I put Jacobus Combrink in his rightful historic place as the man who created much of the meat trade in early Cape Town. Starting with the nitrogen cycle again, I discuss how nitrogen enters the world of animals and plants and I look at the discovery of microorganisms involved in making nitrogen "accessible." I bring together concepts such as denitrification, the work of Polenski and others, the importance of factoring gases into chemistry, and the development of the understanding of nitrogen in nutrition within the framework of meat curing.