leave for 24 hours; boil 12 oz. bay salt, 10 oz. common salt, 1½
oz. saltpetre, 2 lb. treacle, 2 qt. vinegar, 3 heads garlic, and a
handful of chopped sage; skim, pour hot over the meat, and well rub
in daily for 10 days; let lie 10 days with frequent turning; dry, and
smoke for 3 weeks.
Herrings.--The fish are spread on a floor, and sprinkled with
salt; when sufficiently salted, they are thrown into large vats,
and washed. Each fish is then threaded through the gills, on long
thin spits holding 25 each. These are hung upon trestles in the
smoking-room, where fires of oak-boughs are kept smouldering. For
“bloaters,” to be consumed in England, the smoking lasts about 24
hours; “red-herrings” for export are salted more, and are smoked for
3 or 4 to 40 days, usually about 14 days. “Kippers” are taken while
fresh, and split up. They are then washed, and thrown into vats with
plenty of salt for a few minutes; finally they are spread out on
tenter-hooks, on racks, and hung up for 8 hours’ smoking.
Herring Paste.--1 doz. herrings put in a pan, cover with hot water;
when pretty soft, pull them to pieces, take out all the bones (use
only white part of fish and soft roes), pound in a mortar, with ½ lb.
butter, cayenne to taste, ¼ pint anchovy sauce; when well pounded,
put into small pots with lard over. Will keep good for months, and
will be found delicious.
Hungarian Beef.--Take about 10 lb. of fine fat short rib or sirloin
of beef that has been killed 4 or 5 days; rub thoroughly with ½ lb.
coarse sugar or treacle until none can be seen; after lying 2 days
take 2 oz. juniper berries, ½ lb. bay salt, 2 oz. saltpetre, 1 oz.
sal prunelle, 1 lb. common salt, all finely beaten to powder, and
some bay leaves and thyme chopped small; rub in for an hour, and let
lie for 3 weeks in an earthen pan, rubbing well every day with the
brine; take out, wipe well, and plunge into cold water for 12 hours;
rub perfectly dry, and colour with bullocks’ blood; hang up in gentle
smoke for 3 days, after which smoke until nearly black.
Mackerel.--Take the mackerel as soon as caught (for they quickly
become dark and lose flavour), and with a light knife split open the
back from head to tail; take out the guts, roes, livers, and gills,
and be particular you do not burst the gall; wipe each fish well
inside and out, and put into the following pickle:--1 gal. cold pure
water, 1 oz. saltpetre, 2 lb. common salt, 1 lb. coarse sugar; if the
fish be large and thick, let them lie in this state 6 hours; then
take out and put two stretch laths across the back of each, extending
them as much as possible; wash through the pickle once, and hang to
dry for 2 hours; after which place in a hot smoke for 1 hour, and
afterwards in a cool one for 20 hours, or until they become of a dark
chestnut colour. When cold, pack them one on the other in bundles of
6, and keep them rather in a dry than in a damp room.
Mutton Hams.--Select a short, thick, round leg of wether mutton about
14 lb. weight; rub thoroughly for 20-30 minutes with coarse sugar,
and let lie 12 hours, turning 3 times; plunge into the following
pickle, with what sugar you have on the dish;-½ lb. bay salt, 1 lb.
common salt, 1 oz. saltpetre, 2 oz. juniper berries, 1 handful each
of thyme and bay leaves, 2 qt. soft water; simmer together one hour,
and use lukewarm; let remain in this pickle 3 weeks; take out, but
do not wipe; then smoke, but insist on its being turned frequently,
sometimes shank upwards, and _vice versâ_, for a fortnight, in a
strong regular fume; when cold, put into a calico bag, and hang up in
the kitchen until you want to dress it; then bury it in the bag in a
dry garden soil for 20 hours or so; and take care, when it is boiled,
to put plenty of bay leaves, thyme, and marjoram into the pot along
with it. (Robinson.)
Norfolk Chine.--Select the chine of a 10-score pig; remove rind and
superfluous fat, and rub and turn daily for a week in 1 lb. each
salt and treacle, and 1 oz. each bay and laurel leaves; then boil 3
qt. water with 1 lb. salt, 1 oz. each crushed juniper berries and
shredded bay and laurel leaves, and a handful each of thyme and
marjoram; skim, and pour cold over the meat so that it mingles with
the first pickle; turn for 3 weeks, wipe dry, and coat with bran and
then pea flour; smoke for 14 days with equal proportions dried fern,
oak lops, and birch or beech chips; bake and eat cold.
Oysters.--A method of preserving oysters is adopted by the Chinese.
The fish are taken from the shells, plunged into boiling water for
an instant, and then exposed to the sun till all the moisture is
removed. They remain fresh for a long time, and retain their full
flavour. Only the fattest can be so treated. Oysters are also largely
“canned,” much in the same way as salmon.
Pickled Pork.--Cut into convenient sized pieces and remove principal
bones; rub well with saltpetre and then with a mixture of 2 parts bay
salt and 1 part common salt; pack in a clean vessel with plenty of
salt around the sides and covering the top.
