Your mad survival skills: busted

Excellent! Making me hungry for ham!

I've recommended several times the books of John Seymour, who died recently. He was a "self-sufficiency" advocate rather than a survivalist. But his advice has always proven worthwhile for me, and matches what knowledgeable old-timers have told me.

One of the things he wrote repeatedly, and I've heard old-timers say, is that when it comes to curing meat, you are racing the bacteria to the center of the meat. As long as you got there first, you won. In other words, the critical thing when butchering a carcass is to disembowel and quarter it as quickly as possible, to cool it, and cover the surface with your cure before flies or just air had a chance to damage it. I helped a family that butchered their own hogs, and they always stressed curing the bone-end that is visible at the surface of the meat. They claimed bacteria migrated down the bone, so they basted the exposed cross-section with a special baste.

I have a friend who ranches and who hangs his beef for at least 6 months. You can definitely taste the positive difference.

Old-timers in north texas used to kill a hog in november and hang the ham under the windmill platform to eat at Easter Sunday dinner. It was green when they brought it down (many 70+ days in texas, even in winter!).

I have wanted to hang a pheasant, the way Europeans do. I may this winter--going pheasant hunting next week! If I hang it in the shed, the wife doesn't even have to know . . . .

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This is a great post and a subject I have often thought about. There is alot of bad survival information out there and it circulates around and around to the good of nobody.

Great, another keyboard warrior tellin everyone else, we have NO survival skills.

reply to post by dr_strangecraft


Part of my long-term self-sufficiency plan is to build an outdoor kitchen to include an attached root cellar and smoke house. Using modern insulation, a small walk-in root cellar can probably stay well below 60 degrees year round even here in Central Texas. I saw one plan that used used mason jars filled with a water/antifreeze mix in the floor and walls as cold sink to keep the temperature a constant 40 degrees.

I've smoked chicken/turkey before but it takes several days from what I understand to smoke cure a whole carcass hog or side of beef. My brother says that the most efficient use of any hog is turn most of it into sausage especially the ones that are over 250 lbs and then smoke the sausage. It's a ton of work best handled by at least 3-4 people.

reply to post by citizen smith


If its a matter of survival, comunities tined to stay to them selves. I know this first hand having just went through a major flood. Three men died because they were to proud to ask for anyones help. I was prepared but others were not and they tried to brave the water I had a boat and would have gladly picked them up but when I asked if I could help all said, NO we got it.It was tough but I fished off my porch cooked on my grill took my boat to the car and back, all the while lighting by candles that I made
boiling my water catching rain water in a garbage can, folks can survival can be done your bain is the key