CLEANING CASINGS.
Query.—S. & H. write: “I would like to know if you have any preparations for cleaning casings. We clean all the casings we get and would like to get some chemicals to take the tallow and lard off of them.”
Ans.—There is no preparation that will free the lard from casings. If you use something that is strong enough to take off the fat, it will eat up the casings as well. The only thing practicable that can be done is to wash the casings thoroughly and change the water a number of times. In the last washing water it would be advisable to put in some washing soda as that will soften the water and assist in cleaning the casings. The fat you will have to remove by hand. There are machines made for removing the fat from casings, but it will not pay you to go to the expense of making such a purchase unless you clean a very large amount of casings per day.
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.
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.