Salt Curing did occur since a very long time. Pork is more commonly cured than Beef but that is mainly because a Beef had a higher value on overall to keep than a Pig. But also to have a pair of Cows or Bulls could also help you to plow the land back in the days. So to use Beef or Cows for curing was either if you were wealthy enough to spare one for food. Or if you did use the animal for Dairy purposes or husbandry.

 A piece of Beef to Roast.

To keep a fresh piece of Beef before the invention of refrigeration was either to eat it almost immediatly after butchery or after a short ageing process or to simply making it last much longer via curing. Curing is a process which involves Salt, enough to remove moisture out of the Meat in order to prevent it to rot away.

This method gave us the Salt Cured Beef. A piece of Beef to Roast is mainly enjoyed for Celebration. While a piece of Beef to fry could be considered a little like a 'Smart Casual dressing code for Beef: A good piece of Steak for example. But Cured Beef was a way to eat for the long time, during a famine, during a war to feed soldiers, during hardship but you still wanted to feed your family with some standing. As I say Beef was more valued than Pork.

So even if you fed a humble soldier with Salt Cured Beef it had a meaning behind it, one of pride for their undertakings. The same went for sailors who went on long trips and discovery journeys. It is a manner or was a manner of saying without a word 'We are backing you'.