Tinned Meats

[Astrid]

Actually I have tried it and it is not all that bad. Certainly not gourmet bacon to be sure, but it actually goes well in something like bean soup.

[Astrid]

Speaking of preserved meat and the like, salt cured and smoked cuts of meat can last quite a while without refridgeration--of course that sort of puts you back in the days of Cooke and Nelson. I have tried it and it works quite well. Typically one takes the cut of meat and soaks it in brine (with a specific gravity sufficient to float a raw egg in the shell). About four or five days or more is needed, The meat will absorb the salt in the brine. After brining, the meat is hung to dry overnight, the lightly grilled and finally smoke cured. The salt will kill most bacteria, and as the meat dries during initial drying and grilling, the sold solidifies and forces remaining moisture out of the meat. Smoking then essentially deposits chemicals from the wood smoke which inhibit bacterial or fungal action. Following the smoking, the mean can then be hung up in cheese cloth until needed. Of course, one should start with relatively lean cuts of meat, and the finished product needs to be boiled to reduce the salt content before eating--ie get out the hard tack.

[Astrid]

One can be a little less hardcore and make you own smoke and salt cured hams which will keep for weeks in much the same manner, except you don't grill it between curing and smoking. You just smoke cook the cured ham and hang it up.

[Brent Swain]

A friend just told me she had good luck dehydrating scambled eggs.

[Janice]

Don't be so sure that you wound't like canned bacon! Throw it in a pan for a few to crisp it ( I like mine crispy) and to remove the extra grease.

If I fed you a comparison test you would be at a loss...

[Astrid]

The thing I like about canned bacon is it has a long shelf life and one never knows when one might not be able to get bacon in some parts of the world. Lol, I actually have a case of it among my various other supplies.

[MarkJ]

Beware the French! They have just tried to snuff me out!!

We often buy a single can/pack of something to test it out before buying more for a long trip.

A few days ago we were in our fav French Supermarket in Nice and spied this canned meat: "Rognons de Boeuf - Sauce Madere" Something beef in a red wine Maderia sauce. Ingredients say 46% beef. Its looking good! The lable also looks 5 Star cullinary delight and not cheap either.


Well, I didn't die because back on the boat I checked on the internet "Rognons". GIZZARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kidneys to be precise.

Memories flooding back of my childhood, I just hate kidneys

Throw them overboard?

[Astrid]

There are some things civilized folk should not be expected to eat.

[Alaska JD]

Originally Posted by Astrid

There are some things civilized folk should not be expected to eat.

Oh come now, come now - In this wonderful age of "going Green" we really have to believe what our Mamas told us - "waste not want not" - Take those old gizzards, role them in some seasoned flour and cook em up on the grill - They be great!! After all, all they are, are little chunks of gristly muscle.

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Astrid

There are some things civilized folk should not be expected to eat.

Absolutely!!!

I refuse to touch offal. Organs that are used to strain blood and widdle are out. Heart, tongue, liver and kidneys - no way. As for MarcJ (that's the French version) he should be aware that the french have some disgusting culinary habits.

Escargot Marc?

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Alaska JD

Take those old gizzards,.....After all, all they are, are little chunks of gristly muscle.

No. All they are, are little p*ss strainers.

There are lines that should not be crossed.

[Alaska JD]

Originally Posted by mintyspilot

No. All they are, are little p*ss strainers.

Actually the Gizzards are stomach muscles, but if we're not eating tongues either I guess stomach muscles would be out as well

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Astrid

The thing I like about canned bacon is it has a long shelf life ...

Precooked Bacon Slices (commercially packaged) have an unopened shelf life of 180 days (6 months) at room temperature.
This is possible due to the cooking process which kills bacteria and removes the moisture necessary for bacterial growth, and by vacuum packaging which removes the oxygen necessary for bacterial growth. No additional preservatives or additives are added to extend the shelf life.

[mintyspilot]

Originally Posted by Alaska JD

Actually the Gizzards are stomach muscles, but if we're not eating tongues either I guess stomach muscles would be out as well

Let's not dress it up - do you mean Tripe?

Tripe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Let me see, Tripe or M&S tinned stuff.... Hmmmmm

(Note for americans and other foreigners, in the UK shopping heirachy the next step up from M&S is Harrod's Food Hall.)

[Alaska JD]

Nope - Tripe are intestines that have been "Processed" and generally come from pigs or cattle. Only Birds have gizzards and are the organ that grinds the food they eat. Birds have no teeth and the food they eat first goes to the "Crop" where it is slowly passed through to the Stomach where it is mixed with digestive enzimes and then passed to the gizzard where the whole slury is ground up. I guess the most accurate comparison for a gizzard would be "jaw muscles". The reason birds pick up grit (small stones etc.) is that it stays in the gizzard and serves as grinders for their food. --And they say ya don't learn anything growing up on a farm