I relish eating meat. Meat is the most wonderful outcome arriving from the fall of Adam and Eve which no one other than myself has ever considered that there were benefits in sin, even if the majority of curses were a plague.
In that, there is a lovely little book of cookery called the COMPLEAT HOUSEWIFE which having it's origins in England in year of our Lord, 1736 AD focuses upon Dutch Beef, which is akin to Mutton and of course German Ham.
Meat of all types benefit greatly from three situations, and that being smoke, salt and pepper. For some reason God did not list an 11th Commandment being smoked meat was so tempting that it deserved a special attention to warn people of, but perhaps God considered that lust and coveting would cover that offering.
I offer here three recipes from antiquity, involving beef, sheep and pork. I would expound upon this, that with care, such meats as goose breast will in same process yield and ambrosia like smoked fish.
After suffering from the effects of potassium nitrate or the nitrites which are termed in old recipes, Salt Petre, which is one of the three additives of gun powder, I am not convinced outside of ground meats like sausage, that this retardant of poisonous bacteria, is necessary when it comes to slabs of meat where air is not in contact with the majority of the meat.
Wood smoke actually is a natural preservative and canning salt is a natural retardant of bacteria, as indeed sugar is, so it is possible to preserve meat without nitrites when not ground.
Jerky and biltong are both preserved meats which do not have salt or preservatives. In fact, real jerky and biltong is nothing but meat cut into strips on hot dry days with wind, and the meat is hung up to dry to cure.
Lack of moisture is what keeps jerky and biltong as Indians and Negroids did not have access to salt. Smoke was sometimes used, but in most cases to keep blow flies away, but there is a secret in the bovine meats in they will generate a natural glaze to seal the meat within half an hour, and blow flies will not be attracted to lay eggs on that meat for maggots.
With that assessment, I list the beauty of meats, salted, sugared and smoked to dry, in order to keep. I am convinced if the world had volumes of inexpensive smoked meats, that everyone would be so satiated and pleased that no wars nor pornography would exist, as smoked meats are a peace to the human heart.
In that, it may be why the 11th Commandment was not created as smoked meat were a blessing from God after the fall, and the secret to world peace.
To make Dutch-beef:—Take the lean part of a buttock of beef raw; rub it well with brown sugar all over, and let it lie in a pan or tray two or three hours, turning it three or four times; then salt it well with common salt and salt-petre, and let it lie a fortnight, turning it every day; then roll it very strait in a coarse cloth, and put it in a cheese-press a day and a night, and hang it to dry in a chimney. When you boil it, you must put it in a cloth: when 'tis cold, it will cut out into shivers as Dutch-beef.
To dry Mutton to cut out in Shivers as Dutch-Beef:—Take a middling leg of mutton, then take half a pound of brown sugar, and rub it hard all over your mutton, and let it lie twenty-four hours; then take an ounce and half of saltpetre, and mix it with a pound of common salt, and rub that all over the mutton every other day, till 'tis all on, and let it lie nine days longer; keep the place free from brine, then hang it up to dry three days, then smoke it in a chimney where wood is burnt; the fire must not be too hot; a fortnight will dry it. Boil it like other hams, and when 'tis cold, cut it out in shivers like Dutch-beef.
To make Hams of Pork like Westphalia:—To two large hams, or three small ones, take three pounds of common salt, and two pounds and half of brown coarse sugar; mix both together, and rub it well into the hams, and let them lie seven days, turning them every day, and rub the salt in them, when you turn them; then take four ounces of salt-petre beat small, and mix with two handfuls of common salt, and rub that well in your hams, and let them lie a fortnight longer: then hang them up high in a chimney to smoke.
You will notice that the focus was on Dutch or Deutsch creation of meats in Germany. In reading Martin Luther's Table Talk, he mentioned someone counting "puddings" in their chimney. I have not had the opportunity nor time to investigate these puddings, but whether English or meat puddings, a steady smoking and drying in the chimney would only keep and benefit them.
One of my greatest delights was German Summer Sausage. My Grandfather used to hang his in an unheated upstairs closet where they would keep, probably with mold on the outside skins. For some reason, smoked summer sausage if left to age and dry out, from it's moisture content, for a few months even in a refridgerator to take on that dark red and shriveled state, becomes much sweeter and more enticing.
When the electric goes out, you are going to have to know how to cure meats, and how to extend their use in a little meat with a great deal of broth with use of salted and smoked bones.
One must be careful of worms being ingested in pork and deer meats, but cured correctly most meats will benefit greatly from a heavy smoking. Chicken should be hot smoked to be cooked, and one boils to rehydrate and too kill the worm eggs in hams of pork, just to be safe in the olden times.
In all of this, I can only tell you how to create your food as I doubt I will be there to eat it for you too. As an additional note, if you leave bones in hams, they do require more drying and curing, but they do make wonderful soups for flavorings.
I am going to look for more recipes so will close this.
agtG
