The meat should be held in this cure about twenty days.
The meats are packed with the rind down uniformly, the salt being spread between the layers, the top layer being put on with the rind up and the box closed, keeping the air from it as much as possible; meat must not be overhauled. It should be fully cured in twenty-five days. Meat handled in this manner, as stated before, when fried cooks white; it also has a very bright appearance when smoked. This is a delicate cure and must be handled accordingly.
Shipping Ages.
—The [table] on next page gives what is considered the age, in days, at which different kinds and weights of sweet pickled hams and sides are cured sufficiently to smoke; also at which different kinds of barrel pork are cured sufficiently to be sold; also the cuts which should and should not be pumped.
Second Pickle.
—A wasteful practice in packing houses, is to throw away pickle as soon as the meat is cured. A pickle which will show 78-degree strength, to which has been added five to seven degrees of sugar, saltpetre, etc., making it 83 to 85-degree when used, if tested after meats have been cured, will show a strength of from 52 to 58-degrees, the meat having absorbed the balance of the curative ingredients. The remaining ingredients in this pickle are good when purified—salt and sugar being the same under all conditions—hence when meats are fully cured the pickle should be pumped into a vat, in the bottom and sides of which are galvanized iron coils. Steam should then be turned on these coils heating the pickle by the radiation from the pipe.
SHIPPING AGES.—TIME REQUIRED FOR CURING.
| Product | Average wt. lbs. | Days to smoke | Days to ship | Pumped | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S. P. hams | 10 | and under | 30 | 30 | Yes | |||
| S. P. hams | 10 | ¹⁄₄ | - | 14 | 35 | 35 | Yes | |
| S. P. hams | 14 | - | 18 | 50 | 50 | Yes | ||
| S. P. hams | 18 | - | 23 | 70 | 70 | Yes | ||
| S. P. hams | 24 | and over | 80 | 80 | Yes | |||
| S. P. hams skinned | 14 | - | 16 | 50 | 50 | Yes | ||
| S. P. hams skinned | 18 | and over | 70 | 70 | Yes | |||
| S. P. hams fancy | 11 | - | 13 | 60 | 60 | No | ||
| S. P. hams fancy skinned | 14 | - | 16 | 65 | 65 | No | ||
| S. P. hams export | 10 | - | 14 | 30 | 30 | Yes | ||
| S. P. hams export | 14 | - | 18 | 35 | 35 | Yes | ||
| S. P. California hams | 8 | 30 | 30 | Yes | ||||
| S. P. California hams | 8 | - | 10 | 35 | 35 | Yes | ||
| S. P. California hams | 10 | - | 14 | 50 | 50 | Yes | ||
| S. P. N. Y. shoulders | 12 | and under | 50 | 50 | Yes | |||
| S. P. N. Y. shoulders | 13 | and over | 55 | 55 | Yes | |||
| Bellies | 6 | - | 8 | 20 | 20 | No | ||
| Bellies | 8 | - | 10 | 22 | 22 | No | ||
| Bellies | 10 | - | 12 | 25 | 25 | No | ||
| Bellies | 12 | - | 14 | 30 | 30 | No | ||
| Bellies | 14 | - | 16 | 35 | 35 | No | ||
| Bellies rib | ... | 25 | 20 | No | ||||
| Bacon backs | ... | 30 | 30 | No | ||||
| Belly pork | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
| Bean pork | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
| Loin pork | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
| Fat back pork | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
| Short cut pork | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
| S. P. pork trimmings | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
| Brisket pork | ... | ... | 15 | ... | ||||
After the pickle has been thoroughly boiled for an hour or so, it should be allowed to settle, when the particles of grease, as well as all the albumin drawn from the meat will rise to the surface in the form of a thick heavy scum; this should be carefully skimmed off and the pickle again boiled, when a second skimming is necessary, after which it should be drawn off, cooled and sufficient fresh ingredients added to give it its original strength, when it is as useful as new. For instance, to a vat of 1,500 gallons of old pickle, 50-degree strength, add:
200 pounds sugar,
38 pounds saltpetre.