A survival technique since
prehistory, the preservation of meat has become, over the centuries, a topic of political, economic, and social importance worldwide.
Traditional methods v. 360–340 BC,
National Archaeological Museum of Spain. Food curing dates back to ancient times, both in the form of
smoked meat and
salt-cured meat. in the mountains of
Persia salted the flesh of carnivorous animals.
Strabo indicates that people at
Borsippa were catching
bats and salting them to eat. The ancient Greeks prepared
tarichos (), which was meat and fish conserved by salt or other means. The Romans called this dish '
– which term later included salted fat, the sauces and spices used for its preparation. Also evidence of ancient sausage production exists. The Roman gourmet Apicius speaks of a sausage-making technique involving ' (a mixture of the fermented
fish sauce with oil or wine). Preserved meats were furthermore a part of religious traditions: resulting meat for offerings to the gods was salted before being given to priests, after which it could be picked up again by the offerer, or even sold in the
butcher's. the
Gauls exported
salt pork each year to Rome in large quantities, where it was sold in different
cuts: rear cuts, middle cuts, hams, and sausages. This meat, after having been salted with the greatest care, was sometimes smoked. These goods had to have been considerably important, since they fed part of the Roman people and the armies. The
Belgae were celebrated above all for the care which they gave to the fattening of their pigs. Their herds of sheep and pigs were so many, they could provide skins and salt meat not only for Rome, but also for most of Italy. The
Ceretani of
Spain drew a large export income from their hams, which were so succulent, they were in no way inferior to those of
Cantabria. These '''' of pig became especially sought, to the point that the ancients considered this meat the most nourishing of all and the easiest to digest. and in
Libya according to
Saint Jerome, the Acridophages (literally, the locust-eaters) salted and smoked the
crickets which arrived at their settlements in the spring in great swarms and which constituted, it was said, their sole food. The smoking of meat was a traditional practice in North America, where
Plains Indians hung their meat at the top of their
tipis to increase the amount of smoke coming into contact with the food. salt beef was consumed by all social classes. Smoked meat was called
carbouclée in
Romance tongues and
bacon if it was pork. The Middle Ages made
pâté a masterpiece: that which is, in the 21st century, merely spiced minced meat (or fish), baked in a terrine and eaten cold, was at that time composed of a dough envelope stuffed with varied meats and superbly decorated for ceremonial feasts. The first French recipe, written in verse by
Gace de La Bigne, mentions in the same pâté three great
partridges, six fat
quail, and a dozen
larks.
Le Ménagier de Paris mentions pâtés of fish, game, young rabbit, fresh
venison, beef, pigeon,
mutton,
veal, and pork, and even pâtés of lark, turtledove, baby bird, goose, and hen.
Bartolomeo Sacchi, called Platine, prefect of the
Vatican Library, gives the recipe for a pâté of wild beasts: the flesh, after being boiled with salt and vinegar, was larded and placed inside an envelope of spiced fat, with a
mélange of pepper, cinnamon and pounded
lard; one studded the fat with
cloves until it was entirely covered, then placed it inside a pâte. In the 16th century, the most fashionable pâtés were of
woodcock,
au bec doré,
chapon,
beef tongue, cow feet, sheep feet, chicken, veal, and venison. In the same era,
Pierre Belon notes that the inhabitants of
Crete and
Chios lightly salted then oven-dried entire
hares, sheep, and
roe deer cut into pieces, and that in
Turkey, cattle and sheep, cut and minced rouelles, salted then dried, were eaten on voyages with onions and no other preparation.
Early modern era ,
North Carolina During the
Age of Discovery, salt meat was one of the main foods for sailors on long voyages, for instance in the
merchant marine or the
navy. In the 18th century, salted Irish beef, transported in barrels, were considered finest. Scientific research on meat by chemists and pharmacists led to the creation of a new, extremely practical product:
meat extract, which could appear in different forms. The need to properly
feed soldiers during long campaigns outside the country, such as in the
Napoleonic Wars, and to nourish a constantly growing population often living in appalling conditions drove scientific research, but a
confectioner,
Nicolas Appert, in 1795 developed through experimentation a method which became universal and in one language bears his name: airtight storage, called '''' in French. With the spread of
appertisation, the 19th-century world entered the era of the "
food industry", which developed new products such as canned salt meat (for example
corned beef). The desire for safer food led to the creation of the US's
Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, followed by the national agencies for health security and the establishment of
food traceability over the course of the 20th century. It also led to continuing technological innovation. In
France, the summer of 1857 was so hot that most butchers refused to slaughter animals and
charcutiers lost considerable amounts of meat, due to inadequate conservation methods. A member of the Academy of Medicine and his son issued a 34-page summary of works completed by 1857, which proposed some solutions: not less than 91 texts exist, of which 64 edited for only the years between 1851 and 1857.
Effects on trade The improvement of methods of meat preservation, and of the means of transport of preserved products, has notably permitted the separation of areas of production and areas of consumption, which can now be distant without it posing a problem, permitting the exportation of meats. For example, the appearance in the 1980s of preservation techniques under
controlled atmosphere sparked a small revolution in the world's market for sheep meat: the lamb of
New Zealand, one of the world's largest exporters of lamb, could henceforth be sold as fresh meat, since it could be preserved from 12 to 16 weeks, which was a sufficient duration for it to reach Europe by boat. Before, meat from New Zealand was frozen, thus had a much lower value on European shelves. With the arrival of the new "chilled" meats, New Zealand could compete even more strongly with local producers of fresh meat. The use of controlled atmosphere to avoid the depreciation which affects frozen meat is equally useful in other meat markets, such as that for pork, which now also enjoys an international trade. == See also ==