FINAL INSTALLMENT FROM THE MORTON SALT BOOK

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OK, Homesteaders . . . here's the last installment of Morton Salt's superior booklet, A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HOME MEAT CURING. MOTHER NO. 20 took you through cutting and curing beef, veal and wild game. This final section tells you how to cut a lamb carcass and how to keep cured meats.

Although we've serialized the complete handbook, we still advise you to drop $1.25 into the mail and add the manual to your farmstead bookshelf. It's packed with valuable information on butchering, cutting up and curing pork, beef, veal, lamb, poultry and wild game. Get your copy from Morton Salt Company, P.O. Box 355, Argo, Illinois 60501.

Again, our special thanks to Murray J. Pearthree, Morton Salt Regional Sales Manager, for granting us written permission to reprint from the booklet.

The black guide lines on the picture at the right clearly show where to make the cuts to separate the lamb carcass into the most desirable pieces for using fresh or for curing.

The flesh of lamb is light pink, deepening in color as it ages. The lamb meat is firm and fine grained, the fat is white, hard, and flaky.

The lamb carcass, like beef, has thirteen pairs of ribs. Ordinarily the lamb carcass is not split. In warm weather, however, the carcass may be split in halves down the backbone with a meat saw to aid in chilling. A sharp butcher knife, saw, cleaver, and boning knife are the necessary tools for cutting up the lamb carcass. There are many different ways of cutting the lamb carcass. Just how the cuts are made depends a good deal on how the meat is to be used, whether most of it is to be used up fresh, canned, or cured. The larger cuts, like the legs and shoulders, are the best cuts for curing. A leg of lamb, when neatly trimmed and cured, has somewhat the appearance of a ham.

Corned lamb is easy to make and the breast and shank are good cuts for corning. One of the best ways to use the small pieces and trimmings is to make lamb patties or lamb and pork sausage.

REMOVING THE SHOULDER Saw off the shoulder between the fifth and sixth ribs, as ordinarily a five rib chuck is preferable. After the shoulder is removed, cut off the neck on a line flush with the top of the shoulder, and saw off the shank. Separate the right and left shoulders by sawing through the backbone. Where a narrow shoulder is preferred, saw between the third and fourth ribs instead of between the fifth and sixth.

SAWING OFF THE BREAST PIECE Turn the carcass on its side with the legs toward you and remove the breast with a saw, cutting forward from the flank.