Part 8
“Mr. Sockett having directed his attention to the smoking of hams with wood smoke, either in a building erected for that purpose, or in a chimney where wood alone is burned, in addition to its considerable increase of flavour, he considered it more effectually preserved from putrefaction by being, what is commonly called, smoke-dried. Mr. Sockett having ascertained by experiments, that meat thus cured required less salt, he was induced to suppose some antiseptic quality in the same, and not attributable to the mere application of heat. A neighbouring manufactory of pyro-ligneous acid afforded him an opportunity of trying a variety of experiments, which convinced him of the correctness of the supposition of the antiseptic quality of wood smoke, as the same effects as to flavour and preservation were produced in a superior degree without the aid of any increase of temperature, which, by drying, diminishes the nutritious quality of meat thus exposed.”
“Mr. Sockett ascertained, that if a ham had the reduced quantity of salt usually employed for smoke-dried hams, and was then exposed to smoke, putrefaction soon took place when pyro-ligneous acid was not used; even one half this reduced portion of salt is sufficient when it is used, being applied cold, and the ham is thus effectually cured without any loss of weight, and retaining more animal juices.”
“The mode adopted was by adding about two table-spoonfuls of pyro-ligneous acid to the pickle for a ham of 10 or 12 lbs.; and when taken out of the pickle, previous to being hung up, painted over with the acid, by means of a brush. In many instances, Mr. Sockett has succeeded by brushing the ham over with the acid, without adding any to the pickle. The same mode answers equally well with tongues, requiring a little more acid, on account of the thickness and hardness of the integuments.”
“Upon dried salmon it answers admirably; brushing it over once or twice had a better effect than two months smoking in the usual way, and without the same loss from rancidity. From the result of a few experiments on herrings, he is persuaded that this mode of curing might be most advantageously introduced in our fisheries, so that herrings might be cured here superior to those imported from Holland.”
“These experiments so satisfactorily demonstrating the antiseptic qualities of this acid, where only small portions of salt were employed, Mr. Sockett was then induced to try the results of the application of this acid when no salt was employed: he placed some beef steaks upon a plate, and covered the bottom with the acid, the steaks being daily turned; and at the time of recording the experiment, he noticed that they kept above six weeks without the least tendency to putrefaction: this experiment was made in the middle of July 1815.”
“Not only Mr. Sockett, but many families in Swansea, and its vicinity, practise, with the greatest success, this mode of curing hams, tongues, beef, fish, &c.”
“This acid is very easily and cheaply prepared: the first distilled product of the wood, in that state denominated black acid, answers the best when separated from its tar and naphtha. More than 70 gallons of acid, sufficiently strong, are procured from a ton of wood; a gallon is quite sufficient for 2¹⁄₂ cwt. of pork, beef, and most animal substances, with the addition of a comparatively small portion of salt, not only affording a considerable saving in this article, but also materially contributing to the increase of flavour and nutritive quality. Hams or beef cured this way require no previous soaking in water to being boiled, and when boiled swell in size and are extremely succulent.”
“Herrings Mr. Sockett cures with very little salt. Being well dried, as early after being caught as can be effected, they are then dipped into a vat of the acid, and when dry, the same process repeated a few times, suspending them like the manufacture of candles. Mr. Sockett entertains no doubt, from the result of his experiments with herrings, that the same process would answer for other kinds of fish, as salmon, cod, &c.; and hence, when cooked, may be salted according to each individual’s taste.”
“I presume this acid would be found very useful on board any vessel fitted out for long voyages; it appears from calculations on a small scale, that one hogshead of this acid would suffice to cure six tons of fish, in such a manner as to retain their nutritious quality; and they could be cured on board when opportunities occurred of procuring them, independent of its being an excellent substitute for common vinegar in many culinary purposes on board.”
“Mr. Sockett recommends that fish, as soon as practicable after taken, should be a little rubbed with salt, and laid upon a sloping board to drain, and when dry, to be dipped in the acid as before stated.”
“One great advantage attending this mode of curing hams or beef is, that when hung up they are never attacked by the flies.”
PICKLING OF FISH.
Fish may be preserved either by dry salting or in a liquid pickle. The former method is employed to a great extent on the banks of Newfoundland, and in Shetland. When a liquid pickle is used, the fish, as fresh as possible, are to be gutted, or not, and without delay plunged into the brine in quantity so as nearly to fill the reservoir, and after remaining _covered_ with the pickle five or six days, they will be so completely impregnated with salt as to be perfectly fit to be re-packed in barrels, with large-grained solid salt, for the hottest climates and longest voyages.
The brine becomes frequently somewhat weaker at the top; to remedy this, some of the salt may be suspended in bags or otherwise, just under the surface, which will saturate whatever moisture may exude from the fish, and thus the whole of the brine will continue fully saturated and of the most strength.
