Always start with a slow fire so as to warm the meat up gradually.  Thirty-six to forty-eight hours of heat as near 120 degrees F. as possible will be sufficient under most circumstances.

How to Store Smoked Meats.  A dry, cool cellar or attic where there is good circulation is a good place for storage.  If the meat is to be used soon the meat can hang without coverings but for long keeping you will have to wrap it when cold in waxed paper and then in burlap, muslin or canvas bags and then hang it, after it is tied very tightly to prevent insects from getting in, in a room with a cool uniform temperature.

Some farmers get satisfactory results by wrapping the meats in strong bags and then burying them in oat bins.

SAUSAGE

Frequently when animals are butchered on the farm there are often wholesome portions of the carcass that are not used.  All trimmings, cheeks, liver, tongue, breast and other pieces can be made into bologna, headcheese or some other form of sausage.  Sausage making is an art worth acquiring.  There is always a good demand for fresh and smoked country sausage, so if you wish to sell some you will have no trouble in finding a market for your product if it is a good one.

To make sausage you should have a meat grinder, which is an absolute essential on every farm.  If you do not have one already then buy a No. 22 or No. 32.

In addition to the grinder you will need a stuffer attachment which costs very little.  A knife, cord, string, a clean tube and casings or muslin bags will complete your equipment.  The muslin bags can be of any size but the easiest to handle are 12 inches long and 2 inches in diameter.  If the sausage is stuffed into these bags they must be paraffined for home use.  If you do not want to bother with casings or bags put the sausage in stone crocks or tin pans with a layer of lard or paraffin on top.

The best sausage is made by using 3 parts of lean meat to one of fat.  When using the grinder, distribute the lean and fat meat as uniformly as possible.

You are not necessarily limited to pork sausage, for there are many other delicious varieties you can make.  They vary in the different kinds of meat used and in the different seasonings and spices.

Breakfast sausage has bread added to it; frankfurters are smoked pork sausage in casings; liver sausage has pork and beef or veal and bread in it; and blood sausage, as its name suggests, has blood (preferably from a hog) added to it.  Then there is tomato sausage which is made of pulp from fresh tomatoes, pork sausage and crackers.  Summer sausage is made in the winter and kept for use during the summer.  After being dried and cured it will keep for months.  Brain sausage is delicious.  To make it calves’ brains are mixed with lean pork.  Cambridge sausage has rice added to it.

Headcheese is usually made from the hog’s head but odds and ends also can be used not only from pork but from beef and veal.