Potted Beef

[Loyalist Dave]

So I was looking at this recipe from 1755:

To pot Beef.​

TAKE a Buttock of Beef, and cut some thin Slices, and strew on it a little Salt-petre ; let it lye four days in it, turning it every Day ; then put it in a Can with sweet Butter, or sweet Sewet shred shall: Cover it with coarse Paste mad of Meal, and bake it in a hot Oven for three Hours ; then take it out, and take all the Grease and Gravy from it ; when it is cold string it and pound it fine ; then season it with Pepper, Salt, Cloves, and Nutmeg, then draw some sweet Butter to Oil, and skim it, and pour it from the Bottom ; to every two Pound of your pounded Meat put a Pound of your oiled Butter, and work it up well together, put it in small white Patees ; when cold, melt some Butter, and pour it on them. You may pot Venison the same Way.

A New and Easy Method of Cookery
Elizabeth Cleland 1755

So it's a a try at a shelf-stable method of storing meat. No idea how long it will last, but it does have a lot of salt plus potassium nitrate.....


I tried a modern equivalent, Armour Potted Meat.


Well the above recipe is salty and so is this stuff. 38% of your daily sodium intake in that little can. I dare say the antique recipe is far more well seasoned, as this stuff was simply modern Vienna Sausage patte. The can I tried had a shelf life of at least three years "best before Jan 2023"... so maybe in a survival situation...??? It was quite inexpensive.

I think I'd rather try the above recipe, and seal it with wax or something like that...

LD

 

[Gun Tramp]

LD, I had to try the Armour potted meat after watching the movie "Sling Blade." I'm well aware of all the yucky things it's supposed to be made of but don't care, still fair game for me. I agree, too salty. I believe cooked meat was stored covered in lard in crocks? Sterile container, sterile contents, lard excluding the air?

 

[Treestalker]

My Dad told me that growing up on the farm in Louisiana that his family would fry up ground meat patties and using a stoneware crock, they would alternate layers of rendered lard and beef patties until the crock was full, topping it off with a layer of lard. It would keep this way 'all winter' he said. They also made beef jerky and stored it in cloth bags hanging in the smokehouse by the barn; the boys would grab a handful before going on a hunt. This was in the first part of the 1900's. Charlie was born in 1910, he would have been 110 years old March 23.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Sterile container, sterile contents, lard excluding the air?

Yes that's about it, no air and lots of salt. Some people think that there has to be low moisture as with jerky. That works too, but salt pork originally was in salt brine, and of course pickles of whatever type are in brine and vinegar.

High acid content tends to keep bacteria and mold at bay
High salt content the same
low moisture, the same

Here's a video:
Jas. Townsend Making Potted Beef

LD

 

[Billy Boy]

So I was looking at this recipe from 1755:

To pot Beef.​

TAKE a Buttock of Beef, and cut some thin Slices, and strew on it a little Salt-petre ; let it lye four days in it, turning it every Day ; then put it in a Can with sweet Butter, or sweet Sewet shred shall: Cover it with coarse Paste mad of Meal, and bake it in a hot Oven for three Hours ; then take it out, and take all the Grease and Gravy from it ; when it is cold string it and pound it fine ; then season it with Pepper, Salt, Cloves, and Nutmeg, then draw some sweet Butter to Oil, and skim it, and pour it from the Bottom ; to every two Pound of your pounded Meat put a Pound of your oiled Butter, and work it up well together, put it in small white Patees ; when cold, melt some Butter, and pour it on them. You may pot Venison the same Way.

A New and Easy Method of Cookery
Elizabeth Cleland 1755

So it's a a try at a shelf-stable method of storing meat. No idea how long it will last, but it does have a lot of salt plus potassium nitrate.....


I tried a modern equivalent, Armour Potted Meat.
View attachment 27565

Well the above recipe is salty and so is this stuff. 38% of your daily sodium intake in that little can. I dare say the antique recipe is far more well seasoned, as this stuff was simply modern Vienna Sausage patte. The can I tried had a shelf life of at least three years "best before Jan 2023"... so maybe in a survival situation...??? It was quite inexpensive.

I think I'd rather try the above recipe, and seal it with wax or something like that...

LD

I gave some to Bubba, my cat, and he tried to bury it....., just saying...

 

[Brokennock]

The properly rendered fat seals out air and contaminants, like duck confit.
I suppose one could also put it in Mason jars and properly can it. This should help it last even longer.

