How to preserve meat?

[Richard Simmons]

In the canned food thread it was posted that you should have salt and can use it to preserve meat. Let's assume we have no electricity and want to preserve harvested meats such as deer, rabbit and squirrel. How exactly do you go about salt curing or preserving these meats/game? Just rub it on? Use a brine? Do you need to smoke and salt? TIA

[El Jefe]

Damn good question Richard. I wish my Grandfather on my Dad's side of the family was still alive because he could answer many of these types of questions. I remember that on my Grandparents farm they had a smoke house and they cured their own hams and such. One thing they did that would be easy to figure out was canning meat, I'd imagine canned beef would be good for beef tips and noodles, things like that.

[Flinter]

Jerkey always works.

I'm ashamed to say I've never cured a ham...but I do know that the brine works.

[ubersoldate]

Great question!!!

Ive tried jerky a few times without any modern help, and it didnt turn out so good.
Salt obviously, Smoking meat, but I would think for me, if I had to mix in some fresh meat with my stocks I would try to make it small animals that would be edible without spoiling..

[Richard Simmons]

The only jerky I've done, using both lean ground and sliced beef and bear turned out well but I used a dehydrator and a processed/packaged jerky seasoning and without electricity my dehydrator is a no go.

Figuring fall and winter as the primary/traditional seasons for hunting I would imagine a clear, cold, dry day would dehydrate meat but salt would still be a necessity for complete curing.

On the other hand it it's rainy such as spring or in a coastal area how do you preserve even if your using domestic animals/livestock instead of game due to the season. I figure that in some areas livestock may be more readily available then wild game and though I'm no expert I've heard the besides wanting them to raise young, some game animals are just not good eating during spring and summer. True or not during a crisis you may have to shoot what you can, when you can so perhaps laying in a good supply of tabasco isn't a bad idea?

Another thing with salt curing is the water necessary to prepare salt cured items. When folks here cook a country ham they soak it in several changes of water to get rid of the excess salt and it's still pretty salty.

In a survival situation will a person have enought potable water to use five gallons everytime they want to cook something salt cured? Actually that brings something else to mind. Does something like beef or even deer that's been correctly salt cured need to be cooked to be safely consumed?

IIRC the armies and navys of yesterday used salt pork as a staple protein but didn't they always cook it in something like beans? Was that to make it more palatable and utilize the inherent saltiness or did it need to be cooked?

Since I brought up water what health issues would salt cured products present? Individuals with high blood pressure would surely have a problem and wouldn't eating the extra salt also increase water consumption, not only from a thirst level but also from a medical standpoint as the excess salt needs to be flushed from your system, or at least it seems like it would need to be?

Canning meats in jars might be the best approach but then again you need a broth and enough water to boil the jars until the meat is cooked. How available is water going to be?



Haven't read it all but this looks informative

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/curing-meat.htm

[Lysander]

Sugar curing meat during the fall & winter (http://www.sugarmountainhome.com/livestock/curingmeat.html).

Pemmican making guide (http://www.breadandmoney.com/docs/pemmican2006.html)

Sun drying meat (http://www.preservefood.com/drying/sun-drying.shtml)

Smoking meat (http://www.preservefood.com/drying/smoking.shtml)

Hope these links are helpful. I've tried making jerky with the "sun drying" method and it turned out all right. You will learn in a hurry, however, to make sure you use the leanest cuts of meat possible. I accidentally missed some fat and spoiled a batch when it went rancid.

[El Jefe]

The only jerky I've done, using both lean ground and sliced beef and bear turned out well but I used a dehydrator and a processed/packaged jerky seasoning and without electricity my dehydrator is a no go.


Yeah my wife has made jerky that way a few times. It works, but the smoked deer jerky a friend of mine makes every year is better. He also ham cures deer meat and I'll be damned if it doesn't taste like ham.