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Chapter 3: The Art of Preserving Beef

European explorers brought cattle to North America in the early 1500s along with horses, sheep, and poultry. The vast grasslands of the North American interior proved to be an ideal place to raise vast numbers of cattle. Because of the ready availability of feed, and the need to feed a growing nation, beef grew to become the most consumed meat product in North America. The cattle industry has become one of the largest segments of agriculture in this country.

There is a rich American heritage that surrounds the cattle industry. After the Civil War, a way of life developed around the great cattle drives, and the influences of those times affect our culture even to this day. Although the actual cattle drive experience of the 19th century only lasted about 20 years, cowboys, the rodeo, and the importance of eating good beef are all still important to us in the 21st century.

This chapter will present information on additional food safety issues that are of importance to the preparation and consumption of beef and veal. Veal is the meat from beef calves that have been slaughtered at a very young age. Many consumers prefer the texture and flavor of the meat from young calves. A detailed description of currently available veal products is included in the next section of this chapter.

Some good recipes for cooking beef, and any special food preparation equipment that is particularly useful when preparing a good cut of beef, will be presented in this chapter. There is nothing better than a good cut of beef prepared on the grill after a hard day at work. One of the greatest blessings of our land is the opportunity we have to take time off from work, get away with our family, and put a good cut of meat on the grill. Understanding the best ways to safely preserve, prepare, and serve great food to our families is one way we can ensure that our wonderful American cultural heritage will be preserved for generations to come.

Differences in Beef and Veal

Many people have little experience with the properties of veal, so a little background knowledge on veal would be helpful before launching into the preservation of this quality meat. There are several categories of veal available on the retail market today. The following list provides information on the five types of veal that are available on the retail market.

Veal products

Bob veal: This type of veal comes from calves that are slaughtered when they are only a few days old. These are usually dairy calves. This product is only available in the United States. The meat is light pink in color with a soft texture.

Formula-fed veal: This type of veal comes from calves that are slaughtered when they are 18 to 20 weeks old. The meat is ivory or creamy pink in color with a firm and fine appearance.

Non-formula-fed veal: This type of veal comes from calves that are slaughtered when they are 22 to 26 weeks old. This product is sold as “calf meat” in retail outlets. These calves are fed grain and hay in addition to milk. The meat is a darker red in color with some marbling and fat.

Rose veal: This type of veal comes from calves that are slaughtered when they are 35 weeks old and is available in the United Kingdom. The meat is pink in color.

Free-raised veal: This type of veal comes from calves that are slaughtered when they are 24 weeks old. The calves are raised on their mother’s milk and pasture grasses without the introduction of growth hormones or antibiotics. The meat is rich pink in color with a lower fat content than other types of veal.

There are significant differences in the way veal is best prepared and the usual preparation methods for beef. Since veal is lower in fat than beef, you must take care not to overcook the product and make it tough. This is important to the home meat preserver since the differences in the fat content and the finer texture of the meat will make cooking temperatures and cooking times different. The goal in preparing veal is to retain the smoother texture and taste you paid the higher price to get. Since veal is low in fat content, it would work well for drying and making jerky, although the premium price that is paid for the meat will make it expensive jerky. If you need more information on the subject of veal, there is a resource in the Appendix that may be useful to you.

Beef products

Good beef can come from a very wide range of sources. People who are going to get serious about this idea of preserving meat may want to take the time to consider the best source for good quality meat in their local communities. Homegrown beef without steroids or other chemical supplements is at a premium in the retail market. A good place to check for quality meat is at the local butcher or locker plant. Please get the best cut of meat for your project that your personal budget will allow. Taking shortcuts will only lead to disappointment. There are nine identified areas on a steer that produce the various cuts of beef people enjoy. The following chart identifies the nine areas of the steer and the beef products that come from each part of the animal.

