14 
PACKING PROVISIONS FOR TILE ENGLISH MARKI 
but flattering to our taste or skill. I could very readily 
see why our beef and pork bore so bad a name in the 
market, and was so much of a drug. The meat was 
not inferior; but it was badly messed, worse cut and 
cured, and the brine nearly as red as blood; and pre¬ 
senting, by the side of the other, not a very palatable 
appearance. The large hogs, or heavy pork, which 
is uniformly cut into six-pound pieces, is packed in 
tierces, and is then called India or Navy pork. The 
four-pound pieces are put in barrels. 
A Barrel of Prime Pork should contain from 
twenty-five to thirty pieces, cut from the ribs, loins, 
chines, and belly pieces, all lying between the ham 
and shoulder, forming what is called the broadside or 
middle. Three hams and two hind-leg pieces, or 
three hind-leg pieces and two hams, and fifteen or 
twenty pieces from other parts of the hog, except no 
part of the head. The meat must be of prime quality, 
firm, and well-fattened, cut into four-pound pieces, 
exactly fifty to the barrel, and weigh not less than 
two hundied pounds nett, and must have a good cap¬ 
ping of Si. Ubes, or other coarse salt. This is indis¬ 
pensable. Bacon mess pork is so caked when the full 
proportion of prime pieces in prime mess is withheld ; 
there are, therefore, various classes of bacon pork. 
Tierces contain the same number, that is, fifty pieces 
of six pounds, and the same rules as to messing are 
to be observed as in the barrel. The tierce must have 
not less than three hundred pounds, and well capped 
with salt It is usual to put in fifty-two pieces. 
In bacon mess, the number of prime mess pieces 
should be marked upon the head. No part of the 
hog’s head is allowed in any instance. 
Beef. —This is uniformly cut into eight-pound 
pieces, and cured, in all particulars, precisely as pork, 
except a larger proportion of saltpetre is used in pack¬ 
ing. Beef is almost entirely packed in tierces. For 
export, tierces only should be used. 
A Tierce of Prime India Beef should contain forty 
two pieces, eight pounds each, and weigh not less 
than three hundred and thirty-six pounds nett. It 
should be made from well-fed bullocks, and contain 
thirty-two pieces of loins, flanks, rumps, plates, but¬ 
tocks, and briskets; ten pieces, consisting of four 
chines, two mouse buttocks, two shells of rumps, two 
pieces cut close up to the neck, with bone taken out; 
no shins, thigh-bones, or neck. To be well salted, 
and capped with St. Ubes or other coarse salt. 
A Tierce of Prime Mess Beef should contain thirty- 
eight pieces of eight pounds, and weigh not less than 
three hundred and four pounds nett. It should be 
made from prime fat cows or heifers; twenty-eight 
pieces of prime, from loins and chines, with one rib 
in each, flanks, rumps, plates, briskets, and buttocks; 
with ten coarse pieces, consisting of two neck pieces, 
not the scrag, two thighs or buttock bones, with some 
meat to them, two shells of rumps, two or even four 
chines, not cut too close to the neck, and two shoulder 
pieces with part of the blade bone in them, well salted 
and capped with St. Ubes or other coarse salt. The 
tierces, whether for beef or pork, must be made of 
well-seasoned oak, with eight wooden, and three iron 
hoops on each end. 
i\o pains to be spared in preparing and putting up, 
us the neat and tasty appearances of the packages will 
insure a more ready sale, than if put up in a slovenly 
manner. 
It may be useful to yourself or to your neighbors, to 
see the mode of cutting up the carcase of an ox in 
London. The provisions exported from mat metropo¬ 
lis, rule the trade in the West India Islands, and in 
other distant places abroad. It is very proper, there¬ 
fore, that American packers should understand the 
English methods. 
The annexed cut will show the London mode: 
CUTTING UP AN OX IN LONDON.— Fig. I. 
Hind- Quarter. 
1. Loin. 
2. Rump. 
3. Aitch or adz-bone. 
4. Buttock. 
5. Hock. 
6. Thick flank. 
7. Thin flank. 
Fore- Quarter 
8. Fore-rib. 
9. Middle-rib. 
10. Chuck-rib. 
11. Brisket. 
12. Leg of mutton piece. 
13. Clod and sticking and 
neck. 
14. This, properly speaking, is the brisket, and is 
left out in the English cut. In a good ox of the Dur¬ 
ham breed, it is a great point, and it gives very choice 
pieces for packing India Beef, as they are good meat, 
and perfectly free from bone. 
The relative value of these different cuts of an ox 
may be stated at their current value, viz. r when the 
rumps, loins, and fore ribs of a fine ox, will fetch 8d. 
a pound, the thick flank, buttock, and middle rib, will 
fetch 6d.; the aitch or adz-bone, thin flank, chuck-rib, 
brisket and leg of mutton piece, 5d.; the clod and 
sticking and neck, 3d.; and the legs and shins, 2d. af 
pound Such is the difference in value of the differ¬ 
ent cuts of an ox in the meat markets in London. 
It is well to observe that the greatest attention 
should be paid to making the brine, or pickle, whethei 
for Beef or Pork. Pure water should be used in its 
manufacture; for the sediment, from that which is 
impure, will settle down upon the meat, and give it a 
bad color, and a slimy feel. Where river or rain 
water is used (and soft water should always be pre¬ 
ferred), it would be exceedingly desirable to filter if 
through sand ; or, at least, to strain it. A. great deal 
of Beef and Pork is utterly unfit for exportation, by 
the use of unfiltered water in making the brine. 
In packing provisions, the tierces, barrels, &c., 
should be made with great care and neatness. Clean, 
handsome ash staves are preferred ; and of such other 
hard, close-grained woods as will not stain the meat. 
Tierces should have four iron hoops or three ; one at 
each bilge, and one at each chime; barrels with an 
iron hoop at each chime. The fuller hooped the bar¬ 
rel or tierce is, the better. 
We noticed recently that the first year after the 
modification of the British Tariff, up to 31st August 
1842, 3,367 barrels only of American beef were im 
ported into Liverpool. The past year, up to 31st 
August, there were imported into the same place. 
