# Preserving meat with no electricity



## Umble (Apr 23, 2013)

We're facing some challenges as we prepare to jump into our homestead feet first. I'm comfortable with canning meat, but I'd like to learn some other ways of preserving other than canning. Every other instruction I have found for preserving meat, besides drying (and how much jerky can we eat, realistically?) involves either refrigerating during the preservation process, or storing the meat in cold after preserving it. So what did people do before there was a fridge, or even an icebox, in every home?


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## Kristinemomof3 (Sep 17, 2012)

My guess is they preserved things when it was cold outside or used dugouts that were cooler. They also didn't eat as much meat, or ate it after they killed it and dried the leftovers. Goodluck in your endeavor. I have no advice. I usually dehydrate meat for jerky cause we like jerky or can/freeze stuff.


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

smoked or brined. I just did a quick google on brining but all the recipes were for flavoring meat for prep in hours or a day, not preserving for months. But I know it was done because sailors of wooden ship days ate a lot of brined pork and beef. 

When I was a kid, each summer during a visit to grand dad's farm we would open up a ham that had been either sugar or salt cured and left to hang in a root cellar. It had cured since the prior fall and by summer, the gauze mummy wrapping over the ham was covered in a black mold that looked awful. But the mold was cut off and it was the best ham ever.


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## strawberrygirl (Feb 11, 2009)

I don't have experience with it, but here is an article from Mother Earth News. 

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-preserve-food-zm0z71zsie.aspx#axzz2ROv0dDco


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## dkhern (Nov 30, 2012)

they killed in winter when it was cold. air cooled the meat then cured in salt. then smoked then stored in cool place. once cured the meat can be kept at almost any temperature and for almost any length of time. ive heard of hams that were 100 yr old and good.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

I bought a .99 kindle book that talked about preserving meat with salt and I believe talked about sugaring. Wasn't crazy about the whole book, but it's the first time I've seen directions for salting. It's now 2.99 of course! 

Food Storage: Preserving Meat, Dairy, and Eggs [Kindle Edition]
Susan Gregersen (Author), David Armstrong (Author)


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Here's another one, hope you have a kindle! Some of these little e-books are quite good, others awful. 

The Joy of Smoking and Salt Curing (The Joy of Series) 
by Monte Burch (September 1, 2011) 
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars (7)
Auto-delivered wirelessly
Kindle Price: $1.99


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## Bay Ruth Farm (Feb 7, 2013)

http://www.mortonsalt.com/for-your-home/culinary-salts/meat-curing-methods

Try the above link for using salt to cure food products. 

My Grandfather used both salt and smoke for curing meats on his farm. He even had a special building for doing it; a smokehouse. His main product was pork i.e. hams, sausage. 

My grandparents did not cure beef using the above methods, rather they canned meats in Mason jars filled with liquid (perhaps a salt brine). Granddaddy also was a member of the local "Beef Club". I understand this was a common method of having fresh beef for family consumption before home refrigeration. The way it worked was a group of farmers (probably twelve) would slaughter one beef per month which would be divided among the members. Since not all beef cuts are not equal in quality they would either draw lots or rotate selections for each member each month.


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

Bay Ruth Farm said:


> Granddaddy also was a member of the local "Beef Club".


That is a GREAT idea.


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## haunted (Jul 24, 2011)

*Here are instructions for brining from Recipes Tried and True found online at the link below. There are usually recipes for preserving meat in old cookbooks.
*

*http://www.gutenberg.org/*

*A PICKLE FOR BEEF, PORK, TONGUE, OR HUNG BEEF. MRS. JUDGE BENNETT.*

Mix in four gallons of water a pound and a half of sugar or molasses, and two ounces of saltpetre. If it is to last a month or two, use six pounds of salt. If you wish to keep it through the summer, use nine pounds of salt. Boil all together; skim and let cool. Put meat in the vessel in which it is to stand; pour the pickle over the meat until it is covered. Once in two months, boil and skim the pickle and throw in two or three ounces of sugar, and one-half pound of salt. In very hot weather rub meat well with salt; let it stand a few hours before putting into the brine. This draws the blood out.
*TO CURE BEEF. MRS. S. A. POWERS.*

FOR FIFTY POUNDS.&#8212;Saltpetre, one ounce; sugar, one and three-fourths pounds; coarse salt, three and one-half pounds; water, two gallons; boil together; let cool; pour over meat. Keep the meat under the brine.


My grandmother talked about her dad using a meat box. They butchered the hogs in late fall after it had cooled off, salted them heavily and let the meat lay on boards in a shed for a couple of days to draw off the blood, then salted again and packed the meat in the wooden boxes with hay between the pieces. The box stayed in a shady place. When weather started to warm the remaining meat was taken out and rubbed with red pepper to "keep the skippers out". Skippers are wasp-like insects that lay eggs on meat. They finished using the meat before truly hot weather set in. This was in Texas and it gets hotter, longer here than in some parts of the country.


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## haunted (Jul 24, 2011)

There's also this link to Home Pork Making

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32414/32414-h/32414-h.htm


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Lot of good direction and ideas given here. Best wishes.


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## Umble (Apr 23, 2013)

Thanks for all the ideas. Thanks especially to haunted, that was very informative.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Confit also works for several months if you have lard available and crocks.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Fermenting: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6556e/X6556E05.htm
Raw: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E11.htm
Raw-Cooked: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E12.htm
Cooked: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E13.htm
Cured: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E14.htm

Whether they are raw, pre-cooked, cured, fermented and/or smoked, dry sausages are normally considered shelf stable no matter the storage temperature, and semi-dry sausage is normally shelf-stable if stored in a *cool* place less than 18C/65F (no refrigeration needed, just a larder or root cellar).

Curing with sodium nitrate (insta-cure, etc) is recommended for any meat product that will be dried or smoked raw/raw-cooked and then stored long-term without refrigeration.

Slaughter and process in the fall/winter when it's cool enough to retard spoilage without freezing, and then smoke or hang somewhere that is cool to complete the drying process.


ETA: FAO has a ton of publications in their Corporate Document Repository that I find useful as an off-grid homesteader because they don't always assume vast quantities of electricity, fuel, water etc will be available.


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## CraftyCathy (May 8, 2013)

My mom has told me how they did their meat. If I remember correctly, they would use a crock. They would put in a layer of meat, then a layer of salt. Did this till it was full. Then I think they might have dumped tallow on top to seal it, if they had it. If not, just left with the layer of salt on top. When they went to cook some of the meat, they rinsed it real good before cooking it. 

I have never ate any meat done like this. So I can't tell you how it tastes.


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