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Cuts of Beef Available on the Retail Market

Area of the Animal

Cut of Beef

Approximate Retail Price

Shoulder area

Chuck Arm Roast

$3.79 /lb

Chuck Shoulder Pot Roast

$5.99 /lb

Top Blade Steak

$5.99 /lb

Chuck Steak

$5.15 /lb

Rib area

Prime Rib Roast

$28.99 /lb

Ribeye Roast

$7.99 /lb

Ribeye Steak

$9.95 /lb

Rib Steak

$7.70 /lb

Boneless Rib Steak

$12.79 /lb

Short Loin area

Tenderloin Roast

$8.99 /lb

T-bone steak

$8.90 /lb

Tenderloin Steak

$16.99 /lb

Top Loin Steak, boneless

$4.49 /lb

Sirloin area

Tri-tip Roast

$5.29 /lb

Sirloin Steak

$6.25 /lb

Bottom Sirloin Steak

$6.45 /lb

Round area (rear leg)

Bottom Round Roast

$5.29 /lb

Round Tip Roast

$7.49 /lb

Rump Roast

$3.99 /lb

Round Tip Steak

$1.99 /lb

Minute Steak

$4.90 /lb

Round Steak

$4.39 /lb

Shank and Brisket area

Whole Brisket

$4.19 /lb

Plate area (below rib area)

Skirt Steak

$3.99/lb

Fajita Meat

$4.69 /lb

Flank Area (below short loin area)

Flank Steak

$4.99 /lb

Flank Steak Fillet

$7.49 /lb

Preparing beef and veal for freezing

Preparing meat for the freezer is not a difficult task. There are several practical things to think about to ensure your beef does well in storage in the freezer.

If the electricity goes out, do not despair. Resist opening the freezer door unless it is absolutely necessary. If the freezer remains closed, the contents will stay frozen for several hours, even if there is no electricity running to keep a constant temperature. A good practice may be to keep a big block of ice on the bottom shelf of the freezer for just such emergencies. Just like the old days, large blocks of ice remain frozen in an insulated and closed container, and this may allow your food to remain frozen for up to five days if the freezer door remains closed.

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Hints for Canning Beef and Veal

1. Beef and veal must always be processed in a pressure canner according to established procedures to ensure your finished product is safe to eat. The steam and pressure in a pressure canner brings the temperature to 240, which is the safe processing temperature for low-acid foods such as meat.

2. Always use canning jars to process meat because they are manufactured to stronger standards than jars used for mayonnaise and other commercially processed food. Canning jars will not break or crack under the pressures that are exerted in a pressure canner.

3. Stew meat is the easiest product for the beginning canner to start with. Stew meat is already cut into small pieces that are ready for processing.

4. To make stew meat, cut across the grain of the beef cut you are working with. Begin by cutting the meat into 1-inch strips; then cut the strips into cubes. The smaller pieces are easier to get into canning jars.

5. When cutting a piece of beef, it is best to remove as much fat and gristle as possible. The next step is to remove as much white muscle covering as possible.

6. If you are working with a piece of meat that has a bone, cut as closely as possible to the bone without getting bone chunks or slivers into your meat.

7. Partially precook beef to seal in moisture and flavor by simmering or frying to a rare condition.

8. When filling canning jars with the meat, be careful to ensure fat and grease does not build up on the lip of the jar. Fat and grease on the lip may impede the lid making a good seal.

Recipes

Instructions for canning beef stew meat

1. Either use pre-cut, packaged stew meat or cut your own. If you are going to use quart jars, estimate using 3 to 4 pounds of fresh meat per jar and half of that for pint jars.

2. If you are cutting your own stew meat, remove all excess fat and gristle from the meat along with the white muscle covering and cut into 1-inch cubes, cutting across the grain of meat.

3. The meat can be precooked, although it is not absolutely necessary to precook the meat for this recipe.

4. If canning meat that has not been precooked, it is not necessary to add liquid to the meat when it is packed in the canning jars. The meat will produce its own juice during the time in the pressure canner.

5. A beef broth should be added to meat that has been precooked when the meat is packed into the canning jars.

6. Pack the meat loosely in the canning jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace below the lid. It will be easier to pack the meat if you use wide-mouth jars. Remember: Do not pack the meat tightly in the jar. If the meat is packed too tightly, it may not cook thoroughly. Add salt at this time, unless you plan to salt the meat at the time that it is served. Consider using ½-teaspoon for pint jars and 1 teaspoon for quart jars.

7. Before placing lids on the jars, be sure the lips of the jars are clean and dry to facilitate the sealing process. Place lids on jars and screw on securing rings (bands). There is no need to tighten excessively as the ring is only being used to secure the lid until the vacuum in the jar seals the lid.

8. Place jars in the pressure canner, ensuring that jars do not touch each other. Fill canner with water to the level prescribed by the instructions for your canner. Process the meat for the time and pressure prescribed for your elevation. Your pressure canner should have come with a time and pressure chart.