 

[Eterry]

My Dad told me that growing up on the farm in Louisiana that his family would fry up ground meat patties and using a stoneware crock, they would alternate layers of rendered lard and beef patties until the crock was full, topping it off with a layer of lard. It would keep this way 'all winter' he said. They also made beef jerky and stored it in cloth bags hanging in the smokehouse by the barn; the boys would grab a handful before going on a hunt. This was in the first part of the 1900's. Charlie was born in 1910, he would have been 110 years old March 23.

In Elmer Keith's book, "Hell I Was There" Elmer, born in 1900, spoke of the family doing the same thing, both with fried patties and sausage stored in earthen ware crocks, using hot lard to seal it, The sausage was intended for use when outdoor storage wouldn't suffice, in the summer. Hence the term "Summer Sausage" came about.

Remember the average life span was in the 40's, so if Botulism got a few, eh, it was his time.
Eating potted meat is right next to eating tree bark, IMHO.
Canned tuna and sardines??? Another thing entirely.

 

[Treestalker]

I love sardines and cheese and crackers. My Dad was a canned potted meat aficionado. I also love Diet Coke to go with it, and am seeking a condensed or powdered form of Coke for storage or times of interruption of supply. When I die pour a Coke on my grave and let the juice soak through!

 

[Nyckname]

am seeking a condensed or powdered form of Coke for storage or times of interruption of supply

Try to get a distributor to sell you the syrup.

It's easy enough to buy generic cola concentrate on-line, if you can be brand agnostic.

Don't forget to stockpile cylinders of CO₂ .

Funny thing is, Diet Coke has a shelf life, because the aspartame breaks down with time and heat (those dates on the bottles aren't just a marketing ploy), while the regular stuff doesn't.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Remember the average life span was in the 40's, so if Botulism got a few, eh, it was his time.

Well by the time Mr. Keith was 20 the average life expectancy was 60.... the life expectancy in the previous century which was between 40 and 50 was due to infant mortality rates...., once you hit about 16 if you hadn't died, you were likely good to go unless you got hit with flu....

LD

 

[Treestalker]

Try to get a distributor to sell you the syrup.

It's easy enough to buy generic cola concentrate on-line, if you can be brand agnostic.

Don't forget to stockpile cylinders of CO₂ .

Funny thing is, Diet Coke has a shelf life, because the aspartame breaks down with time and heat (those dates on the bottles aren't just a marketing ploy), while the regular stuff doesn't.

Thanks Nyck, my wife says I need to drink water. I told her, Do you know what fish do in water? She won't talk to me about it anymore.

 

[Eterry]

I've pressured cooked many pints of venison. It tastes like cold roast beef, i don't use any seasoning while canning, adding them after seems to work better.
It takes a long time under pressure, but is worth it. Had a pint 2 years and it tasted fine. 1000 times better than potted meat.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

We've canned up hundreds of pints of moose and venison over the years. 1/2 tsp salt per pint. 90 minutes at 10 psi. Last year's meat usually gets jarred up. We've eaten it 3 years later and it's still good. My wife's grandmother canned hundreds of quart jars of moose meat in a hot water bath. She raised 7 kids and most of them are still alive in their 80's and 90's. Throw in a few potatoes, carrots, and onions and you have a quick stew.

 

[Brokennock]

In Elmer Keith's book, "Hell I Was There" Elmer, born in 1900, spoke of the family doing the same thing, both with fried patties and sausage stored in earthen ware crocks, using hot lard to seal it,

One of my favorite books, of forgotten about that tidbit, thank you.

 

[MrMackc]

I love sardines and cheese and crackers. My Dad was a canned potted meat aficionado. I also love Diet Coke to go with it, and am seeking a condensed or powdered form of Coke for storage or times of interruption of supply. When I die pour a Coke on my grave and let the juice soak through!

I am right beside you with a Gormet's taste in all things! Don't forget the goat peters (Viania sausages) Even though I was raized way out West from you, between a Mesquite Patch and a oil patch in North Texas.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I find the Vienna Sausage original bland, BUT they make a spicey version now, that's pretty tasty. Still enough salt to embalm a small child, though.

LD

 

[Enfield58]

 

[tenngun]

The properly rendered fat seals out air and contaminants, like duck confit.
I suppose one could also put it in Mason jars and properly can it. This should help it last even longer.

I got some French yogurt jars. Hold about four oz. it’s perfect for potted meat. My wife won’t even try it, but I like it.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

EXCEPT these two are actual products and not joke gifts...

LD

 

[Carbon 6]

These two are also real.

https://www.amazon.com/Canned-Edible-Smoked-Rattlesnake/dp/B01BLR13G0
https://www.amazon.com/Newport-Jerk...ry&sprefix=canned+reindeer,grocery,347&sr=1-1[/URL]