Query.—J. R. B.: Will you send me a guarantee that your Rosaline for coloring sausage, etc., will stand the Pure Food Law? Also state particulars of Potato Flour, and whether it is guaranteed or not to be pure. I want to use the goods, and the house I deal with won’t guarantee them to me.
Ans.—In reply to your inquiry we beg to say that Rosaline for coloring bologna or other sausage would not be legal under your state law. However, you can produce even a better sausage, both in appearance and taste, by using Freeze-Em-Pickle according to the directions given in the enclosed circular, “A New Way to Make Bologna and Frankfort Sausage.” Freeze-Em-Pickle is legal in your state as well as all other states, as it does not contain any ingredient that has been ruled against under any of the food laws. We would urge you to adopt this method of making your sausage, not only because it complies with your law, but because you will make better sausage and will save yourself from loss of the meat juices which would be lost if you made your sausage in the old way. As regards potato flour, we do not handle this product and are not interested in it. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, our guaranteed binder, is far superior to potato flour for this purpose, and it is legal in your state if used in the proportion of not to exceed 5 per cent, which will bind your sausage very nicely, and be greatly to your advantage. Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder is a pure and wholesome article of food in itself; it tends to absorb the juices and fats and helps retain them in the sausage when it is cooked, thus making a more palatable and pleasing sausage than where no binder is used. Whenever a sausage in which a binder has been used is shipped out of the state, it is necessary to label the container to show that a binder was used, in order to comply with the National Meat Inspection Law, which controls the interstate shipment of all meat food products. Freeze-Em-Pickle and Bull-Meat Sausage Binder are guaranteed by us under the Pure Food Laws, and every package of these preparations leaving our factory, carry a label to this effect. Unless these preparations comply with the Pure Food Law, we could not afford to put our guarantee on the package. You will find Freeze-Em-Pickle a very valuable aid to you for other purposes than for making your Bologna, Frankfort and other sausage. By its use you can make very fine hams, breakfast bacon, shoulders, corned beef, etc. If there are any other questions you would like to ask, we shall be pleased to have you write us, and we hope you will order a case of Freeze-Em-Pickle and a barrel of Bull-Meat-Brand Sausage Binder, as their use will quickly convince you that you can not afford to do business without them.
WHITENING AND PURIFYING TALLOW.
Query.—Messrs. S. B. write: “We render our tallow and other slaughter house offal all together in the regular tanks, and we would like to inquire whether you have anything that will whiten it after it is rendered.”
Ans.—You can treat the tallow and whiten and purify it after you have rendered it in the regular manner in your tank if you are willing to go to the additional labor of treating it in your open jacket kettle. The proper way to do is to fill your open jacket kettle or caldron, whichever you may use, about one-third full of hot water; dissolve in this a one-pound package of our Lard and Tallow Purifier, then on top of this put the tallow after you have rendered it. It will make no difference whether the tallow is hot or whether it is cold. Get the water boiling hot; stir the water and the tallow frequently, about two minutes each time. This stirring should be at intervals of about five minutes for from fifteen to twenty minutes; then turn off the heat and permit the tallow to settle; next skim off the tallow from the top. More tallow can be treated in the same solution in the same manner; in fact, you can use the same solution in the jacket kettle two or three times. It should then be renewed with a fresh solution because the water will become impure, as the impurities of the tallow remain in the water and contaminate it; while in this condition the Tallow and Lard Purifier will exhaust its strength. Of course, more Lard and Tallow Purifier could be added to the same solution, but it is advisable to change the water occasionally as it will aid materially in purifying the tallow.
MEAT MOULDING IN A COOLER.
Query.—M. & S. Co.: Please forward to us one of your brine tester hydrometers. Ought fresh beef to mould in a cooler where the temperature is 36 degrees, after being in there ten to fourteen days? We have lost meat this way in a cooler with three coats of white lead throughout and the temperature maintained by ice. Not only has meat moulded, but it has had a pine taste.
Ans.—As requested, we have sent you a hydrometer by express. You wish to know if fresh beef stored in a cooler ten or twelve days should begin to become mouldy. You say that your cooler is cooled by ice and that its temperature is 36 degrees. We are inclined to believe that your thermometer is not accurate. It would be very difficult to get the temperature of a cooler down to 36 degrees with ice. If an ice box is kept closed from Saturday night until Monday morning the temperature runs down to 36 or 37 degrees, but where it is in constant use, and opened from time to time throughout the day it is almost impossible to reduce the temperature to 36 degrees, unless the cooler is a very small one and a large amount of ice is packed in the ice chamber above. Try another thermometer. It is important to have one that is right. Do not buy a cheap thermometer for a cold storage tester. If your cooler is constructed properly it should be perfectly dry and all the drip water drained without entering the storage chambers. A cooler, even when cooled with ice, should be so dry on the inside that a match might be struck on the sides. If the cooler is moist, there is no need to search further for the cause of your meat moulding. If the cooler is perfectly dry then the beef will keep about two weeks without moulding, then it is liable to mould slightly, but not enough to do any harm. It is frequently stored three weeks before it is consumed, and when kept that long it is tender and juicy—in other words, it is “ripe.” You say that your meat tastes of pine. You did not state whether or not your cooler was a new one or not. If it is a new one and has been properly constructed it should not give meat a taste; if it has been made from boards not thoroughly dry it will cause meat to taste of pine and it might even be responsible for some mould. Then again the walls may have been stuffed with green pine sawdust, and this will cause trouble. It may be that your cooler is a home-made one, not properly constructed; perhaps the circulation is not right. You merely state that the meat moulds and tastes of pine, whereas you should have given full details. If you will send us a drawing of your cooler and full details we will be able to give you the cause of your trouble and the remedy as well.
CAUSE OF FAILURE IN CURING BACON.
Query.—T. K. writes: “We have been having trouble with our bacon. We put it down in second-hand lard tierces which we got from the large bakers here. We thoroughly cleansed them with boiling water before using them, and have been careful to weigh everything and measure the water we made the brine out of. We used brown sugar, the same as we have always used previous to this time. Our bacon was thoroughly cooled out before it was salted, and was never frozen. After being put in the pickle, we let it stand in the back part of the shop, where the temperature was often below freezing, but never cold enough to freeze the meat in the brine. We repacked it by moving from one tierce to another, always putting the same brine on the meat. We usually let our bacon in the brine for six weeks, unless it is very heavy, then we let it in a longer time. We usually keep four tierces full, and by moving from one to another always have the last one ready to take out and smoke. We used just the common barrel salt and have always had good results until now; in fact, this time the meat is perfectly sweet, but the fat of it is very dark colored, while heretofore it has always been nice and white. We do all our own killing. If you can tell us what we have done wrong, we would like to know, as we are always trying to improve whenever we can.”