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.

SCRAPING HOGS IN A PACKING HOUSE.

After the hog has been gambrelled and hung up, either on a gambrel-stick or on rollers, it should be gutted. After it is gutted, it should be washed out thoroughly, with plenty of cold, fresh water. As every Packer understands how to gut a hog, it is not necessary to go into details.

GUTTING HOGS IN A MODERN PACKING HOUSE.

CUTTING THE HIND SHANK BONE.
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a

b

We advise the cutting of the hind shank bone after the hog is dressed, so as to expose the marrow, as shown in cuts A and B. It is the best thing to do, as it helps to chill the marrow. The chunk of meat that is usually left on the hind foot, above and next to the knee, if cut loose around the knee, will be drawn to the ham, and when chilled, will remain on the ham instead of being on the hind foot, as shown in cut A. After the meat is cut, the bone can be sawed, in the same place where the hock would be cut from the ham later. See cut B. The hog will hang on the sinews the same as if the bone had not been sawed, except that the cut bone separates and exposes the marrow so it can be properly cooled. On heavy hogs this is quite a gain, as the chunk that would remain on the foot would be of little or no value there, but when left on the ham, sells for the regular ham prices.

FACING HAMS AND PULLING LEAF LARD IN A MODERN PACKING HOUSE. (Copyrighted; Reprint Forbidden.)

The first two figures in the above cut show two men Facing Hams. The first man faces the Ham at his right hand side and the second man faces the Ham on his left hand side, as the Hogs pass by.

The advantage of Facing Hams right after the hogs are dressed, is this. The knife can be drawn through the skin and through the fat close to the meat, and the fat will peel right off the fleshy part of the Ham. Between the fat and lean meat of the Ham, between the legs, there is a fibrous membrane which is very soft and pliable. When the knife is run through the skin and fat, it will run along the side of this membrane, making a clean face for the Ham. That part remaining on the Ham will shrink to the Ham and will form a smooth coating over the lean meat, which closes the pores and makes the Ham look smooth and nice when it is smoked. It also makes a much smoother cut along the skin. The skin when cut warm will dry nicely and look smooth when cured, whereas if it is trimmed after the meat is chilled, it looks rough and ragged. Facing Hams also allows the escape of the animal heat more readily. If Hams are not faced until after the Hogs have been chilled, this fat must be trimmed off and the Hams will not look nearly so smooth as they will if this tissue and fat is removed while the hog is warm.

The second two men in the opposite illustration are Pulling Leaf Lard. The Leaf Lard should always be pulled out of the hogs in summer, as it gives the hogs, as well as the Leaf Lard, a better chance to chill. During the winter months it can be pulled loose, but can be left hanging loosely in the hog, from the top. In this way it will cool nicely, and it will also allow the animal heat to get out of the hog. Most of the large packing houses pull out the Leaf Lard in the winter as well as summer, and hang it on hooks in the chill room to chill. Leaf Lard that is properly chilled, with the animal heat all taken out of it, makes much finer lard than when pulled out of the hog and put into the rendering tank with the animal heat in it.

SPLITTING HOGS IN A MODERN PACKING HOUSE. (Copyrighted; Reprint Forbidden.)

Splitting can be done in several different ways. Where the back of the hog is to be cut up for pork loins, the hog is simply split through the center of the backbone, so that one half of the backbone remains on each loin. Packers who wish to cut the sides into Short or Long Clears or Clear Bacon Backs run the knife down on both sides of the backbone, as close to the backbone as possible, cutting through the skin, fat and lean meat; then the hog should be split down on one side of the backbone. The backbone should remain on the one side until the hog is cut up and it can then easily be sawed off with a small saw. By cutting or scoring the back in this way for making boneless side meat, the sides will be smooth and there will not be much waste left on the bone as when the backbone is split and half of it left on each side and then is peeled out after the meat is chilled and is being cut up.

VENTILATION IN HOG CHILL ROOM.

HOG CHILL ROOM IN A MODERN PACKING HOUSE. (Copyrighted; Reprint Forbidden.)

Many chill rooms are not properly built. There should be at least from 24 to 36 inches of space between the ceiling of the chilling room and the gambrel-stick, or more if possible, in order to enable the shanks to become thoroughly chilled. The animal heat which leaves the carcass naturally rises to the top of the cooler, and unless there is space between the ceiling and the top of the hog the heat will accumulate in the top of the cooler where the temperature will become quite warm; this will prevent the marrow in the shank and the joints from becoming properly chilled. It is this fact that accounts for so much marrow and shank sour in hams.

