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.

SOURING OF HAM IN SMOKE HOUSE.

Query.—M. P. M. writes: “I am having trouble with my hams souring in the smokehouse. They seem to get too much smoke. What can you suggest that will help me to avoid this trouble and to keep my hams sweet?”

Ans.—You are mistaken in supposing that your hams sour from getting too much smoke; that is not the trouble. Hams will not sour from such cause. Your trouble is owing entirely to the fact that the hams are not properly and fully cured before going into the smoke house. Smoke aids to preserve hams and will not cause them to sour. They sour because the portion that has not been thoroughly cured, which is generally close to the bone, has not been reached by the brine. In many cases souring comes from imperfect chilling of meat before putting it into the brine; then again you may not have overhauled the meat at the proper time and with the frequency which good curing requires. In the first place, the hog should not be killed when overheated or excited. Second, after they have been scalded and scraped, they must be dressed as quickly as possible, washed out thoroughly with clean water, then split and allowed to hang in a well ventilated room until partly cooled off. They should then be run into a cooler or chilling room as quickly as possible, where the temperature should be reduced to 32 to 34 degrees Fahrenheit. They should be allowed to thus chill for 24 hours for medium size hogs. When hogs are properly chilled, the temperature of the inside of the ham or shoulder will not be more than one to one and one-half degrees higher than the cooler. Those without ice machinery for curing, who are using common ice houses, can employ the crushed ice method for chilling the meat. By this is meant to put the meat on the floor and throw cracked ice over it, and thus allow it to remain over night. After being thoroughly chilled, the hams must undergo the various processes which you will find set forth in our book, “Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making,” which we take pleasure in sending to you free of charge. If you will follow the directions contained in this book you will never have trouble with soured hams from imperfect curing or other causes.