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Beef Preservation Corned Beef

corned beef
(from the Albany Patriot on Page 4, by J.R.S. of Rome, Georgia, October 22, 1861,
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and also from the Southern Federal Union, of Milledgeville, Georgia, November 5, 1861)

Ingredients:

100 lbs. of beef for pickling​
6 gallons of water​
9 lbs. of salt​
3 lbs. brown sugar​
1 qt. brown molassas​
3 oz. salt petre​
1 oz. red pepper​
1 oz. potash​

Instructions:

For pickling 100 pounds of beef. Take six gallons of water, nine pounds of salt, three pounds of brown sugar one quart of molasses, 3 oz. of salt petre, 1 oz. red pepper, and one ounce potash. Boil and skim it well and let it stand until entirely cold; then having rubbed your meat with fine salt and packed and closely filed in a water tight cask, pour brine over it - after standing six weeks, reboil the brine and return it to the tub, or if you prefer making it into bacon, take it out of the brine at the end of the six weeks, and smoke it well with green hickory wood. This receipt answers admirably for curing hams also.​

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I like corned beef but, as Ole says, it's a lot of work. I prefer to let someone else do it! Used to get it from a real-deal Jewish deli down the road. Everything Saul made was to die for - made his own sauerkraut and pickles, too. Saul retired and nobody was interested in following in his footsteps. :cry:
 
I know. 9 for 100.
9%
in a 4 oz serving (aka 113.2 grams) the salt quota would have been 10.2 grams or 10200 mgs, about 5x max RDA these days.
Assuming all the salt was absorbed into the meat, which is quite unlikely.
 
Nine. Pounds. Of. Salt. Nine.
Pounds.

I feel my blood pressure rising already.
Well, it is for 100 lb. of beef! That is .09lb/lb of meat. That is less than 1.5 oz /lb. and you would rinse a lot of that off before you cooked it. Still.........:frown:
 
you got a point there... About a third was absorbed likely. And the mechanics of that operation sound pretty incredible. Bathtub, and small bag of road salt modern equivalents...
 
you got a point there... About a third was absorbed likely. And the mechanics of that operation sound pretty incredible. Bathtub, and small bag of road salt modern equivalents...
Road salt? Remind me not to eat corned beef at your house!:sick:
 
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