A time and pressure adjustment chart for using a pressure canner can be found in Chapter 2.

9. For this particular recipe, the processing time using a pressure canner with a dial gauge at 2,000 feet elevation for pint jars is 75 minutes with 11 pounds of pressure. At 6,000 feet, the pressure needs to be 14 pounds. If your pressure canner has a weighted gauge, the pressure at 1,000 feet must be 10 pounds, and over 1,000 feet, the pressure must be increased to 15 pounds.

10. If you are using quart jars, the processing time must be increased to 90 minutes at the pressure adjustments already indicated.

Recipe for canning meatloaf

This recipe was provided courtesy of David G. Blackburn of www.canningusa.com.

General tips:

1. Meatloaf recipes usually include the use of breadcrumbs or crackers as a binding agent to absorb the grease that develops when the meat is cooked. Binding agents cannot be used during the canning process because they interfere with the cooking of the meat in a pressure canner.

2. When the time comes to use the canned meatloaf, drain off the liquid, slice the meatloaf, and reheat it underneath the broiler. For sandwiches, pan fry it in a cast iron skillet and add a little grated cheese after turning.

3. The ground pork and fresh sage in this recipe may be substituted with a pound of sage-flavored sausage. The roasted red bell pepper sauce may be substituted with a chopped and sautéed red bell pepper.

4. This recipe may be used to make a standard, oven-baked meatloaf by adding one cup of crushed Original Wheat Thins® and baking at 350 degrees for approximately one hour.

5. The approximate yield for this recipe is five pints. Wide-mouth jars make canning much easier. If you use a single 1-quart jar, there will be more meatloaf than you can use, so five 1-pint jars would be a more efficient use of this recipe unless you increase the ingredients to use quart jars.

Ingredients

Ground beef, 15 percent fat: 2 pounds

Pork, 12 to 15 percent fat: 1 pound

Medium chopped onions: 2

Large chopped tomato: 1

Roasted red bell pepper sauce: 1/4 pint

Minced garlic (optional): 1 clove

Worcestershire sauce: 2 tablespoons

Dijon mustard: 2 tablespoons

Chopped fresh sage: 2 tablespoons

Salt: 1 teaspoon

Pepper: 1/2 teaspoon

Cooking instructions

1. Bring ingredients to room temperature.

2. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients following the recipe for making and canning pâté provided below.

3. When canning, use the raw-pack method, leaving 1 inch of headspace in the jar.

4. Process with a pressure canner for 75 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure, or 10 pounds for a weighted gauge.

5. For elevations above 1,000 feet, use an altitude and pressure adjustment chart. A chart providing elevation adjustments for pressure and time is provided in Chapter 2.

6. After processing, remove from boiling water and place the jars on a towel, separated by 1 inch, to cool naturally as quickly as possible.

7. Label and store the jars.

Canned pork pâté

This recipe was provided courtesy of David G. Blackburn of www.canningusa.com. Approximate yield for this recipe in wide mouth jars should be 12 ½-pint jars, or 6 pints.

Ingredients

Pork with 12 to 15 percent fat: 4 pounds

Chicken liver: 1¼ pounds

Medium onions: 5

Shallots: 3

Salt: 1 tablespoon

Pepper: ½ tablespoon

Preparation instructions

1. The ingredients should be at room temperature before starting the process.

2. Grind the meat, liver, and onions. Do not include spices in this step.

3. Mix all the ingredients in a very large bowl using your hands to ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed. Include spices in this step.

4. Spoon the pâté into the jars using the raw pack method, leaving 1 inch of headspace.

5. Process in a pressure canner 75 minutes at 11 pounds, or 10 pounds for a weighted gauge.

6. For elevations above 1,000 feet, use the time and pressure adjustment chart provided in Chapter 2.

7. After processing, allow the pressure to reduce, remove the jars from the boiling water, and set on a towel, leaving 1 inch between the jars, and allow them to naturally cool and seal.

Special instructions

1. Let the canned pâté set and age for three months before opening it. The product becomes more flavorful with a little aging.

2. If you make a sufficient quantity, you can let it age for one year to enhance flavor development.

3. If you cannot wait to taste it, go ahead and open a jar.

4. It is okay to alter the recipe slightly, adding fresh garlic or herbs, but be cautious and add herbs and spices sparingly as their flavors will intensify over time and may become overpowering. Bay leaves have this problem, and sage can become bitter.

