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.

SALT FOR BRINE—BOILING BRINE—ROPY BRINE.

Query.—W. M. writes: “Is common barrel salt or rock salt the best and cheapest to use for making brine? I have been using rock salt and I think it is sweet, but in using rock salt I have to boil it in order to dissolve the salt. Is it necessary to boil the water if it is pure? I am having trouble with my brine. It becomes jelly-like in summer and in winter. What is the cause of this?”

Ans.—Evaporated salt, or what is known as the ordinary barrel salt of a good quality, is generally approved by butchers for making brine. Rock salt is much used by the large packers, as it is a stronger salt, but their facilities for curing meat are altogether different from those of the butcher and the ordinary curer.

It is not necessary to boil the water for brine if you know it to be perfectly pure. If its purity is doubted, it should always be boiled and the impurities which rise to the top should be thoroughly skimmed off, or if they precipitate the water should be carefully drawn off. When brine becomes jelly-like, you mean that it gets ropy. This condition is owing to a great many causes; sometimes it is due to the sugar which may be of low grade or unrefined, or where molasses and syrup are used, it quite often results. The best grade of granulated sugar should always be used for brine. Sometimes the ropiness of brine is due to the packages in which the meat is cured. This is especially true when syrup barrels are used. One of the most common causes of ropy brine is owing to the fact that the meat is cured in too warm a temperature. If the curing temperature is kept from 38 to 40 degrees, the brine will remain thin and not get ropy, but there is always risk in a temperature higher than we have given. If the meat has not been properly chilled before putting it in pickle, ropiness will also result. Great care should always be given to meat before putting it in the brine, as it will become soft and spongy if not chilled through to the bone. When in this condition it becomes pickle-soaked and contaminates the brine.