Las Sabinas, Volume 4, Number 1, July 1978 Page: 19
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Las Sabinas History Journal and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Orange County Historical Society.
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that it would not spoil.
After about two weeks of salt curing the cuts would be re-
moved from the box or barrel where they had been placed and pre-
pared for smoking. This preparation consisted of tying bear
grass loops through a small hole in each piece, after which it
was dipped in a pot of boiling water to remove the salt and
cleanse it for smoking.
In most cases each piece, or cut, was lightly dusted or
sprinkled with potassium nitrate, commonly called saltpeter.
This was supposed to do two things to improve the quality of
the meat; it prevented spoilage and also discouraged a small moth
known as a skipper. The skipper deposited eggs on the surface
of the meat and the young, or larvae, devoured a considerable
amount of the outside surface of cured meats unless controlled.
When all the work was completed up to this point the meat
was ready for smoking and was placed on poles suspended over the
smoke pit and the doors of the smokehouse closed. Green hickory
wood made a lot of smoke and it was absorbed into the surface of
the meat as the meat gave out moisture and lost weight.
There was never a finer cure for bacon than hickory smoke
though many farmers cured their meat for two or three weeks in
a sugar solution before smoking. Sugar cured bacon was supposed
to be of finest flavor, especially when properly cured and
smoked.
This writer can remember the cane brakes, the animal trails
and the yelping hounds. He went to the cane brakes on many
fishing trips to cut poles for fishing and for set hooks.19.
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Orange County Historical Society (Tex.). Las Sabinas, Volume 4, Number 1, July 1978, periodical, January 1978; Orange, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth255383/m1/27/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Orange County Historical Society.