Beef burgundy

This recipe was provided courtesy of David G. Blackburn of www.canningusa.com.

Ingredients

(Ingredient: Dinner / Canning)

Pot roast: Two pounds / Six pounds

Medium onions: 2 / 6

Shallots: 6 / 18

Fat back or bacon: Two slices / Six slices

Diced carrots: 1 ½ cups / 4 ½ cups

Salt: One teaspoon / Three teaspoons

Pepper: ½ teaspoon / 1 ½ teaspoon

Beef bullion (optional): One cube / Three cubes

Garlic: One clove / Three cloves

Mushrooms: One pound / Three pounds

Burgundy wine: ½ bottle / 1 ½ bottle

Cognac: 1/3 cup / One cup

Olive oil: Two tablespoons / ½ cup

Preparation instructions

1. Trim the beef, brown in a heavy skillet, cover at medium heat or in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, and then turn it and brown 10 minutes longer.

2. Brown the bacon with the olive oil and garlic for about seven minutes over medium heat.

3. Add the diced onions, shallots, salt, and pepper, then sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions and shallots are translucent.

4. Add the mushrooms and bullion, then sauté about five minutes.

5. Add the beef, wine, and cognac, and simmer for about two hours.

6. Add the carrots and additional salt and pepper to taste, and then simmer about 1 ½ hours longer.

7. For canning, use the hot-pack method, leaving 1 inch of headspace at the top of the canning jars.

8. Process with a pressure canner for 75 minutes and 11 pounds of pressure, or 10 pounds of pressure for a weighted gauge.

9. For elevations above 1,000 feet, use the adjustment chart in Chapter 2.

Benefits of Curing Beef and Veal

There are many benefits for your family when you decide to cure meat in your home. Remember the curing process is designed to safely preserve meat for use at a future date. If you have meat in your home that has been preserved through curing, you will have food for your family regardless if the electricity goes out or some natural disaster cuts off access to the grocery store. The other primary benefit is that you can prepare some very flavorful and enjoyable meat products to share with your friends and extended family. Curing is a particularly useful activity if you harvest game or raise beef for your personal use.

Recipes

Recipe for dry curing beef

Note: Beef is usually exposed to curing in preparation for smoking or drying to make jerky.

Ingredients

Curing salt: 10 pounds

Sugar: 3 ¾ pounds

Saltpeter: ½ ounces

Sodium nitrate: 1/2 to 1 ounce (excess nitrate is toxic)

Any optional seasoning you want to add in preparation for later uses of the beef.

Preparation instructions

1. Mix the ingredients, and then rub the curing compound on the pieces of meat. Remove excess fat and gristle from the pieces of meat. Be generous with the curing mix when rubbing it on the meat.

2. Place a layer of the curing compound on the bottom of your curing box.

3. Place the meat on the bottom layer of curing mix, then pack the curing mix all around the meat. If more than one piece of meat is being cured, make sure a complete layer of mix is laid between the pieces of meat.

4. Many people have different opinions on how soon the meat needs to be unpacked and turned over, then repacked. The meat should be taken out no later than two days after the original packing. Then the bare spots need to be rubbed, the liquid brine drained, and the meat repacked. The meat should be fully cured after one week. The meat should remain refrigerated during this curing process.

Experience gained over several curing events will enable you to refine the process to your preferences. Since the meat has not yet been cooked or hot smoked to kill microbes, the meat should remain refrigerated for safety.

Adding Flavor to Beef and Veal through Smoking

Smoking meat serves a two-fold purpose. The smoke dehydrates the meat, which removes moisture and retards bacterial growth, and the chemicals in the smoke coat the meat, inhibiting bacterial growth. Smoking is an extension of the preservation process that began when you cured your meat. After meat has been cured and smoked, it is well preserved for long-term storage and use at a later date. The other important purpose for smoking meat is to impart desired flavors to the finished product. The home smoker can create custom meat products with wonderful flavorings that will be very satisfying to your family.

The actual chemical processes that take place while meat is being smoked are very complicated. Wood smoke from hardwoods contains molecules that provide the coloring and flavoring people enjoy so much. For example, the phenolic compounds that are part of wood smoke are antioxidants that slow the process of meat turning rancid. A phenolic compound called guaiacol is responsible for the smoky flavor that people enjoy.

Treated or painted wood should not be used for meat smoking because chemicals from burning the treatment chemicals or paint will be imparted to the meat. Wood such as pine should not be used because of the high resin concentration in the wood. Burning resinous wood would impart undesirable taste and qualities to food products.

