Secrets of meat curing and sausage making / how to cure hams, shoulders, bacon, corned beef, etc., and how to make all kinds of sausage, etc. to comply with the pure food laws

by B. Heller & Co.

CAUSE OF “RUSTY” MEAT.

Query.—R. J. B. writes: “We keep our meat in an ice box 35 degrees cold and the barrels we used in curing it were galvanized, and we have used them for five years. We use the regular pickling salt. Our meat comes out rusty. What can you suggest?”

Ans.—If your cooler is kept at 35 degrees, you must have an ice machine instead of the regular ice box or cooler, and 35 degrees is too cold for curing purposes. An even temperature of 38 degrees is the proper one for curing meat, and all packers who use ice machines should endeavor to keep their coolers at a temperature not varying from 37 to 39 degrees, and they never should be allowed to get above 40 degrees. Meat will not cure in any brine or take on enough salt when dry salted if stored in a room that is below 36 degrees. If meat is packed even in the strongest kind of brine and put into a cooler which is kept at 32 to 33 degrees and thus left at this degree of cold for three months, it will come out of the brine only partly cured; it will, therefore, only keep for a short time and will start to decompose when taken into a higher temperature. If you have used galvanized iron tanks for five years, it is possible that the zinc or the galvanizing is worn off on the inside of the vats so as to expose the iron. Brine will rapidly rust iron and that will cause your meat to become rusty. Galvanized iron tanks for curing are all right until the galvanizing is worn off and the moment this happens, the tanks are useless for curing purposes. Salt that is rusted or salt that is shoveled with a rusty shovel will also cause rusty meat. It is absolutely necessary that the salt be pure and free from rust. If live stock is driven for some distance and slaughtered while it is overheated, the meat will not cure properly and will also turn out rusty. Stock that has been driven should always be allowed to remain in the pens over night. We send you our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which you will find full of valuable information in reference to curing of meat. If you will follow the directions contained therein closely, you will always have good results.