

 pump. Hams have a better flavor when 

 syrup is used in the place of sugar. 

 California hams or shoulders are in- 

 jected profusely with a pickle containing 

 about the usual proportion of salt, salt- 

 peter, sugar and borax. Boiled hams 

 are cooked by steam at a temperature of 

 160 to 165° F., for four or five hours. 

 The hams are cured before boiling and 

 are smoked lightly afterwards. 



The packers have found that sugar 

 improves the flavor of bacon, but gives 

 it a dark color. "Where a light color is 

 desired, less sugar is used. Good, light 

 colored bacon is obtained by curing 20 

 days in a dry mixture of 75 pounds salt, 

 25 pounds sugar and 6 pounds saltpeter. 

 If meats are smoked before they are 

 thoroughly cured, they develop gas and 

 become "puffy." The almost white, dry- 

 salt sides are obtained by tising no sugar 

 and more saltpeter than in the common 

 formula. 



Sausages, heart and heads — I n sau- 

 sage making, we have a means of ren- 

 dering palatable a great variety of meat 

 trimmings which are not attractive in 

 their original form. Some preservative 

 is required if the sausage is not intended 

 for immediate consumption. The pre- 

 servative recommended by Wilder for all 

 kinds of cooked sausage contains 72 