TEMPERATURE OF CHILL ROOM.
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All Packers who have a properly built cooler for chilling hogs and who are property equipped with an ice machine will find the following rules will give the best results. Those who are not properly equipped should try to follow these rules as closely as they can with their equipment.

A hog chill room should be down to from 28 to 32 degrees Fahrenheit when the hogs are run into it. As the cooler is filled, the temperature will be raised to as high as 45 or 46 degrees F., but enough refrigeration must be kept on so the temperature is brought down to 36 degrees by the end of 12 hours after the cooler is filled, and then the temperature must be gradually reduced down as low as 32 degrees by the time the carcasses have been in the cooler 48 hours. In other words, at the end of 48 hours the cooler must be down to 32 degrees.

All large hog coolers should be partitioned off between each section of timbers, into long alleys, so that each alley can be kept at its own temperature.

In the improper chilling of the carcasses lies the greatest danger of spoiling the meat. The greatest care must be given to the proper chilling, for if the carcasses are not properly chilled, it will be very difficult to cure the meat, and it will be liable to sour in the curing. Meat from improperly chilled carcasses, even with the greatest care afterwards, will not cure properly. Therefore, one of the first places to look for trouble when Hams are turning out sour is to look to the chilling of the meat, as it is nine chances out of ten that this is where the trouble started from. We have found by experience that by deviating only a few degrees from these set rules, the percentage of sour meat is surprisingly increased.

It has always been considered an absolute necessity to have an open air hanging room to allow the hogs to cool off in the open air before they are run into the cooler. It has always been considered that this saves considerable money in the refrigeration of the hogs. However, by the experiments made in some of the large Packing Houses, it has been demonstrated that this economy is very much over-estimated. There are certain conditions which must be closely adhered to for the safe handling and curing of pork products, and the most important of these is the proper temperature. In the outside atmosphere the proper temperature rarely prevails. Hogs that are left in the open air on the hanging floor over night are generally either insufficiently chilled or are over-chilled the next morning, depending upon the outside temperature of the air. We feel that it is of advantage, however, to run the hogs into an outside hanging room and to allow them to dry for one or two hours before putting them into the chilling room.

Packers who cure large quantities of hogs must see to it that their chill rooms are properly constructed and have sufficient refrigeration, so the temperature can be kept under perfect control at all times. The cooler should be partitioned off lengthwise, between each line of posts, making long alleys to run the hogs into, each one of which can be regulated as to its temperature separately from the others. The hogs can be run into one of these alleys as fast as they are killed and should the temperature get up above 50 degrees F., the hogs can be run out of this into another. The cooler in which hogs are chilled should never go above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and a properly constructed cooler can be kept below this temperature.

While the cooler is being filled, the temperature should be held at between 45 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and should be kept at this temperature for about two hours after filling. At the end of two hours, all of the vapor will have passed away, being taken up by and frozen onto the refrigerator pipes, and the hogs will begin to dry. When the hogs begin to show signs of drying, or in about two hours after the refrigerator is filled, more refrigeration should be turned on, and the temperature should be gradually brought down, so that in twelve hours from the time the cooler is filled, the temperature should be brought down to 36 or 37 degrees temperature Fahrenheit. If the temperature is not brought down to 36 or 37 degrees F. in 12 hours it means a delay in removing the animal heat, and a tendency for decomposition to set in. If the temperature is brought down lower than 32 degrees Fahrenheit during the first 12 hours, the outside surface of the carcasses are too rapidly chilled, which tends to retard the escape of the animal heat. It is known, from practical experience, that where the meat is chilled through rather slowly, the animal heat leaves the meat more uniformly. Too rapid chilling on the outside seems to clog up the outside of the meat so that the heat in the thick portions does not readily escape.

The first 12 hours of the chilling of all kinds of meat and the removal of the animal heat during this period is the most important part of the chilling. After that period, the proper temperature is of much less vital importance.

