Agromisa 
Interdev Agroalimentaire  

Salting and drying as a method of preserving meat

	Type de fiche	Techniques/Technologies
	Mise en œuvre	Agromisa(Pays Bas)
	
	Zone géographique	; 
	Mots clés	SALAISON; SECHAGE; VIANDE SALEE; VIANDE; VIANDE SECHEE

	Public(s) cible(s)	Household level 

Problématique / Objectifs
Dry wind, sufficient and clean or sterilised salt, working clean, continuous attention for at least 10 days.
Hooks, mosquito nets, boards with gullies (rills) or perforations. 
If relative humidity is usually too high, but if sufficient sunlight is expected, a solar dryer can be used (see linked file) 

Description/Mise en oeuvre
Sterilise salt by (dry) heating it on a steel or metal plate or over a fire.
Both large and small grain salt, 40% of the salt has a particle size < 1.6 mm.
Rub the salt well into the meat: The main purpose is not to add salt, but to extract water from the meat.
Residual salt can be re-used 

Please take utmost care to work with well-cleaned utensils and clean hands. Knives, clothes and all other equipment, as well as the water used must be clean. Utensils can be cleaned by boiling in a sodium-bicarbonate solution. Meat residues must be burned or burried. Clean the wide environment of your working space from animal waste. 

Cut the fresh meat in pieces of 1.5 to 2 kg, with a maximum of 1 cm thick and 5 cm long.
Wash the meat with streaming drinking water and let it drip out in the shade, for approximately ½ hour
Make a saturated salt solution: Mix water and salt and stir, and continue adding salt till it does not dissolve anymore and salt grains collect at the bottom of the jar 360 g of salt in each litre of water).
Put the meat in this saturated salt solution for about 1 hour. Let drip out in the shade again for half an hour. (Collect the dripping salt solution for re-use, only re-use it after boiling)
Rub salt into the meat with force. The quantity of salt needed is approximately 30% of the weight of the meat. (300 g per 1000 g (1 kg).) This is done as follows: Use a wooden or plastic board, , preferably with gullies on it, or with perforations. Spread a thick layer of salt on the plank, place the meat on top and add a second salt layer. In this way a pile of alternating layers of salt and meat can be made up to 1-1.5 m high. On top place another board. Put pressure on it by piling (clean) stones or other weights on top of the board. Moisture will now be extracted from the meat Allow the water to be drained. Replace the layers of salt at least once a day. The process of extracting water is complete if no more water drips from the meat. This may take a few days. The meat can be pressed in a "wringer" or mangel as a final step. Salt has to be removed from the meat. 
Subsequently the meat is dried. If it is dried on racks, it has to be turned regularly. A better way is to use hooks. Even then, turning must be done every 2-6 hours. Avoid direct sunlight on the meat, especially in the first days of drying: Rather put it in the wind under a light shade.  Under too high temperatures, a crust is formed, while the inside remains moist. Often early mornings and late evenings are too cold, and midday-sun is too hot. Prevent insect contamination by means of mosquito net. Drying is ready is the meat does not show any moisture when pressed with a finger, and when it sounds dry if piece are clasped against each other. If a piece is broken, it has a uniform colour and texture. Usually 5 dry days are needed.
Dried meat can be preserved in a dry, cool and well ventilated place. Sometimes a closed jute bag is hanged from the ceiling to store the dried meat. Storage for some months is possible Avoid contamination by insects. 
Before consumption, the meat has to be soaked and washed in clean fresh water. How long one wants to do this depends on the saltness one accepts for consumption.

Résultats/Eléments chiffrés
Per kg of meat at least 600 g of salt is needed.
The whole process takes 5-7 days

Auteur : Rob Witte
Saisie le : 04/09/2001
Fiche validée 

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	Contact	AgromisaP.O. Box 41, 6700 AA, Wageningen
Tel.:(31) 317 412 217, Fax: (31) 317 419 178, E-mail: agromisa@wxs.nl
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