Porker’s Head.--Choose a dairy-fed porker of 7 score; open the head,
and remove gullet, tongue, eyes, &c.; wash 5 minutes in salt and
water; rub well all over with coarse sugar and sliced onions; let
remain in a deep dish 48 hours; boil ½ oz. powdered bay leaves, ¾
oz. saltpetre, 1 lb. bay salt or rock salt, 2 oz. ground allspice,
1 qt. water; skim well, and when cold, pour it over the head in a
deep straight-sided earthen vessel; let lie 3 weeks, turning and
basting with the pickle every other day; wipe dry, place the tongue
in (having meantime cured it as neats’ tongue) and stuff all cavities
with onions fried in olive oil or sweet lard, and powdered dried
sage; bind the cheeks close together with tape, and smoke 3 weeks
with 2 parts beech chips, 2 parts fern, 1 part peat, 1 part oak
sawdust; keep in same packing as hams, tongues, &c., for 2 months;
bake and eat cold.
Salmon.--The fish are beheaded and cleaned, and cut by a series of
knives into the right lengths to fill 1 lb. cans. When these have
been filled to within ¼ in. of the top, the covers are put on and
soldered. In an air-tight condition, the full cans are passed to
the boilers, vats measuring 5 ft. × 4 ft. × 4 ft., where they are
steamed for 1 hour. They are then taken out and cooled. A small hole
in the centre of each lid, hitherto remaining soldered up, is opened
by applying a hot iron, and the air and cooking-gases are allowed to
escape. The cans are then instantaneously made air-tight again, and
are boiled for two hours in a bath of salted water, the salt being
added to raise the boiling-point. They are then left to stand till
quite cool.
Salmon, Kippered.--Lay the fish on a board with the tail towards you,
and the back to the right hand; insert the knife at the point of the
nose, and split down the backbone, or as near to it as possible. Take
out the inside and the roe, and scale and wipe the fish perfectly
clean; remove the backbone and every particle of blood. When clean,
rub in a mixture of equal parts salt, brown sugar, and ground black
pepper, about 4 large spoonfuls of each ingredient to a 10 lb. fish.
Let the fish remain in the pickle 2-3 days, according to size,
turning it every day. Afterwards press it between 2 flat stones in a
cool place for 2-3 days more, then sprinkle it with ground pepper,
and hang it out in the sun against a wall until dry, with wooden
skewers to keep it flat, or it may be hung above the fireplace in the
kitchen when it is warm, but not hot. After that it may be smoked for
2 days and nights in the smoke of dried seaweed and oak sawdust, or
painted over with pyroligneous acid, or with Smith’s Cambrian essence.
Salmon, Pickled.--Take a good salmon; cut it across in 2 or 3 pieces
without splitting it; wash carefully and boil in pickle made with
coarse salt and spring water strong enough to float an egg. The fish
must be put down in cold pickle, and allowed very slowly to boil till
it begins to separate from the bone, keeping it well skimmed all the
while. Put the fish on a table to drain, and when cold pack it in
a crock or keg as closely as possible without breaking the pieces,
sprinkling a small quantity of powdered saltpetre, a little salt, and
some bay leaves on each layer. Then cover with a pickle made thus: 1
qt. vinegar, 3 pints spring water, ¼ lb. lump sugar, 16 drops oil of
cloves. This pickle will preserve any kind of fish fit for pickling,
and is particularly good for oysters. These should be boiled slowly
before put in it.
Sardines.--The beheaded and cleaned fish are spread upon sieves,
and plunged for 1 or 2 minutes beneath the surface of boiling oil
in coppers. After draining a little, the fish are packed closely in
tin boxes, which are filled up with pure cold oil, and soldered.
The quality deteriorates with every immersion, owing to the matters
disengaged by the boiling oil, and the coppers need frequent
replenishing with oil.
Sausages.--(_a_) Take a quantity of pig’s meat, remove all nerves
and skin with great care; then chop it as finely as possible. Put
it in an earthenware pan, add to it garlic, parsley, mint, thyme,
marjoram, and burnet finely minced; pepper and cloves powdered; and
salt, all in such proportions as taste may suggest. Work the whole
with a wooden spoon for some time, so as to get all the ingredients
well mixed; then add a tumblerful of white wine for every 2 lb. meat,
and work it for some time longer. Have some skins perfectly cleaned,
rub them well all over with lemon juice, and put them in water with
plenty of lemon juice squeezed into it. Take them out one at a time,
dry them, fill them with the meat, and tie them in lengths of about 3
in. The sausages should then be hung up to dry in a strong current of
air for some days. These sausages are best eaten boiled with cabbages
or greens. (The G. C.)
(_b_) Beef sausages are prepared in exactly the same manner as pork.
The best part to use is beef steak. To 1 lb. of this use ¼ lb.
beef suet or other good fat, ¼ pint stock, or water, 1½ oz. sifted
breadcrumbs, 1 large teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful dried and
sifted parsley mixed with a similar quantity of thyme, and 1 small
teaspoonful salt. If these sausages are properly made and cooked,
they will, when cut, give plenty of gravy; they are considered
somewhat less rich than those made of pork.
