Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PROVISIONS 187alone: it lacks flavor, and costs more than it isworth. A little mould on the outside of a flitchdoes no harm, but reject bacon that is soft andwatery, or with jellow fat, or with brownish orblack spots in the lean.Salt Pork {alias middlings, sides, bellies, OldNed, et al.).— Commendable or accursed, accordingto how it is used. Nothing quite equals it in bakingbeans. Savory in some boiled dishes. Whenfried, as a piece de resistance, it successfully resistsmost people's gastric juices, and is nauseous to many.Purchaseable at most frontier posts and at manybackwoods farms.Smoked Ham.— Small ones generally are toughand too salty. Hard to keep in warm or dampweather; moulds easily. Is attractive to blow-flies,which quickly fill it with " skippers," if they canget at it. It kept in a cheesecloth bag, and hungin a cool, airy place, a ham will last until eaten up,and will be relished. Ham will keep, even in warmweather, if packed in a stout paper bag so as toexclude flies. It will keep indefinitely if sliced,boiled, or fried, and put up in tins with melted lardpoured over it to keep out air.Dried Beef.— Cuts from large hams are best.Of limited use in pick-up meals. A notorious thirstbreeder.Not comparable to *' jerked " beef, which,unfortunately, is not ia the market. (For the processof jerking venison, see Chapter XV.)Canned Meats and Poultry of all descriptionsare quite unfit for steady diet. Devilled or pottedham, chicken, tongue, sausage, and the like, areendurable at picnics, and valuable in emergencies,as when a hard storm makes outdoor cooking impossible.Canned corned beef makes a passablehash.There is a great difference in quality of cannedmeats. The cheaper brands found in every grocerystore are, generally, abominations. Common canned" roast beef," for example (which has never been'toasted at all. but boiled) is stringv, tasteless, and