of December 31, 1903. Hopefully you won’t need this one anytime soon. . .
“Household Matters: To Improve Meat Beginning to Spoil
Have water ready in a saucepan, also two pieces of burnt wood – that is, charred. Put the meat in the boiling water, and put the burnt wood in the fire till it gets red, then drop into the pot. When the fire is extinguished take off the saucepan, skim it, remove the meat.”
Actually, this method sounds very similar to early American soap-making techniques that rely on the natural production of lye from wood ash. I suppose lye probably would stop meat from decomposing, but it’s telling that this recipe makes no mention of how it tastes in the end.