Such brine, although repeatedly used, will not putrify, nor the fish, if kept under the surface, become rancid.
By this process great quantities of herrings may be salted when salt or casks are not on the spot, and the fish may remain for a great length of time immersed in this brine without the least injury.
From Mr. London’s statement, it appears that the brine ought always to contain a redundancy of salt; and in such case there is not the least danger of the fish putrifying or growing rancid, as the extra lumps of solid salt in the brine immediately act upon any watery or other liquors which proceed from the fish when inclosed in the cask.
For judging of the relative strength of different solutions of common salt, Mr. London recommends a glass bottle, with a ground-glass stopper, to be filled with brine made from a solution of solid salt in water; within this bottle are three glass bubbles, of different specific gravities, so graduated, that supposing the temperature of the air to be at sixty degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, and only one bubble floats on the surface, and that it indicates the specific gravity of the brine to be 1.155, containing about 20 parts salt, and 80 of water, which is insufficient to cure animal matters with certainty by immersion in it.
When the second bubble floats, it indicates the specific gravity of the brine to be 1.180, or about 24 parts salt, and 76 parts water, which may be used for the purpose of immersion.
This brine will fully answer the purpose in the hottest weather in most climates, provided the meat or fish is always completely covered with the brine.
PICKLED MACKEREL.
After splitting the fish, and having taken off their heads and part of the skin of the belly, let them be laid in brine about three or four hours; then put them in jars with the following pickle:--two pounds common salt, two ounces saltpetre, one ounce of sugar, half ounce white pepper, one drachm corriander seed, pounded all well together; sprinkle with this mixture the bottom of the jar; then put on a layer of mackerel, with the back downwards; then a layer of the spices, and then another of mackerel, alternately, till the jar is full; press them down, and cover them close. In six months they will be ready for use.
PICKLED SALMON.
Split the fish down the middle, and divide each half into six pieces. Make a brine of salt sufficient in quantity to cover the fish when placed in a saucepan. Season with bruised pepper, mace, and allspice, and simmer the whole till the fish is done, taking care not to boil the fish more than is barely sufficient. Then take out the pieces to cool, and put them into a jar. Strain off the spice from the liquor in which the fish was boiled, and add to it a like quantity, by measure, of vinegar, and pour it over the fish. When cold, tie it over with paper, and keep the fish submersed under the liquor, by placing a weight on it.
COLLARED EELS.
Skin and bone the eels; season them with mace, chopped eschalots, pepper, salt and pimento. Roll up the whole, and tie it firmly with tape; put it in a stew-pan with a pint of veal _stock_, half pint of white wine, and half as much vinegar; and let them simmer till done. Then put them into a dish; skim off the fat, and season with salt. Clear the liquor by simmering it a few minutes, with the white of two eggs, and pass it through a cloth: after which boil it till it becomes a thick jelly when cold. Then take the tape from the eels, and pour the liquid transparent jelly over the fish.
BEST METHOD OF PRESERVING ALL KINDS OF COOKED BUTCHER’S MEAT, FISH, OR POULTRY.
Of all the methods of preserving animal substances for domestic purposes, or sea store, the process found out by Mr. Appert, and pursued in this metropolis upon a large scale by Messrs. Donkin and Gamble, is unquestionably the best. It is as follows:
Let the substance to be preserved be first par-boiled, or rather somewhat more, the bones of the meat being previously removed. Put the meat into a tin cylinder, fill up the vessel with the broth, and then solder on the lid, furnished with a small hole. When this has been done, let the tin vessel, thus prepared, be placed in water and heated to the boiling point to complete the remainder of the cooking of the meat. The hole in the lid is now closed perfectly, by soldering, whilst the air is rushing out.
The vessel is then allowed to cool, and from the diminution of volume in the contents, in consequence of the reduction of temperature, both ends of the cylinder are pressed inwards and become concave. The tin cases, thus hermetically sealed, are exposed in a _test-chamber_ for at least a month, to a temperature above what they are ever likely to encounter; from 90° to 110° Fahrenheit. If the process has failed, putrefaction takes place, and gas is evolved, which in process of time will bulge out both ends of the case, so as to render them convex instead of concave. But the contents of whatever cases stand this test, will infallibly keep perfectly sweet and good in any climate, and for any length of time. If there was any taint about the meat when put up, it inevitably ferments, and is detected in the _proving_ process.
