Take a clean sugar barrel and knock out the bottom; then set the barrel on top of a box about four feet long, one or two feet high and as wide as the barrel. If a box of this shape cannot be obtained, a large dry goods box will answer. Bore auger holes through the box under the barrel, to let the smoke through. Get a large piece of tin, galvanized iron or sheet iron, about one foot wide and 2 feet long and bend it into the shape of a pan, or take an old roasting pan. Dig a hole in the ground at the front end of the box, so fire can be put onto this piece of tin, sheet iron or pan and then placed under the box with the fire on it. After the fire is placed under the box, place a board over the hole. All crevices must be banked with dirt around the box, to keep the smoke in.
The meats to be smoked should be hung on sticks with long strings on them, so as to let them down to about the middle of the barrel. Cover the barrel up with a gunny sack, so as to let a draft pass through and still retain the smoke in the barrel.
This makes a first class temporary smoke house with very little trouble and expense.
HOW TO KEEP HAMS, SHOULDERS, BACON, DRIED BEEF, AND ALL KINDS OF PICKLED MEATS IN BRINE FOR A YEAR OR LONGER.
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All kinds of pickled meat after it is fully cured, if stored in a cooler in which the temperature is kept down to 28 degrees can be kept in this cooler for a year, or even longer, and when removed will come out similar to fresh cured meat. During the time when Hams and other meats are low in price, they can be stored in a freezer, and kept there until such a time as they are in greatest demand and will sell at the highest price. This enables the packer to reap a larger profit. At a temperature of 28 degrees, the meat will not freeze after it is cured, and the brine of course does not freeze, as salt water will not freeze, at that temperature. When meat is taken out of such cold storage to be smoked, it should first be soaked for three to five hours in fresh water, then washed in boiling hot water and smoked the same as regular fresh cured meat.
WASHING CURED MEAT BEFORE SMOKING.
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WASHING MEATS
BEFORE SMOKING
Hams, Shoulders, Bacon and all cured meats whether dry salted or cured in brine, should be washed in hot water and scrubbed with a brush before being put into the smoke house. This is very important, as the meat thus scrubbed will come out of the smoke looking much better. The water should be as hot as the men can work with. The hotter the water, the better the meat will look after being smoked.