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Doing it yourself PDF Print E-mail
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Thursday, 24 June 2010 21:24

Book Review

Doing It Yourself: A Guide to Freezing, Curing &
Smoking Meat, Fish, & Game
By Wilbur F. Eastman

From such an unwieldy title comes a straightforward book that does just what its title suggests. What interested us in the book was what seems to be the lost art of canning meat. Many Today’s Farmer readers will recall the cellar or basement shelves being lined with Mason jars of canned meat. And many will recall the savory smell of that beef being heated for a winter’s meal.

">This book assumes its reader to be a novice, and provides simple instructions about what’s needed in materials and technique for home meat preservation. If you want to can meat like grandma did, the instructions here will get you from start to finish.

 

Chapters that provide instructions on processing meat are organized by species and include several recipes. From canning minced meat in the beef section to a nice blood sausage in the pork section, recipes in this book will remind you that our ancestry made little waste on the farm.

">If you put a side of beef in the freezer every year or pick up a hog at the 4-H fair, get this book well in advance of visiting the meat processor. After a quick read, and with some nostalgia for forgotten farm favorites, you might just change your processing order.