
                              MEAT POTTING



To: richard@io.org

From: Al Durtschi <mark@lis.ab.ca>

Subject: Potting Meat



Rich, Here is some research I've been doing on preserving meat by

potting. I would be flattered if you chose to use it in your stuff.  

All I ask is that you leave my name with it...  and maybe my E-mail 

address as long as E-mail addresses  fit into your layout.  

I hope you like it.



P.S.S.  I love your work.  You are doing wonderful, important

things.



                                   Meat Potting:



Before refrigeration changed everything here in Southern Alberta,

meat potting was a more prevalent way of preserving meat than either

salt curing or drying .  In my mind, 'meat potting' was an accident 

waiting for a place to happen, but under the appropriate circumstances 

it could have a place again.



This is how we used to do it... 

As told by Gorden Schaufert (born 1942)



Meat potting is preserving meat in it's own grease in a large

crock pot.



This is how we did it.  Early in the morning Dad killed a pig and

started cutting it up.  He gave the pieces to Mom who had the wood 

stove in the kitchen hot and ready to cook.  She started frying the 

pork and prepared the crock pot.  This pot was about 18 inches in 

diameter and 24 inches deep.



Mother washed it, and got it just as clean as she could get it. 

As the pork fried, it gave off lots of grease.  She took some of this 

very hot grease and poured it into the bottom of the crock, sealing and

sterilizing the bottom.  Then she put the meat she had just finished 

cooking down onto this grease.  



As she continued to cook throughout the day she added the well

fried meat and covered it with the hot fat that came from the

cooking process.  



By the evening the pig was all fried up and in the pot, covered over 

with a nice layer of lard that had hardened.  As the days passed by, 

we dug down into the lard to where the meat was, pulled out what we

needed, and put it in the frying pan. 



We cooked it good a second time to kill any bacteria that could

have possibly gotten into it.  Doing this not only re-sterilized the 

meat for eating, but melted off all the excess fat.  



The meat was taken out of the pan and the fat was poured back into 

the pot to seal up the hole we had just made getting the meat out.



Frequently Asked Questions:



1.  How long can pork be preserved in this way?



In the Summer time we could expect it to last about six weeks. 

Of course in the Winter it would last much longer. When it went bad 

there was no question about it, as it really started to stink. 



(In my research for this subject, I talked with many old timers who 

never had any meat go bad through many years of potting.)



2. How much did you have to cook it to be sure it was cooked

enough?



We cooked it until all the red was gone, then cooked it some more.

If there was even one piece put in the barrel partially cooked it could

have easily destroyed the meat in the whole barrel. (Leslie Basel

<lebasel@nando.net>,



The custodian of the FAQs for rec.food.preserving suggests the meat 

be cooked to 240 degrees F and the fat that is poured in after it be

even hotter.)



3. What other meats can be preserved in this way?



Really, you can preserve any type of meat.  But if a low fat type

of meat is potted, there must be an adequate supply of extra fat to 

cover the meat as it is cooked and placed in the pot.  



(Several old timers talked about potting beef.  But mostly it was used 

for pork as it furnished it's own fat.)



4.  Could meat be salt cured and then potted?



Yes, and this was done by some families.  It is hard to say how

long this extended the shelf life of the meat in the pot.



5.  What can I do to enhance my chances of potting safely?



Insure your crock pot is clean and sanitized before you start. 

Be sure the grease you pour into the crock is always nice and hot as well 

as the meat.



Keep everything as clean as possible. Don't use the came cooking

utensil to take the meat out of the pan as you used to turn or handle 

the raw meat.



Leave the utensil you use to move the meat from the pan into the

pot in the frying pan where it can stay hot and therefore sterilized.  



Do not touch the cooked meat with anything except the cooking utensil you 

transfer the meat from the pan to the pot with.  



When putting meat into the crock, don't touch the sides of the crock pot 

and don't touch the meat.  Cover the crock with a lid when not putting meat

or fat into it.  



Remember, your success depends entirely on insuring that not one

cell of bacteria is permitted to remain alive in the pot.  And on 

using the meat, schedule things out so you plan on using the last 

of the meat within 6 weeks.  



(This was not a problem  for the early folks as they often had 10 or 

more children.)



6.  Should I give this a try to gain experience in this type of

meat preserving?



Potting is no longer done for good reason.  It's just not an

approved way of preserving meat, considering our present technology.  



This information is given here for three reasons:



  a.  Save the skill from being lost in a rapidly changing world.

          (There are fewer old timers every day.)



  b.  Help people realize it is an option (in very hard times).



  c.  Preserve our heritage.



Should you want to give it a try, go ahead.  If you follow these

instructions you will probably have good luck.  Remember when you re-heat 

your meat, cook it good a second time to kill any bacteria that might have 

gotten into it.  



And if it starts to smell bad, don't mess around with it, but throw it

away.



A last comment:



The term 'scraping the bottom of the barrel' came from potting

meat.  By the time the old timers got to the bottom of the pot, the 

quality of the meat was often very questionable.  And hence the term means 

even today 'using something rather undesirable because it is all there is.' 



(Ref: Leslie Basel)

