NEW METHOD OF CURING MEAT.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 69, 3 August 1865, Page 5

NEW METHOD OF CURING MEAT.

The animal is killed in the usual manner/ by a blow on the head causing* instantaneous death. It is then turned on the back, the chest opened, the bap; or pericardium containing- the heart opened. The right side of the heart, into which all the venous or returning" blood enters, is seen distended ; the ear, or rig-lit auricular rip. as most convenient, is opened, or its tip cut otF, or an incision made into the right ventricle, another also directly into the left. The animal is turned on the side to let rhe blood run out. A pipe, furnished with a stopcock and coupling:it the outer cud, is now introduced into the incision made in the left ventricle, and makes its way at once info the aorta. The fingers, holding* a piece of stout cord, are now passed round the aorta, close to the heart, (including* at the same time the pulmonary artery), and the cord, is tied strongly over both, so that the pipe is fixed in the aorta firmly. To the outer end a coupling- connected with an india rubber or other tube, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, 18 to 20 ieet long-, joins this to a vessel or tank elevated to the height of the length of the tube ; brine of ordinary strength, with a little saltpetre dissolved in it, is let on ; it directly (under 15 seconds in most cases) rushes out at rhe incision made either in the rig-ht auricle or ventricle before mentioned. About five gallons will suffice. This clears the small vessels for the next stag-e, which is the essential one. The brine so used can be recovered, if desired, by adding- a little old brine and heating*. The materials to be ultimately used are now put into the tank, raking* care that they are strained, and a stout clip or clamp is put on the incision in the right side of the heart. The fluid is then turned on and directly makes its way to the right side, as before, but its exit being- now prevented, and its admission into a smaller vessel secured by the first process of clearing* these vessels, as mentioned, the fluid, by the pressure and the capillary attraction of minute vessels and muscular fibre, percolates throug-h every particle of the animal, and can be seen at the moment diffusing* itself in any part, by making- incisions in the hide, horn, bone, and flesh, or any other parts. The quantity I use is about one gallon of brine to the cwt., a quarter to half a pound of nitre, two-pounds of sugar, a little spice, sauce, &c, to taste; also, half an ounce of the mono-phosphoric acid, which, having- the power of coagulating* albumen and forminga compound with it, retains this very desirable element in the flesh, and g-ives an extra supply of phosphoric acid, which is of course at present denied the sailor. The use of boiling* brine in the second stag-e I also advocate, as it coagulates the albumen, or gives a set (as it is called by cocks) to meat. It is needless to remark that the entii*e animal is cured almost instantaneously. I would now draw attention to the further treatment of the flesh, referring to— lst : the method scientifically used; 2nd: the advantages attained; 3rd: the mechanical advantages. If we now consider the first part of the process complete, the animal is in a few hours cut up into the 81b. pieces required by the navy, and is ready for casking in the usual way, or in dry salt, (all expense of preparing- being* done away), or for drying* by being* transferred to a drying I . house (as in the i&pecimens for inspection.) Ie is obvious that it loses nond of the materials abstracted by ihe present method of salting*, so that the meat is absolutely perfect, as in fresh meat, wirhout water, having*, as I hold, the adr ditional ' advantages of salt, which the weight of authority is ,in favor of rather than against, and of sugar, now, issued to the navy along with the lemon-juice.; the use of sugar Liebig shows plainly is for the formation of lactic acid (which, "as

mentioned before, he has found abstracted by the brine,) and a most essential comI pound not only of muscle juice, but also of gastric juice, as well as an important respiratory food. I would suggest the use of 'saver kraut,' or some other vegetable product containing lactic acid, or lactic acid itself. Sugar is, in an economical point of view, especially advantageous, as\ it is about two- thirds toe price of. meat, or less, waile it improves the flavor and keeps v > the flesh soft, aiding also in the preservation. — ' Professor Morgan's Lecture before the Society of Arts.'