In beef the ribs are less liable to become tainted than any other joint; they may be kept in a cool pantry in the summer months for six days, and ten days in winter.
The round of beef will not keep long, unless sprinkled over with salt. All the glands or kernels which it contains should be dissected out.
The brisket is still more liable to become tainted by keeping, it cannot be kept sweet with safety more than three days in summer, and about a week in winter.
Lamb is the next in order for keeping, though it is considered best to eat it soon, or even the day after it is killed. If it is not very young the leg will keep four or five days, with care, in a cool place in summer.
Veal and Pork—a leg will keep very well in summer for three or four days, and a week in winter:—but the scrag end of veal or pork will not keep well above a day in summer, and two or three days in winter.
The part that becomes tainted first of a leg of veal is where the udder is skewered back. The skewer should be taken out, and both that and the part beneath it wiped dry every day, by which means it will keep good three or four days in warm weather. The vein or pipe that runs along the chine of a loin of veal should be cut out, as is usually done in mutton and beef. The skirt of a breast of veal should likewise be taken off, and the inside of the breast wiped, scraped, and sprinkled with salt.
PRESERVATION OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES IN A RECENT STATE.
As the supply of food is always subject to irregularities, the preservation of the excess, obtained at one time, to meet the deficiency of another, would soon engage the attention of mankind. At first this method would be simple and natural, and derived from a very limited observation, but in the progress of society, the wants and occupations of mankind would lead them to invent means, by which the more perishable alimentary substances of one season, might be reserved for the consumption of another, or the superfluous productions of distant countries might be transported to others where they are more needed.
PICKLING AND DRY SALTING OF MEAT.
Common salt is advantageously employed as an antiseptic, to preserve aliments from spontaneous decomposition, and particularly to prevent the putrefaction of animal food. In general, however, the large quantity of salt which is necessarily employed in this way, deteriorates the alimentary properties of the meat, and the longer it has been preserved, the less wholesome and digestible does it become.