CURING BEEF CHEEKS FOR CANNING. (Copyrighted; Reprint Forbidden.)

First:—The cheeks should be cut out of the head immediately after the beef is killed, all the fat should be trimmed off, and then the cheeks should be twice cut, lengthwise, through the outside muscles.

Second:—They should be then thrown into ice water to which has been added some salt, and they should be allowed to remain there for an hour or two. This will draw out all the slime and blood.

Third:—The cheeks should then be put on a coarse wire screen, or perforated galvanized iron pan placed in a cooler and spread out as thinly as possible, so as to give them a chance to thoroughly chill. A thorough chilling in a cold cooler will require 24 hours.

Fourth:—The cheeks should then be salted, and packed into tierces; 285 lbs. should be put into each tierce.

Fifth:—Handle the cheeks as follows: For each 285 lbs., mix in a box or tub, 3 lbs. of Freeze-Em-Pickle, 6 lbs. of Granulated Sugar and 15 lbs. of Common Salt.

Sixth:—Then put 285 lbs. of cheeks on a table and take half of the mixture of Freeze-Em-Pickle, Granulated Sugar and Salt and mix it with the cheeks thoroughly; then shovel into tierces.

Seventh:—If the tierces are to be headed up, put the heads in and take the balance of the mixture of Freeze-Em-Pickle, Sugar and Salt and dissolve it in 15 gallons of cold water, which pour into the tierces through the bung hole. Insert the bung, and roll the tierces. This will mix and dissolve the Freeze-Em-Pickle, Sugar and Salt. Overhaul in closed up tierces simply by rolling them from one end of the cooler to the other. They ought to be rolled at least 100 feet.

Eighth:—If the tierces are to remain open, take 15 gallons of water in which dissolve the remaining mixture of Freeze-Em-Pickle, Sugar and Salt, and pour this brine over the cheeks; put boards over the top to keep the meat from floating or from coming out of the top of the barrel. At the end of five days after salting, the cheeks must be overhauled and rehandled by transferring them to another tierce with a large fork made for such purpose; this should be repeated every five days, viz., on the fifth day, on the tenth day and on the fifteenth day. After each overhauling, the same brine is always used to pour over the meat. If the cheeks are to be kept for any length of time, they should have another overhauling 25 to 30 days from the day they were packed. Cheek meat slime considerably, making it difficult to cure. When the cheeks are overhauled, if the pickle is thick and ropy, new brine of the same strength as the original brine will have to be made and poured over them, instead of the old brine. The cheek meat must be thoroughly washed in cold water before being put into fresh brine.