FRESH MEAT AND FISH To Keep Fresh Meat.—Refrigera tion in a dry, well-ventilated air chamber cooled to a temperature of 40° F. or lower by means of ice, is the best means of preserving fresh meat in summer or in warm climates. For this purpose ice may be stored in northern climates in homemade ice houses, and utilized by means of homemade refrigerators as elsewhere recommended.
If ice houses are not available, fresh meat may be kept for several days by the use of sour milk, vinegar, charcoal, or borax, or by immersing it in cold running water, or by means of a mixture of salt, sugar, and salt peter.
Or hang up joints of meat, if not required for immediate use in any dry, shady place where there is good ventilation. They will keep fresh from 2 to 4 days, and will become more tender and digestible by hang ing. But in all cases, hang them with the cut end up and knuckle down ward, or the reverse of the usual way. Thus the blood remains in the meat and keeps it sweet and juicy. In summer, if the weather is dry, lamb and veal will keep 2 days, and beef and mutton 3 to 4 days. In cold weather, mutton may be kept for twice that length of time.
Or if running water is available from a spring or othervvise, provide a covered box or tub in a shady place, into and out of which the water can flow. Immerse the meat in this. If fresh it will sink of its own weight. Look at it two or three times a day and as soon as it commences to rise from the bottom, it must be used. The outside will be somewhat whit ened, but the flavor will be uninjured. The meat will be sound and tender after 3 or 4 days in hot summer weather, and may then be boiled or roasted.
Or pieces of fresh meat may be placed in large stone jars and cov ered with skimmed milk, sour milk, or buttermilk. They must be weight ed with a clean stone to keep the meat under the surface of the liquid, and the jar placed in a cold cellar or in the running water from a spring. It is not necessary to remove tb, bone or fat. Thus fresh meat can be preserved for a week or 10 days. The milk can afterwards be fed to pigs. Before cooking, the meat should be washed thoroughly in clear water and afterwards soaked 3 to 5 minutes in water containing about one table spoonful of cooking soda to the gal lon. This neutralizes the acid of the milk and makes the meat more tender.
Or fresh meat may be preserved by soaking it for 3 to 5 minutes in a solution of one tablespoonful of borax to a gallon of water, or by rub bing it with powdered borax dry.
Rinse with clear water when required for use.
Or 'trim the meat carefully with a knife, removing any parts that seem likely to taint, and wrap it up with a cloth moistened with vinegar, or equal parts of vinegar and water. The acid vapor drives away flies and the moisture, by evaporation, keeps it cold.
Or rub meat thoroughly with fresh powdered charcoal, which has power ful antiseptic properties. It can be readily rinsed off with clear water.
Or cut the meat in pieces, not ex ceeding 2 or 3 pounds in weight, and pack them down between layers of dry corn meal or bran. Or cover with corn meal or bran as thickly as possible and hang in some shady place where there is a free circulation of air.
Or when meat can no longer be preserved by any of tbese methods and more is on hand than can be im mediately consumed, cook it all, and each day place it on the stove and bring it to a temperature equal to the boiling point of water. Thus the germs of putrefaction will be killed and the process vvill be arrested from day to day.
Or fresh meat may be preserved in the following manner: by laying it down in an earthenware jar and sprinkling with a mixture of salt, sugar, and saltpeter. If the meat is fresh killed, first hang it up or lay it on slats overnight to drain it free from blood. Then cut it up in readi ness for the frying pan or the ta ble, separating and trimming chops, steaks, scollops, etc. For every pound of meat, measure teaspoonfuls each of salt and sugar, teaspoonful of saltpeter, and teaspoonful of black or white pepper. These should be dry, mixed, and reduced to pow der in a mortar. Now sprinkle the bottom of the jar with a thin layer of this mixture and lay down a layer of steak or chops of uniform thick ness, packing tightly to cover the bottom of the jar. Sprinkle over this the mixture of antiseptics so as to cover the surface lightly or about the same as when seasoning for the table. Add another layer of meat, and so on, until the jar is full. Cover the top of the jar with a layer of cotton batting wet in a solution of the same mixture of antiseptics in water. Put on the lid of the jar tightly and set it in a cellar, spring house, or other cold place. When the meat is required for use, rinse and scald it. Soak the cotton batting in the covering solution of antiseptics and pack it down closely over tne meat as before.