Presidential Papers, Doc#970 To Jack Solomon, 8 July 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #970; July 8, 1954
To Jack Solomon
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part V: Maintaining "a united defense"; April 1954 to August 1954
Chapter 11: The "men in the Kremlin are not to be trusted"

 

Dear Jack: I am glad to have your glowing report on Columbo. Before I can answer the questions that you propose, I think I need a little information involving techniques and procedures.1

a. After a steer is slaughtered, how long is the meat hung in a cool room before it is considered cured?2

b. After beef has been properly cured, how long can it be kept in a cold room--that is, a temperature on the order of 33 or 34 degrees? I have been told that at such temperatures, meat will continue to improve for a long period, up to eight to ten months, even though the outside would have to be trimmed off a bit when used. Can this be true?3

c. Assuming that all the better cuts can be used up before there is any necessity for freezing, would freezing in any way damage such things as soup meat, chuck roasts and so on? I understood that even when packed properly in a deep freeze, beef will begin definitely to deteriorate after some six to eight months.4

d. Since I would not want to freeze any of the better cuts, I assume you would have no objection to my giving some of them to Colonel Schulz and others to make certain that none of the meat deteriorates.5

With warm regard, Sincerely

1 Solomon had reported on July 6 that Columbo, a steer raised on Solomon's Gallagher's Farm in Gainesville, Virginia, was ready for butchering (AWF/N). Solomon had asked if the President wanted the beef sent to the White House or to Denver where the Eisenhowers would vacation from August 21 to October 15. On Solomon's earlier attempts to provide beef for the President see no. 469.

2 Due to varying time limits on curing hindquarters and forequarters, Solomon would suggest that he "fabricate and package the various cuts of meat and designate on each package what it is and how best to use it" (July 16, 1954, AWF/N).

3 After the first eight weeks, Solomon said, the meat stops improving.

4 "As you know," Solomon wrote, "I am against freezing ANY beef. . . ." Therefore, he wrote, "soup meat, chuck roasts, etc., should be used up within a week or ten days."

5 Schulz, who routinely took responsibility for the gifts Eisenhower received (see, for example, no. 469), would tell Solomon that the refrigeration facilities at the White House were not large enough to accommodate the entire carcass. As it turned out, some of the beef would be shipped to Denver in anticipation of the Eisenhowers' arrival, and the hindquarters and ribs would be cured and stored on Solomon's farm to be delivered on request. Eisenhower's July 27 and August 17 thank you notes to Solomon are in ibid.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Jack Solomon, 8 July 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 970. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/970.cfm

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