Hogs that are to be cut up for curing should never be cut up sooner than 48 hours after being killed, and the temperature of the cooler should be gradually brought down to 28 degrees Fahrenheit by the time the hogs are taken out of the chill room to be cut up. After the hogs have been in the cooler 12 hours the temperature should gradually be brought down from 36 degrees at the end of the first 12 hours, to 28 degrees at the end of 48 hours; that is, if the hogs are to be cut up 48 hours after they are killed. If they are to be cut up 72 hours after being killed, the temperature should be brought down gradually from 36 degrees at the end of the first 12 hours, to 30 degrees F. at the end of 72 hours. This would mean that the temperature should be brought down from 36 degrees to 30 degrees F., if the hogs are to be cut up at the end of 72 hours, or a lowering of six degrees in practically 58 hours; or a lowering of eight degrees, from 36 to 28 Fahrenheit, if the hogs are to be cut up in 48 hours after being killed. This means a reduction in temperature of about one degree for every eight hours. This does not mean that the six or eight degrees should be reduced in two hours’ time, for if that were done the meat would be frozen.

In a large Packing House, where the cooler is properly equipped, and one has a good attendant, these instructions can be carried out in detail. When the foregoing instructions are carefully followed, the safe curing of the product will be assured.

While the curing of course requires careful attention, yet, if the chilling is not done properly, the curing will never be perfect.

The floors of coolers should always be kept sprinkled with clean sawdust, as this will absorb drippings and assist in keeping the cooler clean and sweet. If the drippings from hogs are allowed to fall on the bare floor, the cooler will soon become sour and this will affect the meat that hangs over it.

TEMPERATURE FOR CURING MEAT.
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An even temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit is the best temperature for curing meats. Most butchers, however, have no ice machine, and, therefore, are not able to reach such a low temperature in their coolers; nevertheless, they should try to get their coolers as low in temperature as possible, and should at all times be careful to keep the doors closed, and not leave them open longer than is necessary at any time. The temperature of 37 to 39 degrees Fahrenheit is what should govern all packers who use ice machines; those who are fortunate enough to have ice machinery should never allow the cooler to get below 37 degrees, nor above 40 degrees. Many packers let the temperature in their coolers get too cold, and in winter during the very cold weather, the windows are sometimes left open, which allows the temperature to get too low. This should always be avoided, as meat will not cure in any brine, or take salt when dry salted, if stored in a room that is below 36 degrees Fahrenheit. If meat is packed even in the strongest kind of brine, and put into a cooler, which is kept at 32 to 33 degrees of temperature, and thus left at this degree of cold for three months, it will come out of the brine only partly cured. The reason for this is the fact that meat will not cure and take on salt at such a low temperature, and as the temperature herein given is above freezing point, which is 32 degrees, the meat will only keep for a short time, and then it starts to decompose when taken into a higher temperature. Anyone, who is unaware of this fact, will see how necessary it is to have accurate thermometers in a cooler, to examine them frequently, and to closely watch the temperature of the room. See illustration of our Standard Cold Storage Thermometer on [page 282].

The first essential point to watch before putting meat into brine, is to be absolutely certain that it is properly chilled through to the bone. Those who are not equipped with ice machinery for properly chilling meat in hot weather must spread the meat on the floor after it is cut ready for packing, and place crushed ice over it for 24 hours, to thoroughly chill it before it is packed in the salt. This will get the temperature of the meat as low as 36 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit before putting it in the brine. It is necessary that small butchers, who have no ice machines, and rely upon the ice box for a cooler, should use the greatest care to see that the meat is well and thoroughly chilled.

Thousands of pounds of meat are spoiled yearly simply for the one reason that the temperature of the meat is not brought down low enough before the meat is salted. In the summer, hams and heavy pieces of pork should never be packed by persons having no ice machine, unless the meat is first put on the floor for at least twelve hours with broken ice to thoroughly cover it. If our directions are carefully followed and Freeze-Em-Pickle is used, such a thing as spoiled meat will be unknown.

CONDITION OF MEAT BEFORE CURING.
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When cured meat turns out bad, it is not always the fault of the man who has charge of the curing so much as it is the condition the meat was in when put into the brine to cure. Good results should not be expected from a man who has charge of the curing unless the meat is delivered to him in proper condition. Hogs should never be killed the same day of purchase at the Stock Yards or from the farmer. They ought to remain in the packing house pen for at least 24 hours before killing. If different lots of hogs are mixed together, they will sometimes fight, which greatly excites them. Whenever they show this fighting disposition, they should be separated.

THE TEMPERATURE OF BRINE.
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Make all Pickle in the cooler, and have the water or brine of as low a temperature as the cooler when it is put on the meat. Try to have the temperature of the brine not over 38 degrees Fahrenheit when putting it over the meat. A great deal of meat is spoiled in curing by having the brine too warm when the meat is put into it.