the way meat tasted a 100 years ago

[cal1956]

with all the modern ways of cooking meat nowadays which do you think tastes better now or then ?
think about it , today we have access to a 1000 spices , and a 1000 ways to cook meat . but in the old days that wasn't the case
granted that our meat is much safer to eat , but i think there is much to be said for the flavor of meat cooked over burning chunks of wood with little if any control of the heat ( or anything else ) back then it took a sharp eye and a fair amount of experence and skill to cook meat . our smokers of today can simulate some of that, but will never capture all of it

 

[Nefarious]

Also, back then they didn't have too many different approaches to cooking meat so their expectations were very low.

 

[JLeonard]

Another thought.....All of our meat back 100 yrs ago was "free range". They were working with a whole different type of meat.
Jim

 

[thirdeye]

I have to agree with JLeonard , meat has changed. A lot. I think the most dramatic is chicken which has been re-engineered for larger breasts and special feeds for growth, not to mention raising them with limited room so the meat is more tender.

Pork is much leaner overall than in yesteryears, the slogan "the other white meat" is pretty accurate. I can remember even high-on-the-hog cuts, like a pork chop, were much greasier than today's pork chops.

When I was a little boy, we raised Herford cattle (white faces) and it was popular in the 60's and 70's, but Angus became popular because their meat is higher in fat than Herford beef. Flavor wise I still like Herford beef that has been grain finished. We have one market that sells Herford, and sirloin and chuck are the products we buy.

 

[cal1956]

just think of what beef jerky was like back then they didn't smoke/cure it for hours they smoked it for days , it must have tasted amazing . when i was just a toddler, i had an uncle that had a smoke house ( i'm talking the real mc Coy ) old wooden weathered shack , dirt floor ete . one of my earliest memorys was opening the door and seeing all that meat hanging with a small fire smoldering on the dirt floor and him telling me to take my pocket knife and slice me off a piece of ham and taste it . i wish i knew how long he smoked it and how long meat was left hanging in that old smokehouse

 

[SmokinEdge]

Let’s stir this up just a bit. It’s a great topic for ponderance.

100 years ago was the year 1922. This was two years after Henry Ford helped E.G Kingsford develop and market the charcoal briquet. So we had grills then. You would have to dip 200 years back to become more primitive in food cooking, but even then they had spits and cooked meat over coals with control, they also roasted meat underground. The ability to cook tasty food was no secret.

Meat in 1922, beef or lamb, was grass fed. The meat was delicious. In about the 1950’s the technology to produce grain in large volume was introduced with the mechanized combine. American farmers started producing a huge abundance of grain, more than could be used for flour products. So as a cheap alternative for feed livestock producers started feeding the cheap grain to all livestock. This produces a different fat on animals, and more of it. American beef was forever changed. Then came breeding. In cattle, the Longhorn and Herford were dominate breeds, but their meat didn’t marble much just cap fat, so soon new breeds such as Angus were introduced because of their superior ability to marble fat in their meat. That pretty much brings us to todays meat, but buffalo is still a thing and in high demand and largely unchanged. Beef such as the Romangnola and Piedmontese are Italian breeds that are unchanged genetically from ancient times and are in demand. In fact the old Herford line is making a huge comeback as “grass fed” no grain. As much as things change, they stay the same. This could develop into an interesting conversation. Thanks for posting.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Here you go, this is old world technology and must have been delicious 100 or 200 or 300 years ago. Use the imagination and you could spin any flavor of meat.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...ing-chicken-by-hanging-over-open-fire.314778/

 

[xbubblehead]

Best beef I ever had: I was helping a chef do a pit roast of briskets for a rodeo party and, at his suggestion, had some raw. I think primatives had it right, either raw or cooked on an open fire. I'm 78 so I don't think of 100 years ago as all that significant in terms of cooking methods. More likely the lack of accelerated feeding and chemical altering are the most significant differences then to now.

 

[mneeley490]

I think many places then didn't have access to stable refrigeration, so there was little hanging time with beef carcasses. Beef was eaten soon after it was killed, which to my mind, would make it taste more like liver. Happy to be living today, thanks.

 

[DougE]

When I was a little boy, we raised Herford cattle (white faces) and it was popular in the 60's and 70's, but Angus became popular because their meat is higher in fat than Herford beef.

From a farming standpoint, I find angus crosses to yield better calves. Pure bred angus cows often do not milk that well, but if you run herford/angus, or charolais/angus crosses, and breed to a black bull, you get cows that will milk well, and throw mostly black calves. If the calf is black, or black with white face, it will sell good, generally.

