NELSON'S DE-FROSTED BEEF.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 1660, 14 January 1895, Page 4

NELSON'S DE-FROSTED BEEF.

;i » :; ...» — The Australian Trading World of November 10th, has the following on the new process of thawing meat, which we have already described m oui" columns : — " Extremely satisfaetoiy — was our mental. verdict when we yesterday witnessed the practical system of thawing frozen beef, invented and patented by MrJE. Montague Nelson, of Nelson Bros., Limited. The system is now m full operation at the frozen meat stores at Nelson's wharf. Lambeth, and extensions are already being made. The difficulty with frozen meat has always been, how to sell it m such a condition that the common English servantcould cook it as easily as she emild place an ordinary English killed joint before the fire. This has now been accomplished, but there is little chance of this thawed beef finding its place m the market as such, no, certainfynot, it will leave the butcher's shop as'liome killed, no one can tell the difference ' and really 'no one will be defrauded, for it is essentially as good, as palatable and as nourishing ascthe best Scotch beef. What is, the process ? /Well, it is of the simplest nature, and void of anything else than actual defrostingby natural means. No chemicals are used at all. It is per- . formed m the following manner :— The room, or chamber that we saw will hold comfortably 50 hind-quarters of beef, .there were actually 42 quarters on the hooks. This being Thursday, the beef had been placed on the hooks on the previotls Monday ,ahd to-morrow— Friday —it will be m the Central Meat Market m the condition m. which it would have been m a Queensland abbatoir 24 hours after killing. The beef is hung over an open platform about six inches from the i floor. Beneath. this platform are placed hot-water pipes. On one side of the chain- 1 ber a double canvas screen is hung, and' behind this are freezing-pipes, rendered intensely cold. by the usual operations employed to freeze beef. Here we have two opposite forces. ; Effectual thawing is a matter that can only be done gradually (this Alpine travellers well know). The process commences on Monday at freezing point, the temperature is gradually raised until on Thursday and Friday it comes up to an ordinary temperature of 60 degrees. The chamber is practically a sealed one, fresh air is not let m as this would, by just so much, add to the work tobe done. The process of thawing is accomplished m this manner :— The steam pipes under the meat cause a stream- of warm air to ascend, and when this reaches the top of the chamber the warm air, charged with gradually increasing moisture both from the original air and more so. from the frozen beef, passes over the canvas screen (which, is about six inches from the top), andis condensed upon the freezing pipes. The snow on these pipes, was fully half an inch thick when we were there, and the atmosphere was warm and dry, much, like the atmosphere tlie beef must have lived m when it was bullock m Queensland. The process is simply an application by artificial mean's of the ordinary laws of nature, absolutely nothing more. The beef, which was nearly finished, was dry andnatural, and the draining from it was of the slightest. It handled like freshkilled, well-set beef. The process is a most pleasing one, and it has been proved to be a commercial success. At present the market value of this thawed beef is a penny a pound more than tire frozen article, but we anticipate seeing it gradually approach the value of Homekilled meat of. equal quality. We have colled it ' Nelson's Fresh Killed Queensland Beef,' because during its frosted and thawing state it was simply ; m a state of suspense except m point of time — of which the beef may be deemed to have little appreciation under the cira^ustances—it is exactly where it was 24 hours after killing. A splendid result truly."