Rosalee Brown

I am writing this article on Saturday, August 18, and I am hoping that we will be spared the fury of Hurricane Dean.

I was off the island for hurricane Gilbert and my mother-in-law told me that the freezer was filled with meat, especially chicken, and they eventually 'dry fried' all of it for preservation. However, even after sharing with others and eating more than the normal portions, they eventually had to discard a lot of chicken.

Even if you have ensured that the content of your freezer is at the right temperature, that is, below 0 degree C before you lose power supply during the hurricane, you will not be able to maintain that temperature for many hours, so your meats will eventually spoil.

Salting/pickling method

Preserve your meat and fish by salting or pickling. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER

One method that can be employed to preserve your meats is salting/pickling. This is adding salt to the meat to reduce its moisture content - the water is removed from the meat through osmosis.

The salty medium is also not conducive to the growth of many harmful bacteria and so further reduces spoilage. Pickling can be created by adding an acid such as vinegar to the salt medium and often various herbs and spices can be added.

All meats, fish and even some vegetables can be salted, the choice can be a dry cure using a mixture of salt and spices or using a brine solution. For meats and fish already frozen, a brine solution may be best. Rock salt or coarse salt is best but many persons may not have this readily available therefore table salt can be used.

Simple cure (A)

1 lb brown sugar

12 oz salt

1.5 oz salt petre

10-12 lbs meat

2 pts vinegar

Simple cure (B)

12 oz salt

1 tablespoon pimento berries

1 tsp black pepper berries

1/2 oz salt petre

Method

Prepare a clean plastic bucket. Drain meat and remove skin and excess fat.

Combine mixture and rub into meat/fish. Put in bucket and cover. Use less mixture for less meat.

If you are without salt petre, you can still salt the meat. Salt petre (nitrate), in addition to helping in the curing process by killing some microorganisms and preventing oxidation, gives the meat a pink colour.

Before using the cured meat/fish, soak overnight and discard water; boil and discard water a second time then prepare as any other cured/corned pickled meat.