m%PAfttm  MEAT  FOR  FOOtf* 
445 
It  is  abroad,  a  regular  and  profitable  branch  of  industry. 
Jour*  Frank.  Imt.^  July,-  1867. 
PREPARING  MEAT  FOR  FOOD. 
By  Arthur  Hill  EE  ass  all-,  M.  D.,  Wimpolb  Street 
[An  English  Patent,    Dated  February  15,  1866.} 
This  invention  has  for  its  objects  improvements  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  meat  for  food.  For  this  purpose  the  inventor  selects- 
the  leanest  joints  or  parts  of  beef,  or  of  any  other  kind  of  meat ;: 
these  he  first  deprives  of  all  bone,  tendon,  and  visible  fat,  and 
the  red  part  or  flesh  is  then  cut  into  pieces  of  about  an  inch  or 
So  in  diameter,  These  are  then  passed  through  a  sausage  or 
mincing  machine,  by  the  knives  of  which  they  are  cut  into  small 
pieces  and  minced*  The  minced  meat  is  then  spread  in  very 
thin  layers  upon  perforated  trays  by  preference  of  galvanized 
iron  i?  this  spreading  is  effected  either  by  band  labor,  or  it  may 
be  by  a  spreading  apparatus  attached  to  the  mouth  of  the  sausage 
machine.  The  trays  when  spread  are  transferred  either  to  a 
drying  closet  heated  by  means  of  steam,  or  to  a  hot-air  room  or 
chamber  (heated  by  flues  passing  through  it),  in  either  of  which 
the  meat  becomes  deprived  of  the  greater  portion  of  its  water, 
and  assumes  a  crisp  and  friable  condition.  Special  care  is  taken 
that  the  meat  is  dried  at  a  temperature  below  the  coagulating 
point  of  albumen.  The  meat  thus  dried  is  then  ground  in  a 
toillj  or  under  mill-stones  of  stri  table  construction,  after  which  it 
is  passed  either  through  sieves  or  a  flour-dressing  machine,  a 
very  fine  u  flour  of  meat  "  being  thus  obtained.  This  powder  is 
now  subjected  to  a  further  drying  process,  whereby  the  whole  or 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  water  of  the  meat  is  dissipated.  By 
preference,'  dry  the  greater  portion,  say  about  two-thirds  of  the 
powder,  at  a  temperature  below  the  coagulating  point  of  albu- 
men, and  dry  the  remainder  at  a  high  temperature,  say  at  about 
160°  F.  ;  the  two  portions  are  subsequently  mixed  together.  By 
thus  drying  a  portion  of  the  powder  at  a  higher  temperature,  a 
superior  flavor  is  imparted  to  the  powder  than  if  the  whole  of  the 
powder  were  dried  at  a  low  temperature.  For  some  purposes, 
however,  the  whole  of  the  powder  may  at  the  second  drying  b<? 
