[Sca-cooks] Meat Preservation Beyond the "Normal"...

[Michael Gunter]

>That disreputable -- but lovable and talented! -- lout Gunthar was
>yammering at us and sed:

Yeah, yeah, whatever...

>Gunthar, I have always been of the opinion that brining was salting on
>the cheap / as a shorter-term alternative. (Pickled meats I always
>thought lasted less time than fully salted dry meats,

Yes, brining doesn't last as long as fully salted and also weighs
more so that fully salted or dried food was preferred for transport.
But brining does preserve meat for quite a while. Duke Cariadoc can
probably give a pretty good account of the total time Lord's Salt
can preserve meat. I also have recipes for brining things like oysters
and such, then preparing them months later.

>Will there be mention of "straight", no-fire-involved-in-the-dewetting
>drying / curing techniques as well?

Probably not for this class. It will mainly deal with "wet" preservation
techniques. I'll have to see what the person instructing the
smoked/dried preservation class intends to teach.

>** Dehydration WITHOUT salt or smoke is prehistoric in origin, and
>can even occur naturally in the wild -- so-called "natural
>mummification", for example.

Sure. In fact, fish is still "freeze-dried" in the air in Nordic
countries. Basically cut into fillets then left out in the wind
for a week or so. There are also examples of red meat being cut
into thin strips and left out in the wind to dry although I hear
salting and smoking greatly helps the process.

>Is your separation line more "wet" versus "dry"
>preservation methods, then?

Yep.

>** Non-smoke dehydration is also used by aboriginal peoples with
>non-meat foods, such as maize, edible seaweeds, and fruits.

Of course. Raisins, Prunes, apricots...
I've even air dried veggies for camping soups before.

>In avoiding smoke, modern dehydration equipment with
>electric heating elements to replace the fire and plastics
>for the racks and enclosures have the advantage over more
>primitive wooden or even wire-screen racks & ovens in
>maintaining a constant temperature while
>excluding insects or wild-strain bacteria, of course.)

Sure do. I love my modern dehydrator.

>** Honey has also sometimes been dehydrated; in modern usage, I have
>encountered dried honey as a component of herbal tea preparations.

Never heard of that. Interesting.

>** Might add to the list of "immersion" / "wet" preservations
>the use of suet, lard, other meat-related fats, and olive oil.

Well, I was going to cover similar topics when discussing butter
and honey preservation as well as some potting techniques.

>(being somewhat a purist myself when it comes to an
>attitude concerning when Lapland should be and should not
>be considered "Scandinavia").

I recall the Norse people consider the Lapps to be barbarians.

>Adieu, Amra / Pax ... Kihe / ttfn - Mike

I hope that answered some of your questions.

Gunthar

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