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Recipes

Smoked beef summer sausage

The following recipe is the author’s creation.

Ingredients

Lean meat: 15 pounds

Beef fat: 2 ¾ pounds

Water: 4 ¼ cups

Dried milk: 3 ¾ cups

Sugar: 1/3 cup

Salt: ¾ cup

Onion powder: 1 teaspoon

Garlic powder: ½ teaspoon

Mustard seed: 1/3 cup

Pepper: 4 tablespoons

Liquid smoke: 2 tablespoons

Cure: 4 level teaspoons

Sodium erythorbate: 2 teaspoons

A manual or electric meat grinder with grinding plates will be needed, as will a smokehouse capable of heating products to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.

Special considerations

1. Beef or wild game such as deer or elk may be used.

2. Use more or less beef fat, depending on how lean or fatty the meat being used is.

3. Adjust the level of salt used depending on taste. If you have allergies to specific spices, simply leave out the spice you cannot tolerate and replace it with a suitable substitute.

4. Do not overuse mustard seed, as it will change the flavor of your product significantly. Ground mustard mixes do not replace mustard seed very well in this type of recipe.

5. Use more or less pepper to meet individual taste expectations.

6. Use slightly less liquid smoke to reduce strong smoke flavor in the finished product.

7. Cure is manufactured by different companies under different names. Some cure products are designed to impart specific flavoring to the finished product. Select a curing product that will produce the finished taste you are looking for.

8. If you do not have access to a meat grinder and decide to use commercially ground meat, use ground beef that has 7 percent fat or less. If you are using lean wild game, remember that if the meat is very lean, it would be best to add additional beef fat. If the product is too dry, the meat will not bind as desired to make sausage.

Preparation instructions

1. Grind the meat and fat. The size of plate used will determine the coarseness of the finished product. Normal sausage grinding requires the use of a ½-inch plate. You can use a smaller or larger grinding plate depending on your desire for a finer or coarser finished product.

2. The liquid smoke, cure, and sodium erythorbate should be mixed together in the 4 ¼ cups of water.

3. Combine all of the ingredients together and stuff into natural sausage casings. Natural casings are preferred over synthetic products.

4. Cook the product in a smokehouse, maintaining a temperature of 185 degrees Fahrenheit. It is very important to keep a constant temperature throughout the cooking process to maintain the quality of the finished product.

5. Heat the sausage until the meat has an internal temperature of at least 152 degrees Fahrenheit. This is very important to insure that all dangerous bacterium is destroyed.

6. After the meat is cooked, the temperature must be reduced to 90 degrees to stop the cooking process and allow the final curing process to take place. The temperature is usually reduced by showering the product with water until it is reduced to a temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Then you should allow the sausage to hang at room temperature for about an hour, but no more than two hours before refrigerating the product.

Italian hot sausage

This recipe was provided courtesy of North Dakota State University Extension and Julie Garden-Robinson.

Ingredients

Lean beef trim (Beef trim is available at your butcher shop): 5 pounds

Pork trim 60/40 (60 percent meat, 40 percent fat): 5 pounds

Garlic cloves, crushed: 20

Red pepper: 4 teaspoons

Fennel seeds, crushed: 4 teaspoons

Thyme: 2 teaspoons

Bay leaves: 8

Salt: 3 tablespoons

Black pepper: 1 tablespoon

Nutmeg: ½ teaspoon

Preparation instructions

1. Grind meat through a coarse grinding plate.

2. Add spices and mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.

3. Grind again through a medium grinding plate.

4. Stuff mixture into a hog casing.

5. Smoke at 140 degrees for proper color development and then raise temperature to 170 degrees until the internal temperature of the product reaches 155 degrees.

6. This is a very hot and spicy product. It is excellent on pizza and will substitute for pepperoni.

Is sausage preparation considered preservation?

There is some controversy over the words preparation and preservation as the words relate to sausage. Beef is an important element in the production of various styles of sausage. Either ground beef or beef tallow is mixed with various other meats, such as venison, pork, or even goat, to produce a wide variety of wonderful sausages. Tallow is beef fat that has been rendered — that is, heated at temperatures less than boiling. Tallow is solid at room temperature and can be stored in an airtight container for long periods. There is no doubt that sausage is a prepared food. Sausage is a mixture of meats, spices, and curing agents stuffed into casings produced from proteins derived from beef or pig hides. Modern science discovered that proteins called collagen, which can be derived from animal hides, could be broken down and reconstituted into a mass which can be made into a tube or casing for sausage. Collagen-based casings go through an extensive process to ensure the product is sanitary and suitable for use with food for human consumption.

