The preventive seems to be such as windows and doors finely screened, regular “gassing” with sulphur fumes and ample light. It is claimed by some that if smoke houses are well lighted, for instance as a show room, the skipper fly will not frequent them since it prefers darkness for the egg laying period.
There is no known chemical agent that can be used without conflicting with pure food laws that will destroy the egg once deposited. A fly lays upward of thirty eggs during the life cycle of about two weeks, consequently it multiplies rapidly.
CHAPTER XXV.
DOMESTIC SAUSAGE
Meats and Handling — Arrangement of Department — Curing Meats — Cooler for Ground Meats — Grinding and Stuffing Room — Smoke House — Cook Room — Dry Hanging Room — Cooler — Smoking Temperature — Cooking Time — Shrinkages — Pickle-Cured Products — Dry-Cured Meats — Packing — Casings and Spices — Sausage Cereals — Sausage Formulas — Bologna Varnish — Boiled Ham.
Introductory.
—There is probably no department where there is more diversity of methods than in the sausage room. The business of sausage making is an old one, and was largely developed in Europe, where on account of the low wages and the high prices for meats it was necessary to make the cheaper meat products into an edible article. The gradually increasing value of meats in the United States makes the same conditions paramount.
In the operation of packing houses the cutting of meats into many parts so as to supply the various purchasers with what they require, makes a comparatively large amount of wholesome meat product, equally nutritious with porter house steak, but not quite so tender or pleasing to the taste. Cheek meat, hearts and various trimmings are wholesome as a porterhouse, but not so delectable, at least, in their original condition; hence, the art of sausage making consists in taking these products and making from them a palatable, wholesome and less costly article.
Meats and Handling.
—Sausage is made in such varieties that there are a multitude of ingredients in a multitude of forms. Primarily beef and pork trimmings are the broad classes, but of these there are many forms, each of different physical properties. Hearts and cheeks are, for example, the toughest part of the animal organism, and these usually find their way to the sausage room. On the other hand the parts of hams and shoulders used are equally delicate with the meats so conserved, but are of necessity relegated to the sausage room on account of their shape as a trimming. It is the skillful manipulation of these various meats that makes for the real results in this department. Too frequently, the sausage department is regarded as a necessity, like the tank house, to put things through. The most successful operators are those who regard the department otherwise, and many good and successful businesses have been builded on the sausage department as a basis; not by trying to make sausage to retail at five cents per pound, extravagantly speaking.