[londons_explore]

A lot of meat is salted today... Ham... Bacon....

[marcyb5st]

I think there is a substantial difference as back then the meat was literally "submerged" in salt to preserve it.

Nowadays I believe it's simply lightly coated in salt to only maximize flavor since we have fridges.

[throwaway316943]

You can still buy salt beef. It usually comes in a plastic tub. You must soak it in water before cooking in order to remove most of the salt otherwise it is inedible.