 

[mneeley490]

When I was a little boy, we raised Herford cattle (white faces) and it was popular in the 60's and 70's, but Angus became popular because their meat is higher in fat than Herford beef. Flavor wise I still like Herford beef that has been grain finished. We have one market that sells Herford, and sirloin and chuck are the products we buy.

We had a local burger chain in the Seattle area in the 60's & 70's with this logo, that's long gone now. I assume it's a Herford?

I loved those burgers when I was a kid. Really miss that place.

 

[thirdeye]

Let’s stir this up just a bit. It’s a great topic for ponderance.

100 years ago was the year 1922. This was two years after Henry Ford helped E.G Kingsford develop and market the charcoal briquet. So we had grills then. You would have to dip 200 years back to become more primitive in food cooking, but even then they had spits and cooked meat over coals with control, they also roasted meat underground. The ability to cook tasty food was no secret.

Well, I wonder how many grills there were in the '20's? My Grandfather and Grand Uncle were open pit men. This photo would have been taken in the late 30's.

That pretty much brings us to todays meat, but buffalo is still a thing and in high demand and largely unchanged.

Bison and Buffalo is trendy. I really like bison burger.
So, traveling down the road (in my neck of the woods) can lead you to a different destination all the time.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well, I wonder how many grills there were in the '20's? My Grandfather and Grand Uncle were open pit men. This photo would have been taken in the late 30's.
View attachment 630616

Bison and Buffalo is trendy. I really like bison burger.
So, traveling down the road (in my neck of the woods) can lead you to a different destination all the time.
View attachment 630617

Thanks for that picture Thirdeye, looks like a perfect grill to me. We’re they using charcoal briquettes or just old school wood burned to coals? Looks perfect to me either way. Those old timers knew how to cook food, for sure.

 

[Hijack73]

It was either heavily salted (curing) or lightly salted (fresh)

Put a haunch of venison (killed that day) onto a stick burner and you've got a good idea of what day 1 of a kill was like.

EDIT: running pretty hot - not low and slow!

 

[Nefarious]

Thats interesting, i looked at the pic and thought caveman, certainly not 100 years.ago. Embarressed!

 

[sawhorseray]

Cavemen didn't have beer in a bottle. RAY

 

[Fueling Around]

Mechanized farming really changed the face of beef.
Alfalfa was baled instead of loose stored in the mow (upper level of the barn)
Corn pickers meant more whole cobs stored in a crib.
Corn coppers took the whole plant and ferment stored in silos that used to dominate landscape.

 

[thirdeye]

Thanks for that picture Thirdeye, looks like a perfect grill to me. We’re they using charcoal briquettes or just old school wood burned to coals? Looks perfect to me either way. Those old timers knew how to cook food, for sure.

I would guess wood coals.

 

[bdawg]

We had a local burger chain in the Seattle area in the 60's & 70's with this logo, that's long gone now. I assume it's a Herford?
View attachment 630614
I loved those burgers when I was a kid. Really miss that place.

We have a Herfy's in Snoqualmie a block from Mt Si High school, and there's another in Redmond i used to go to for lunch when I worked nearby.
The burgers are still way better than McD's and BK.

 

[nicefly]

Interesting topic, thanks for posting.

I cannot speak to 100 years ago but I did put myself through high school working in a small 3 isle grocery store in our sleepy town. This is back in Northeast PA.

We had sawdust on the floor. Not legal at the time but it was grandfathered in. Owner was Polish decent so we made quite a bit of Kielbossa. Bone it out, grind, season, stuff and hang in the basement overnight. Next to the compressors running the refers and high enough so the cats would not get it.

Smoked the next day in the old school upright wood shack, dirt floor. We would always put a small ring or two on the end of a stick to "see if it was done" haha. I can tell you that right out of the smoker was the absolute best. While it was good it was never quite as good as straight off the smoker.

There was a large Italian contingent around also. They would bring over a spice mix (secret of course) and ask for a certain# of meat for Soppersatta. I spent many a Saturday afternoon boning pork butts, grind etc. and then they would pick it up and dry it themselves.

Seems we always had a pound or two for some sandwiches on Sunday morning. Quality control.

But keeping with the theme those days are gone and never coming back. RIP Frank Kacer. Man did he have the gift for gab. Really one of the nicer people I have ever met.