The Many Ways of Preserving Meat

ways of preserving meat

While considering your prepping and preparedness with regards to food storage of meat, consider the following ways of preserving meat:

Freezing Meat

The most popular way to store meat is freezing it. Since the mid-1940s, freezing has become the most popular method. It’s quick and easy, and it preserves nutritional value and flavor.

Prepared for Power Outages or Broken Freezer

Obviously, though, a freezer depends upon electricity. Have you ever lost a freezer full of meat because the power went out for too long? Or did the freezer break? From the perspective of prepping and preparedness, it’s best to have a plan for both of those scenarios, especially if you really do have a freezer full of meat. A loss could be expensive!

[ Read: How To Keep Chest Freezer or Fridge Running During Power Outage ]

I have several gasoline generators. However, I also have an alternative energy source, solar power, and battery storage. I’ve recently written an article about newer technology that could be a perfect solution to powering a chest freezer during an outage:

[ Read: Jackery versus Gas Powered Generator ]

I also keep an unused chest freezer. Should the meat freezer die, I can transfer the contents to the other one. Anyway, I just thought I would mention the potential problems since freezing meat is the most popular way of preserving meat.

Freezer Temperature

The best temperature for freezing meat is at least zero degrees F for most extended shelf-life preservation. But what about colder than that? Yes, colder is better—subzero in the range of -10 degrees F. Generally, if you’re around zero, I wouldn’t worry about it. My freezers typically cycle between -5 and +5 degrees. Good enough…

Here’s how I organize my freezer to rotate through its contents…

[ Read: How I Organize My Chest Freezers ]

Vacuum Seal the Meat – It’s Important

Wrap all meat in moisture-proof packages to prevent freezer burn. I vacuum-sealed all of my meat. It makes a HUGE difference. There is zero burn. It tastes great after thawing and cooking, as though it was never frozen. I highly recommend this method.

[ Read: Frozen Vacuum Sealed Meat – How Long Is Storage Life In The Freezer ]

I label every vacuum-sealed package of meat with the descriptive cut of meat and the Month/Year it was sealed.

Home Canning

One way of preserving meat is by home canning. I use this method, too.

Canning meat is convenient and economical. And best of all, it’s not dependent upon electricity for storage! From the perspective of prepping, this is huge!

Home canned foods keep well for a very long time (years).

We primarily use this meat preservation method for chicken. It’s easy. Once in a while, chicken goes on sale cheap. When it does, and if we’re in the mood, we’ll buy and can it. Here’s an article on home-canned chicken:

[ Read: Pressure Canning Chicken | How To Do It Yourself ]

The Ball Book of Canning and Preserving
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Curing

Salt is the only essential ingredient for curing. It slows spoilage by drawing water from the meat and killing decay-causing microorganisms.

Meat cured with salt alone will store well (but will be tough and dry). An early salt cure was as simple as storing slabs of meat in a barrel of salt.

Kosher salt. It’s a coarse salt. Usually made without additives. It can be used for one of the ways for curing meat.

Curing salt. It’s a unique blend of salt and other ingredients, including sodium nitrite (which has become somewhat controversial regarding potential health issues with large doses).

An MSB Reader said, “42 pounds of Morten’s Tender Quick fits in a 5 gallon bucket. Each ounce of Tender Quick cures about 2 pounds (small cuts) of meat, or about 1,300 pounds of meat for a 5 gallon pail worth!”

Morton Tender Quick is a fast-cure mix so you can cure meat, poultry or game right in your own kitchen. It gives meats a tasty cured flavor and characteristic pink color. Works particularly well with small cuts of meat, such as pork chops, spareribs and poultry.

Morton Tender Quick mix contains salt, the main preserving agent; sugar, both sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, curing agents that also contribute to development of color and flavor; and propylene glycol to keep the mixture uniform. Morton Tender Quick is NOT a meat tenderizer.

Morton Curing Salt, Tender Quick Home Meat Cure
(amzn)

The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing

Smoking

Curing is the first step in the smoking process, essential for good flavor.

‘Cold smoking’ is best for preserving (and adding flavor) temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees F and is more easily accomplished during cooler months.

The cold smoking process may last 1 to 14 days. Smoking has a preservative benefit: The smoke contains tar-like substances that are deposited on the food. To a greater or lesser extent, they seal the surface, keeping air from coming in contact with the food. Therefore, in theory, fats in the food will not turn rancid because there’s no exposure to air. So, smoking is beneficial for preserving fatty foods. The smoke also kills bacteria.

Smoked meats may still spoil pretty quickly, though, depending, so refer to research on your particular meat, recipes, and shelf-life storage.

Choose the right smoker (or turn the grill into an effective smoking machine). Understand the different tools, fuels, and smoking wood. Master all the essential techniques, including hot-smoking and cold-smoking.

Project Smoke
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Jerky / Dehydrate

Dried dehydrated meat (jerky). Made by drying meat at a relatively low temperature (140°F – 170°F) for an extended period.

[ Read: Safe Jerky In A Home Dehydrator ]

Biltong

Especially among the old traditional ways of preserving meat… Biltong.

Biltong is a form of dried, cured meat. Various types of meat are used to produce it, ranging from beef to game meats. It is related to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats; however, the typical ingredients, taste and production processes may differ.

The meat was prepared with vinegar and spices then hung to be air-dried for a fortnight during the winter, when the colder temperatures further inhibited bacterial and fungal growth. Once suitably dried the biltong was ready for packing in cloth bags which allowed air circulation to help prevent mold.

~ wikipedia

First, ideally, the meat is marinated in a vinegar solution for a few hours. Grape vinegar is traditional, but balsamic and cider also work well. The solution is then poured off before flavoring the meat.

The spice mix traditionally consists of equal amounts of rock salt, barbecue spice, whole coriander slightly roasted and roughly ground, black pepper, and brown sugar.

This mix is then ground roughly together. Sprinkle liberally over the meat. Rubbed in.

Set for a few hoursor refrigerate overnight. Pour off any excess liquid before the meat is hung in the dryer. Traditionally, it takes a fortnight or two weeks.

Lard Covered Pork

An MSB Reader said, “My grandmother, born 1896 and raised on a Midwest farm told me that when they butchered a hog, they would lay slices of pork in a crock and pour lard over each layer then store in cold dark place.”

Apparently, pioneers used the lard method many years ago and soldiers during the Civil Warto preserve their meat.

Pemmican

Pemmican is a nutritious, preserved food created by Native American Indians. It consists of a mixture of cooked, dried, and shredded buffalo meat or fish combined with melted fat.

How to Make Pemmican – The Pemmican Recipe

The buffalo meat was first dried.

The dried meat was heated over a low fire and then beaten into shreds with sticks or stones.

Buffalo tallow was melted, and the shredded meat was stirred into the hot fat to create pemmican.

The pemmican was 50 percent meat and 50 percent fat.

Berries and dried fruit were sometimes added to the pemmican.

The pemmican would then cool and harden.

Pemmican would last over a year and be eaten dry or boiled in water.

“Whether you are faced with an extreme survival situation, or you’re simply wanting to obtain animals without hunting or trapping, this book will show you how to find, process, and preserve meat without anything but a knife. You’ll learn how to safely assess an animal carcass to determine whether it’s safe to eat – a vital skill that could save your life.”

“There are also special sections on roadkill and making pemmican – the most nourishing and long-lasting survival food.”

A Guide for Safe Scavenging, Pemmican Making, and Roadkill
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