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542 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Dec., 1899. 
SWINE. 
BACON-CURING FROM THE ENGLISH POINT OF VIEW. 
Tur following article on the above subject was written by Mr. Loudon 
M. Douglas in the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, and we are 
indebted to that journal for the illustrations which accompany the article :— 
MODERN HAM AND BACON CURING. 
The great strides made in the business of bacon-curing during recent years, 
and the constant developments that are taking place, render it necessary that 
from time to time the process of curing, as modified and brought up to date, 
should be described in some periodical accessible to everyone. 
The process of curing is simple enough, cousisting as it does for the most 
part of adding preserving substances to the meat and allowing time for such 
materials to saturate the tissues. This preserving process checks the develop- 
ment of bacteria and renders it possible to keep bacon, and other meats similarly 
treated, for an indefinite period. 
For the purpose of slaughtering and preparing the animals for the cellars, the 
pigs are hoisted by means of a friction hoist driven from the main driving shaft of 
the factory, by one of the hind legs, to an overhead bar. The moment they reach 
this bar the slaughterman passes a sharp knife quickly into the neck through 
the jugular vein, and in the direction of the heart, but withdraws it instantly. 
The pigs bleed quickly and suffer very little pain. They are immediately pushed 
along the track bar to the bleeding passage, and are allowed to hang till all the 
blood has flowed from them. hey are then flung on a dumping table, and the 
leg chains are removed. They are at once rolled into a scalding vat, nearly 
filled with water at 180 degrees Fahr. ‘The carcasses are rolled in this vat until 
the hair and bristles come away easily in the hand. They are then hoisted by 
means of a “cradle” on to a scuttling table, where the remains of the hair and 
the bristles are removed by means of bell-shaped scrapers. ‘They are next 
swung by an oblique board on to the track bar again; and are brought to the 
singeing furnace, in which they are singed for about a quarter of a minute, lowered 
again to the track bar, and plunged into a cold bath, from which they are 
immediately hoisted to the track bar again; and while sprays of cold water are — 
playing upon the carcasses, the latter are scraped by means of flat hand-scrapers 
free from the burnt surface. The intestines and offal are then removed and 
sorted in various departments, and the carcasses, after again being cleansed, are 
split down the back, the vertebral column removed, and the two sides, including 
the vertebral column, the head, the feet, and the flick lard or kidney fat, are 
weighed. ‘This is what is known as “dead weight,” or the weight upon which 
payment is made (the dead weight of a hog weighing alive 16 stone would be 
12 stone). From the dead weight it is the universal custom to deduct 2 Ib. per 
side for beamage,* and the price then is the price of the net weight. After the 
weight is ascertained, the head and fore feet are completely severed, the kidney 
fat and vertebral column are removed, and the sides are disconnected and allowed 
to cool in the hanging-house for a period of from 6 to 12 hours, according to the 
time of the year. They are then placed in a chill-room for about 12 hours, 
until the meat registers, on a meat-testing thermometer, 40 degrees Fahr. This 
temperature is obtained by keeping the chill-rooms at 38 degrees Fahy. The 
bladebones are now removed, Gad? the sides trimmed and taken to the cellars. 
WILTSHIRE BACON. 
On being taken to the cellars, the sides are laid ona bench and pumped ata 
uniform pressure of about 40 1b. per square inch, at the places indicated in Fig. 
1, with a pickle made from the formula:—Salt, 50; granulated saltpetre, 5; 
dry antiseptic, 5 (cane sugar, in winter only, 5). 
* © Beamage ” is the deduction made in weighing pigs warm. The moisture which evaporates 
before the flesh becomes rigid is estimated at 2 lb. per side, or 4 lb. per pig all over. It is the 
universal custom for bacon-curers to deduct this amonut. 
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