All kinds of animal food may be preserved in this way--beef, mutton, veal, and poultry, either boiled or roasted. The testimonies in favour of the success of the process are of the most unexceptionable kind. At Messrs. Donkin and Gamble’s establishment the meat is put up in canisters of from 4 lbs. to 20 lbs. weight each. It is charged from 1s. 8d. to 3s. a pound; roast higher than boiled, and veal dearer than mutton or beef. The weight of the canister is deducted, and nothing is charged for the canisters; and it should be observed, that these provisions being cooked, and without bone, render them equivalent to double the weight of meat in the raw state; for it is certain, that the waste in cooking, together with the weight of bone, are about one half.
Captain Neish took a quantity of provision, thus prepared, to India, not one canister spoiled; and one which he brought home contained beef in the highest state of preservation after two years, and having been carried upwards of 35,000 miles in the warmest climates.
The commissioners for victualling the navy also examined some, nearly four years old, which had been in the Mediterranean and Quebec, and found it as sound, sweet, and fresh, as if it had been only yesterday boiled. We are enabled to add the testimony of that distinguished navigator, captain Basil Hall, who has liberally communicated to us the result of his personal experience and observation, which is as follows:--“I can answer for the perfect preservation of a great number of cases which were in my possession during the voyage to China. I had 88_l._ worth, and not one failure. At that time milk was preserved in bottles corked; but tin cases have been substituted with very great effect, as I have myself tried. It is really astonishing how excellent the milk is; and, indeed, every thing preserved in this way is good.”
“You must, on examining the list of prices, bear in mind, that meat thus preserved _eats_ nothing, nor _drinks_--is not apt to get the rot, or to die--does not _tumble_ over-board, nor get its legs broken, or its flesh wore off its bones, by knocking about the decks of a ship in bad weather--it takes no care in the keeping--it is always ready--may be eat cold or hot--and thus enables you to toss into a boat in a minute, as many days’ _cooked_ provisions as you choose--it is not exposed to the vicissitudes of markets, nor is it scourged up to a monstrous price (as at St. Helena), because there is no alternative. Besides these advantages, it enables one to indulge in a number of luxuries, which no care or expence _could_ procure.”
In this preservative process is displayed a singular and important fact with regard to the agency of oxygen in putrefaction. The tin canisters being closed during the exposure to heat, must necessarily contain with the included matter some portion of air; and if heat were not applied, or even if applied imperfectly, putrefaction would take place. This proves that the effect of the high temperature is to produce some kind of combination of the oxygen of the air with the animal or included matter, not leading to putrefaction, or even counter-acting it, while by this combination it is effectually removed. The air accordingly, where the process is successful, is deprived of oxygen; but if the heat were not sufficiently prolonged, and by far the greatest part of the air in the vessel not exhausted, putrefaction soon comes on. From experiments that have been made on this mode of preserving alimentary substances, it has been proved, that if the vessels were opened only for a short time and again closed, without heat being applied, the inclosed substances soon putrefied: as they did also from mere exposure to the air. But if, after having been exposed even for an hour or two, they were re-placed, the vessels again treated as before, and then the due degree of heat applied, they could be preserved as at first. And this repeated exposure to the air, and removal of its operation by heating, it appears from Gay Lussac’s experiments, can be renewed a number of times. Nay, by occasional exposure to the heat of boiling water, without the exclusion of the air, he found the exemption from putrefaction to be attained.
The theory of these effects is not very apparent. Gay Lussac supposes, that the oxygen may combine with that principle analogous to gluten, which excites fermentation, and which may equally excite putrefaction; that this by a kind of coagulation is separated by heat, and thus rendered inert; and that it is only that part of it which has suffered oxygenation which is capable of this coagulation; it is thus removed, while the exclusion of oxygen prevents the putrefaction from taking place, which would otherwise be excited by the remainder. But this is rather hypothetical and unsatisfactory.
PRESERVATION OF MEAT BY POTTING.
The process of potting consists in reducing cooked animal substances to a pulp, by beating the meat in a mortar, and incorporating the mass with a portion of salt and spices. The pulp is then put into a jar, and covered with a thick coat of melted butter or lard, to prevent the contact of air; and the surface is further protected with a bladder-skin tied over the mouth of the jar. The muscular part of meat is best suited for potting, and the quantity of salt and spices ought to be rather liberal.
POTTED BEEF, GAME, OR POULTRY.
Take three pounds of lean beef, salt it twelve hours with half a pound of common salt, and half an ounce of saltpetre; divide it into pound pieces, and put it into an earthen pan, that will just hold it; pour in half a pint of water; cover it close with paste, and set it in a very slow oven for four hours; when it comes from the oven, pour the gravy from it into a basin, shred the meat fine, moisten it with the gravy poured from the meat, and pound it thoroughly in a marble mortar with fresh butter, till it is as fine a paste as possible, season it with black pepper and allspice, or cloves pounded, or grated nutmeg; put it in pots, press it down as close as possible; put a weight on it, and let it stand all night; next day, when it is quite cold, cover it a quarter of an inch thick with clarified butter, and tie it over with paper.