The root for the word sausage comes from the Latin word “salsus,” which is defined as salted or preserved. To determine if sausage is a preserved meat product, you must understand what the preservation process is. From all that has already been written in this book, you understand that preservation processes inhibit the growth of microorganisms that would normally lead to foodborne illnesses in humans. Some techniques used in sausage making are the same as those used in the meat preservation process. Freezing, smoking, and curing are meat preservation processes, so the making of sausage falls under the category of meat preservation.

Tips for Meat Grinding, Sausage Making, and Smoking

1. When you purchase a meat grinder for making sausage, you will also need a sausage stuffer. Sausage stuffers quickly put the mixed meat through a casing, with minimal air pockets, using less time and energy. This lessens the time the meat is exposed to air, which could promote bacteria growth.

2. Meat grinder plates come in a variety of sizes. Different recipes will require the grinding of meat to prepare your meat product for mixing and stuffing into sausage casings. Meat grinder plates come in the following sizes: 3/32, 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4. The 3/32-inch produces a real fine ground meat product, and the 3/4-inch size will produce a coarse ground meat product.

3. Moving your ground meat quickly from the grinder into the sausage casing is very important. A casing stuffing horn is an important tool that will aid in this process. Stuffing horns are either straight or tapered and come in a variety of sizes. The following charts will assist you in selecting the correct size of horn for the size of casings you plan to use.

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Straight Horn Applications

Size of Casing Being Used

Horn Size Required

16 mm

3/8 inch

19 mm

7/16 inch

21 mm

7/16 inch

23 mm

1/2 inch

28 mm

9/16 inch

30 mm

9/166 inch

32 mm

9/16 inch

35 mm

3/4 inch

Tapered Horn Applications

Size of Casing Being used

Type of Casing Being Used

Horn Size Required

21 and 23 mm

collagen

1/2 inch

22 to 24 mm

sheep

1/2 inch

28, 30, 32 mm

collagen

1/2 inch

32 to 35 mm

hog

3/4 inch

4. Successful sausage making requires high-quality sausage casings. The casings are usually cleaned animal intestines or processed collagen. They can also sometimes be made of a synthetic material that can withstand high temperatures with no reactions.

5. People who consider themselves traditional sausage makers primarily use natural casings. Natural casings are made from sheep, hog, and beef intestinal materials that have been fully flushed and sanitized and are completely safe for human consumption. They give sausage its well-known crackle in every bite and take on different colors depending on the smoking techniques used. The process takes patience, but serious sausage makers say it is worth it.

Commonly used sausage casings

1. Sheep casings are used for sausage products that are considered tender, such as fresh breakfast sausage.

2. Hog casings are popular and can be used for any ground meat product. This is the easiest natural casing product to find on the commercial market.

3. Beef casings are used for products that need a strong, thick casing.

4. Collagen casings are made from materials derived from the bones and cartilage of animals. This is the most widely used sausage casing in the United States.

5. Synthetic casing does not need to be refrigerated. Synthetic casing is used by mass producers and comes in different colors to aid in the identification of different sausage products.

Additional Safety Issues when Preserving Beef and Veal

1. Beef products should be selected just before going to the grocery checkout so they do not end up sitting in the grocery cart for 30 minutes or more without refrigeration.

2. Unfrozen beef sitting in the refrigerator should be used within three to five days. Uncooked beef stored in the refrigerator for periods longer than five days will spoil.

3. Never brown or precook beef and put it back in the refrigerator for later cooking. Bacteria that were not destroyed during the browning will grow and possibly lead to foodborne disease.

4. Do not exceed the level of nitrite that is listed in any recipe you decide to try, because excessive consumption of nitrite can be lethal. A good recommendation for home meat preservers is to use salt-sodium nitrite mixtures that are readily available for purchase from companies providing products for home meat preservers. If you feel you must include nitrite in a recipe on your own, there are some drug stores that may weigh out the appropriate amount for a particular recipe. Just remember to be careful when you decide to add nitrite or nitrate to a recipe. It can serve a useful purpose in your meat preservation efforts as long as these elements are used exactly as the recipe requires.

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