To salt Meat (No. 6)

The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's ... · Kitchiner, William · 1817
Source
The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (17)
For salting meat
For pickling meat
Instructions (30)
General Salting Instructions
  1. Remove kernels from meat (e.g., in the udder of a round of beef, in the fat in the middle of the round, about the thick end of the flank) as salt alone will not preserve meat if kernels are left in.
  2. Rub salt thoroughly and evenly into every part of the meat.
  3. Fill all holes with salt where kernels were removed or where butcher's skewers were used.
  4. For a 25-pound round of beef, rub in 1.5 pounds of salt initially.
  5. Turn and rub the meat daily with the brine.
  6. Meat will be ready for dressing in four to five days if not desired very salty.
  7. Salt meat as soon as possible after killing, especially in summer.
  8. Protect meat from flies, especially in summer.
  9. In winter, allow meat to rest for a few days (depending on temperature) before salting to allow fibres to shorten and tenderize; these changes do not occur after salting.
  10. In frosty weather, ensure meat is not frozen and warm the salt in a frying-pan.
  11. Avoid extremes of heat and cold for salting; heat causes meat to spoil before salt acts, and cold congeals juices, preventing salt penetration.
  12. For red meat, rub with saltpetre (0.5 oz) and moist sugar (0.5 oz) per pound of common salt.
  13. Add pounded sweet herbs (No. 459) and an onion with the salt for a vegetable flavour.
  14. Add a little ZEST (No. 255) or savoury spice (No. 457) for a more relishing taste.
  15. For a 10-12 pound H-bone, rub in about 0.75 pound of salt and 1 ounce of moist sugar.
  16. Turn and rub the H-bone daily; it will be ready in four to five days.
  17. The time required for salting depends on the weight of the meat and the amount of salt used; heavier rubbing cures faster.
  18. Dry the salt and rub it with sugar in a mortar before use.
  19. Pork requires a longer curing time in proportion to its weight than beef.
  20. A leg of pork should be in salt for eight to ten days, turning and rubbing it daily.
  21. Wash salt meat well before boiling, especially if salted for a long time, to ensure the boiling liquor is suitable for making soup (No. 218, &c. and No. 555).
  22. If meat has been salted for a long time and seems too salty, wash it well in cold water and soak it in lukewarm water for a couple of hours.
  23. If very salty, soak the meat in water the night before dressing it.
To pickle Meat
  1. Boil 6 pounds of salt, 1 pound of sugar, and 4 ounces of saltpetre with 4 gallons of water.
  2. Skim the mixture and allow it to cool to form a strong pickle.
  3. Ensure meat is completely immersed in the pickle; use a heavy board or flat stone to keep it submerged.
  4. The same pickle can be reused; boil it up occasionally with additional salt to restore its strength.
  5. Boiling coagulates albumen, which would otherwise spoil the pickle; remove the resulting scum carefully.
  6. Meat immersed in pickle gains weight (experimentally observed as 2.5-3% gain).
  7. Common salting (without immersion in pickle) results in a loss of about 1 to 1.5 pounds per 16 pounds of meat.
Original Text
To salt Meat.—(No. 6.) In the summer season, especially, meat is frequently spoiled by the cook forgetting to take out the kernels; one in the udder of a round of beef, in the fat in the middle of the round, those about the thick end of the flank, &c.: if these are not taken out, all the salt in the world will not keep the meat. The art of salting meat is to rub in the salt thoroughly and evenly into every part, and to fill all the holes full of salt where the kernels were taken out, and where the butcher’s skewers were. A round of beef of 25 pounds will take a pound and a half of salt to be rubbed in all at first, and requires to be turned and rubbed every day with the brine; it will be ready for dressing in four or five days,111-* if you do not wish it very salt. In summer, the sooner meat is salted after it is killed the better; and care must be taken to defend it from the flies. In winter, it will eat the shorter and tenderer, if kept a few days (according to the temperature of the weather) until its fibre has become short and tender, as these changes do not take place after it has been acted upon by the salt. In frosty weather, take care the meat is not frozen, and warm the salt in a frying-pan. The extremes of heat111-† and cold are equally unfavourable for the process of salting. In the former, the meat changes before the salt can affect it: in the latter, it is so hardened, and its juices are so congealed, that the salt cannot penetrate it. If you wish it red, rub it first with saltpetre, in the proportion of half an ounce, and the like quantity of moist sugar, to a pound of common salt. (See Savoury salt beef, No. 496.) [112]You may impregnate meat with a very agreeable vegetable flavour, by pounding some sweet herbs (No. 459,) and an onion with the salt. You may make it still more relishing by adding a little ZEST (No. 255), or savoury spice (No. 457). To pickle Meat. “Six pounds of salt, one pound of sugar, and four ounces of saltpetre, boiled with four gallons of water, skimmed, and allowed to cool, forms a very strong pickle, which will preserve any meat completely immersed in it. To effect this, which is essential, either a heavy board or a flat stone must be laid upon the meat. The same pickle may be used repeatedly, provided it be boiled up occasionally with additional salt to restore its strength, diminished by the combination of part of the salt with the meat, and by the dilution of the pickle by the juices of the meat extracted. By boiling, the albumen, which would cause the pickle to spoil, is coagulated, and rises in the form of scum, which must be carefully removed.”—See Supplement to Encyclop. Britan. vol. iv. p. 340. Meat kept immersed in pickle gains weight. In one experiment by Messrs. Donkin and Gamble, there was a gain of three per cent., and in another of two and a half; but in the common way of salting, when the meat is not immersed in pickle, there is a loss of about one pound, or one and a half, in sixteen. See Dr. Wilkinson’s account of the preserving power of PYRO-LIGNEOUS ACID, &c. in the Philosophical Magazine for 1821, No. 273, p. 12. An H-bone of 10 or 12 pounds weight will require about three-quarters of a pound of salt, and an ounce of moist sugar, to be well rubbed into it. It will be ready in four or five days, if turned and rubbed every day. The time meat requires salting depends upon the weight of it, and how much salt is used: and if it be rubbed in with a heavy hand, it will be ready much sooner than if only lightly rubbed. N. B. Dry the salt, and rub it with the sugar in a mortar. Pork requires a longer time to cure (in proportion to its weight) than beef. A leg of pork should be in salt eight or ten days; turn it and rub it every day. Salt meat should be well washed before it is boiled, especially if it has been in salt long, that the liquor in which the meat is boiled, may not be too salt to make soup of. (No. 218, &c. and No. 555.) If it has been in salt a long time, and you fear that it will[113] be too salt, wash it well in cold water, and soak it in lukewarm water for a couple of hours. If it is very salt, lay it in water the night before you intend to dress it.
Notes
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