The manner in which salt acts in preserving meat is not difficult to understand. By its strong affinity, it, in the first place, extracts the juices from the substance of meat in sufficient quantity to form a saturated solution with the water contained in the juice, and the meat then absorbs the saturated brine in place of the juice extracted by the salt. In this way, matter incapable of putrefaction takes the places of that portion in the meat which is most perishable. Such, however, is not the only office of salt as a means of preserving meat; it acts also by its astringency in contracting the fibres of the muscles, and so excludes the action of air on the interior of the substance of the meat. The last-mentioned operation of salt as an antiseptic is evinced by the diminution of the volume of meat to which it is applied. The astringent action of saltpetre on meat is much greater than that of salt, and thereby renders meat to which it is applied very hard; but, in small quantities, it considerably assists the antiseptic action of salt, and also prevents the destruction of the florid colour of meat, which is caused by the application of salt. Thus, it will be perceived, from the foregoing statement, that the application of salt and saltpetre diminishes, in a considerable degree, the nutritive, and, to some extent, the wholesome qualities of meat; and, therefore, in their use, the quantity applied should be as small as possible, consistent with the perfect preservation of the meat.
Reading list for 2012!
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Believe it or not but I have been reading books in 2011. Mostly on my
Kindle, but I did forget to update this blog. However I thought it would be
good to r...
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