POTTED HAM.
Cut a pound of the lean of boiled ham into pieces, pound it in a mortar with fresh butter, in the proportion of about two ounces to a pound of the ham, till it is a fine paste, season it by degrees with pounded mace, pepper, and allspice; put it close down in pots, and cover it with clarified butter a quarter of an inch thick; let it stand one night in a cool place, and tie it over with paper.
Veal may be potted in a similar manner.
POTTED LOBSTER.
Take the meat and eggs from the shell; season it with powdered mace, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and anchovy liquor. Pound the meat in a marble mortar, and reduce the liquor, by evaporation, to a thick jelly; then put it and the meat together, with about one quarter of its weight of butter. Mix all together, and press it into a small pot; cover it with melted butter. When it is cold, put paper over the pots, and set them in a dry place.
Craw fish, crabs, shrimps, and prawns, may be potted in the same way.
PRESERVATION OF EGGS.
Eggs may be kept for three or four months, or more, if the pores of the shell be closed, and rendered impervious to air by some unctuous application. We generally anoint them with mutton-suet, melted, and set them on end, wedged close together, in bran, _stratum super stratum_, the containing box being closely covered.
Another method of preserving eggs is, to place them into a vessel containing lime water, or more properly slacked quicklime diluted with water, to the consistence of a thin cream, taking care that the eggs are completely covered with this liquid. The first mentioned process is, however, preferable, and answers exceedingly well.
PRESERVATIVE EFFECT OF FROST, ON BUTCHER’S MEAT, FISH, AND FOWL.
The preservative effect of frost on dead animal matter are of the utmost importance to the northern nations, by enabling them to store up a sufficient stock of all manner of animal provisions for their winter supply, and to receive stores from a great distance.
There is annually held at St. Petersburg and Moscow what is called the frozen, or winter market, for the sale of provisions solidified by frost. In a vast open square, the bodies of many thousand animals are seen on all sides, piled in pyramidal and quadrangular masses: fish, fowl, butter, eggs, hogs, sheep, deer, oxen, all rendered solid by frost. The different species of fish are strikingly beautiful; they possess the lustre and brilliancy of colour which characterises the different species in a living state.
Most of the larger kinds of quadrupeds are skinned, and classed according to their species; groups of many hundreds are piled upon their hind-legs, one against another, as if each were making an effort to climb over the back of his neighbour. The motionless, yet apparent animation of their seemingly struggling attitudes (as if they had died a sudden death), gives a horrid life to this singular scene of death. The solidity of the frozen creatures, is such, that the natives chop and saw them up, for the accommodation of the purchasers, like wood. These frozen provisions are the produce of countries very remote from each other. Siberia, Archangel, and still more distant provinces, furnish the merchandize which, during the severity of the frost, is conveyed hither on sledges.
In consequence of the multitude of these commodities, and the short period allowed to the existence of the market, they are cheaper than at any other time of the year, and are, therefore, purchased in larger quantities, to be stored, as a winter stock.
When disposed in cellars, they will keep, with care, for a considerable time during the cold season. All the provisions which remain, and are exposed to the temperate atmosphere, speedily putrify; but as the desertion of the frost is generally pretty well calculated, almost to a day, but little loss is suffered in this respect. The same advantage is taken of the cold in Canada, and all other countries, when the frost is sufficiently steady.
Substances, so long as they are hard frozen, probably undergo no chemical change, of which the most striking proof was afforded by the body of an animal, probably antediluvian, being found imbedded in a mass of ice at the mouth of the Lena; but in the act of freezing, or of the subsequent thawing, some alteration is produced, which affects the nature of the substance. This may be either merely mechanical, from the particles of ice during their formation, tearing asunder and separating the fibres, or chemical, by destroying the intimate union of the constituents of the fluids, as in wine injured by having been frozen; or by causing new combinations, of which we have an example in the sweetness acquired by the potatoe.
Captain Scoresby, contrary to popular belief, states, that “the most surprising action of the frost, on fresh provision, is in preserving it a long time from putrefaction, even after it is thawed and returns into a warm climate.[34] I have,” says he, “eaten unsalted mutton and beef nearly five months old, which has been constantly exposed to a temperature above the freezing point for four or five weeks in the outset, and occasionally assailed by the septical influences of rain, fog, heat, and electricity, and yet it has proved perfectly sweet. It may be remarked, that unsalted meat that has been preserved four or five months in a cold climate, and then brought back to the British coasts during the warmth of summer, must be consumed very speedily after it is cut into, or it will fail in a day or two. It will seldom, indeed, keep sweet after being cooked above twenty or thirty hours.”
[34] Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale Fishery.