How did they preserve meat?

[wheelockhunter]

How did they preserve meat in the old days before refrigeration, and how long did it last?

I have been told the meat was salted, and of course turned into jerky.

Anyowhere I can go to find out how this was done?

As alway's thanks for any information.

 

[dlemaster]

Salted, smoked, and/or pickeled.

Regards, Dave

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

You might want to try the Library of Congress, in D.C. They have alot to offer with regards to the Williamsburg and Jamestown Settlements, back when matchlocks were considered "modern".

Daily life activities are well written about, and that of course includes the subject at hand. Root cellars would also be a good start.

Dave

 

[Birdman]

dry salted, wet pickled, smoked, sugared, peppered, covered in rendered fat,hanging in a cool spring house lots of ways to keep it for a period of time, the other thing ya need to remember is that the meat they ate wasn't always the pristine pink cuts we get from the store today. Most folks (IMHO and we know the saying about opinions)throw out meat way to often because they think it is bad, when it has only been exposed to the air n darkend in color.heck some fancy restaurants age their beef for well over a month open to the air under controled humidity etc n its fine to eat Keep up your search n try different ways of asking the search engine the question, the info is out there, its sort of like tracking, ya got to keep on the trail until ya find the quarry YMHS Birdman

 

[renovato]

Some good sources for techniques are the various survival and food preservation forums and newsgroups. There are groups on sausage making, smoking, canning, etc., also. I've picked up a lot of useful tips from them over the years.

 

[spudnut]

If you can get ahold of the Mark Baker Longhunter series he makes jerk over an open fire ..very interesting stuff...Mark

 

[2172]

year's ago, I was given a tour of the meat locker at Birne's Steak HOuse in Tampa...the premier steak house in the region. The meat was aging to the point of being green. Too, a great aunt of mine had a good reputation as a game cook. When asked about her methods, she said, 'well, you always hang a pheasant until the meat is ready to walk..." I would guess that freshly killed beef could last at least 6 weeks, just aging and becoming tender as the muscles break down through rot...Hank

 

[flintlockmdj]

My idea (and ideas are closely associated with opinions) is that the old folks killed there large meats in the fall in cold weather so that it kept very well. In hot wether used cured meat or used fresh killed small animals. Also the average family at that time was larger than the modern familys and would use up meat quicker. :hmm:

 

[guncobbler]

Talked to my 87 year old father the other day. He said that his mother would can over 700 quart jars of vegetables and meat a year. Meme' (and the girls when they were not in school) baked and cooked and worked all day long. This kept the 7 kids, two parents and whoever else was living with them in food over the winter and spring. They were never hungry and from what I hear never sick. No antibiotics. Didn't wear shoes all summer unless they were going to church. Two cows kept them in milk all year. Maybe 4 acres of vegetable garden. Pepe' died in his seventies but after his stroke and needing a walker he still kept a garden. My uncle would rototill for him but he would weed by using his walker to the garden, drop to the ground and weed as he dragged himself to the other end of the row with his arms. Turn around and weed on way back. Dad is still using a chainsaw tho he had to make a holding bracket to let him start it. Tough folks! GC

 

[oldarmy]

I love that story.. It reminds me of when I was living in Germany in the 70's. It was a very urban area and land must have been extremely expensive.
You would see these fields and they were all cut up into tinny little, neat plots.
They were where the Germans residents would go and have their gardens.. flowers and vegetables.
Of course being a teenager I never understood it
Until I reached 50 and now have my own "raised bed" gardens and grow whatever I can in the short NH summers.
I would have pigs and chickens also, but the zoning and the WIFE will not let me.

 

[Birdman]

hey guncobler, does yer dad remember how she did the meat. I would be most interested. From everything I have found ya have to use a pressure cooker to do meat safely. Never done it or seen it done so any info would be great if he remembers. Tuff people back then, self sufficient to the max. YMHS Birdman

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Smoked, jerked, salted and brined, cured (salt and spices) and spring houses did some preservation.

 

[Waterman]

I believe that killing large domestic animals in cold weather for meat was because of the race between the rot and the salt. Meat is ideally cured between the temps of 32 and 42 degrees F. Any colder, and the meat freezes. Any warmer and it rots. It takes about a week to salt a five pound brisket. Salting the meat works because salt is hygroscopic and "pulls" the liquids out of the meat. Without liquid, the meat can't decompose. Smoking large cuts of meat (hams etc) just makes the meat taste better.

Bill

 

[bigbore442001]

When my fiance and I went to Niagara Falls, I insisted we stop at Fort Niagara, NY. I was in my elememt and totally enthralled with the whole thing.

Anyways. There was a nice lady who was in charge of the fort kitchen and it was all period correct and showed us some preserved meat. She stated that the meat was pickled in a mixture of salt peter and some other things that I forgot.

I did notice that the meat has a wine like smell to it.

 

[guncobbler]

Hi Birdman - I seem to remember that she used a pressure cooker. I have what might be her 12 quart canner pressure cooker that will hold 7 quart jars at a time. She always steamed them with the lids a little loose and then cranked them down after taking them out of the cooker. If they lid didn't "click" while cooling she knew the seal wasn't good. If you go to the Presto website[url] http://www.gopresto.com/[/url] they have all sorts of directions for pressure cooking. Make sure you follow the safety instructions. Anybody ever have a pressure cooker go ballistic? I know of three instances. The funniest was my dad's pea soup letting loose thru a safety valve tht got tired. A geyser of pea soup steam shot to the ceiling as he carefully carried it to the sink to cool it down. We soon had a new coat of whitewash on the ceiling My best food memories as a young child involve hearing the pressure cooker petcock rattling away as I came thru the back door after a winters evening sledding on the hill behind the house. Just knew there was beef stew with carrots and potatoes ready for the table. Gotta go now. something needs cooking. GC

 

[Todd Rickard]

Yep...pressure cook meat and fish. I do salmon all the time. I offten trade a fresh salmon to friends who can moose meat. Now that is yummy!
One method of preservation I haven't seen mentioned was ice houses. Ice was cut from rivers and lakes in the winter and stored in stout buildings and cellars. Huge blocks of ice covered with sawdust would keep for months. The ice houses Ive seen are made of sturdy dovetailed log and insulated with several feet of sawdust in the attic. Cutting the ice was winter chores to pass the time.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Ice cutting was done down here in this area of WNC, ice houses were common. When the river/streams and ponds froze over they would be out there busting ice. Barrels full of water were set out to freeze also, lot of it went to South Carolina.

 

[JiminTexas]

I haven't lived out in the bush in warm country, but when I was living up in Alaska (for almost thirteen years) in the bush we smoked and peppered our meat in chunks of between 5 and 30 Lbs. This waqs done in the fall and temperatures were pretty cool to freezing, so as I said I don't know what to do in temperate clikates to preserve meat other than preserving it in cans or jaqrs. Peppering meat is actually salt and peppering it and it leaves a crust of salt and pepper that flys wont land on and blow (lay eggs in). Our big worries were bears stealing the meat or the meat getting wet from rain (then it would rot) so a good cache on long, strong legs and a water tight roof was essential.

 

[AntiqueCollector]

Canning wasn't invented until the early 1800's (and even then, it was almost a century before bacteria was understood well enough to almost eliminate the chances of botulism in low acid foods), so until then, it was pickling, drying, or salting, or, preserving in fat. All of these methods were effective in cooler areas when meat was killed in the fall, things got more difficult where it was warmer...