Posted on 04/03/2012 11:13:52 AM PDT by blam
bttt
Not to interrupt this fin impeachment of ... whatever, but ...
K - I have had a brain phart. Make an upper pipe extension for that fine rocket stove you built, and a lower fuel box extension for the fire.
Rig up a metal trash can with racks, and a hole in the side.
When the power goes out, use the rocket stove for a heat source, flip the trash can over it, and smoke everything thawing in the freezer.
This has been bugging me, because we have half a cow in the freezer - hate to lose it.
Meanwhile, my neighbors continue to stock food & fuel, while I stock guns & ammo - when do think I should tell them that we will share?
(Has everyone lost their sense of humor?)
I have a generator and save my food in the freezers though.
I, too, have a generator - but that will only work for a couple of weeks, given the fuel on hand.
After that - time to smoke a cow.
And we have done, in this suburb of DC - lost power for a week in Isabel, los not one pound of hamburger to thawing.
But there are limits. At some point, you have to ask, is the outage local, and is is temporary?
Because fuel might have a better use than running the generator.
Well, telling people that they will share is a whole different kettle of fish than having neighbors that you have previously worked out arrangements with.
One I'm fine with. One I'm not.
And if you try to use a rocket stove to smoke meat, you are going to cook it. And it will spoil. If you are serious about smoking meat, I have years of experience at it, and am a culinary school graduate (I won't poison you). I'd be glad to pass along some tips.
Guns and ammo only go so far. Real world skills that you have practiced are much more valuable than threats and trying to wing it.
'Study to show thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed...' 2 Tim 2:15
/johnny
You are probably right - a rocket stove would be too hot to smoke meat.
Unless you only burned little sticks in it, and slowly.
I dunno, just thinking out loud.
From reading your cooking posts, I readily admit that you would be better at it than I - and a great one to have in the bunker (except for your odd dog.)
I am a scientist, a mathematician, and an engineer - by definition, I am a lousy cook. For example, I LIKE army chow. Better than what I produce.
As for telling people that they will share - sheez, that line is funny.
Not that I would ever do it.
I also have an engineering background. Did AF, DOD contract, and telecom, in that order for most of my adult life. I build a good, solid network.
As an engineer, I would tell you to keep the temp (for beef) near 140F to dry 1/4" strips after salting for 12 hours in a brine that you can float a raw egg in. Use enough slightly wet wood to create a thick cloud of smoke. However you get to those conditions is up to your engineering mind.
As far as science goes... (most) dangerous bacteria require several conditions to thrive. take away any of them and they don't do well.
Water is #1. Salt, drying, and smoke help with that.
Temperature is #2. If you keep the meat at or above 140F, bacteria won't grow while you dry/smoke it. Keeping it frozen works well, too, but that's your engineering problem. ;)
/johnny
“Brine you can float a raw egg in.”
That, actually, is a usefull standard. LOL.
Thanks.
I have a sudden vision of myself, slowly adding salt to a beaker of water, until an egg floats - cackling madly, and tacking notes about ppm -
I assume you mean an egg in the shell? No pickled, like my grandad?
God has provided some useful benchmarks for us. Freezing and boiling of water... floating eggs in brine... stuff like that. ;)
/johnny
You have to stir and may have to heat the water to get the salt to dissolve. Hot liquid and stirring with a raw shell egg involved turns into badly made poached eggs.
Besides throwing off the specific gravity, which is measured at standard temperature.
And it's not ppm. It's ounces per gallon. Is why I have cheap SALT (not mineral) blocks that weigh 50 lbs.
Did you know that roman soldiers were paid in salt originally? It's a precious substance, if you can't get it, and need it.
How much salt do you have in your house right now? How much do you need to live per year?
/johnny
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/poulsci/tech_manuals/gravity_determination.html
Who knew eggs were so complex? LOL.
Salt? A few thousand pounds. I own a plow truck - the stuff is everywhere.
Actually, I tried to reduce my salt holdings this year - but the weather did not cooperate. Only used up #900. Sigh.
IM,
I read Matt Bracken’s Enemies trilogy over the past two weekends. Now there’s some stuff to get you in a prepping frame of mind. Very telling scenarios, kind of felt like we’re on the verge of living them, real soon......
The 101 pleats in a chef's hat represent the 101 ways he demonstrated to prepare eggs. ;)
Escoffier has pages and pages in his old book, just on eggs. A friend of mine, retired cardiologist, raises chickens and thinks eggs are one of the great foods.
I have to agree. I even had one as a project in an early structural engineering class. Mine did survive the drop with help from paper and plastic straws and elmers glue. ;)
/johnny
bttt
Rich man.
That will preserve several tons of meat, and vegetables (hope you like kraut and kimchee).
/johnny
Thanks for the ping!
Actually, I love both kraut and kimchee. Good for you, too, as long as it is unpasturized.
Salt is as easy to get as water from the Chesapeake bay - go collect a gallon of bay water, pour it in a cookie sheet, set it in the sun, and let the water evaporate.
Water one gets from the Patomac river - right above great falls. That is where the water intakes are for DC, Southern MD, and NVA. Sure, it is treated with chlorine, et al. but it needn’t be. You can drink it right out of the river.
If one lives in MI - you are sitting on the biggest salt mine in the world. It is under the city of Detroit.
Funny, huh?
So that's pretty standard for pre-industrial age societies. Which is when most of the east coast cities were settled.
Now, in the industrial age, we can get salt anywhere, as long as the technology holds out.
/johnny
I think you are correct - the events seem perfectly plausible today, probably in part because we have actually watched (lived through) much of the groundwork being laid by the government.
ie: Why does Homelend Security need 450 million rounds of high performance HST ammunition?
The Department Of Homeland Security Is Buying 450 Million New Bullets
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.