(_c_) 1½ lb. pigmeat cut from the griskin, without any skin, 1½
lb. veal, 1½ lb. beef suet, the yolks and whites of 5 eggs, 1
dessertspoonful sifted sage (after being well dried), pepper and
salt to taste. Chop the meat into small pieces, pound it together
in a marble mortar till it is soft and tender, chop the suet very
fine, and when the eggs are well beaten together (after the specks
are taken out) pour the liquid over the pounded meat and chopped
suet, kneading it well together with a clean hand, throwing in the
sifted sage and pepper and salt from a coarse pepper-box during the
operation, so as to let them impregnate the whole mass without being
predominant in any part of it. Press the whole, when well mixed
together, into a wide-mouthed jar, and keep it from the air in a cold
place; roll the sausages on a floured board, and use very little
grease in frying them, as they will be almost fat enough to fry
themselves, with the aid of a frying-pan. They should be made into
small flat cakes, about the size of a five-shilling piece. Lovelock’s
sausage-making machine is very useful.
(_d_) To each lb. veal put ½ lb. ham, in equal quantities of fat and
lean. Season with ½ teaspoonful salt, a whole one of pepper, a pinch
of nutmeg and sweet herbs; mix with 1 oz. sifted breadcrumbs, and
moisten with 4 tablespoonfuls stock made from trimmings of the veal
and ham. Proceed as for pork sausages.
Shrimps.--To preserve shrimps in a dried state, they are boiled for
½ hour with frequent sprinkling of salt; then spread out on hard dry
ground, with frequent turning, to dry and bleach for 3 or 4 days.
They are then trampled to remove the shells, and are winnowed and
bagged.
Shrimps, Potted.--Take some freshly boiled shrimps and half their
weight of butter, pick out the meat from the tails, and chop it up
fine; take the rest of the shrimps and pound them up with a little of
the butter until reduced to a smooth paste, then add the meat from
the tails and pound all together, seasoning well with pounded mace,
grated nutmeg, and cayenne pepper; put it into pots, and cover with
clarified butter.
Smoked Geese.--When geese are cheap, take as many as you please, only
seeing that they are fresh, and not in the least damp or muggy; then
cleanly draw, pick from pen-feathers, and wipe well out with a cloth
dipped in strong salt and water; after which immerse in the following
(quantities for 6 geese):--2 lb. coarse sugar, 1 lb. bay salt, 3
oz. saltpetre, 1 handful finely beaten sage, 3 shallots, 2 handfuls
crushed bay leaves; boil together 10 minutes, and afterwards simmer
½ hour; when cold, pour over the geese, which must be turned often,
and, if possible, kept covered with the pickle; let remain 48 hours;
take out and let them drip (do not wipe), and rub cayenne pepper
plentifully inside each until it adheres; smoke 3 days and nights in
a cool smoke, and hang each up in a calico bag in the kitchen; when
wanted for table, dissect them, and broil over a clear fire.
Smoked Neats’ Tongues.--Take 6 tongues and rub well with sugar for 2
days; then rub well with common salt and saltpetre for 2 days more,
apart from the sugar; then take 1 qt. each of water and porter, ¼
lb. saltpetre, 2 lb. bay salt, 2 lb. common salt, and with the sugar
first used make a hot pickle, which skim well, and pour over the
tongues laid in a deep narrow tin pan completely covered; let lie
for 8 days more, and they will be fit for use in any way; if to be
smoked, wipe them well, and turn in the chimney 4 or 5 times for 5
days.
Sprats.--Pick out the largest, and then the second size, rejecting
the remainder, or refuse, which, however, may be useful to pot. Put
into baskets, and well wash in salt and water; then set to drain an
hour, and afterwards plunge into a pickle that will float an egg:
the smaller ones may be taken out of pickle in 4 hours, and the
large ones in 6 hours, and be set to drain; which done, proceed to
stick them on frames, the eye being pierced by each nail, and then,
with a steady hand, put into the chimney. Set on a gentle heat for ½
hour, and let it be succeeded by a strong smoke for 12 hours longer;
when cold, they will be fit for immediate consumption; but if you
want them to keep a month or so, you must continue the smoke on them
for 30 hours, or until they become a dark brown colour; and if for
packing, they should be placed as bloaters, keeping the same-sized
ones together in a dry room, and after a few hours they will have
sweated in the packages, and will be very mellow and fine flavoured.
Sprats, Pickled.--For this purpose the sprats must be quite fresh
and unsalted. Clean, take off the heads, and thoroughly wash them.
Drain, and put in layers and rows, heads and tails, into china-lined
earthen pie-dishes, wide, well glazed, or stoneware crocks, with
whole pepper, allspice, chili-pods, and bay leaves; of the latter
sparingly. Dissolve 1 spoonful salt in hot water, pour it over the
fish, and add vinegar to cover them completely. Cover and bake slowly
for 1-2 hours, according to quantity, till all the fish are well
cooked through. Take off the cover and let them cool before putting
away for use. Add a little more vinegar if too dry. A few shallots
or slices of silverskin onions can be added if approved of. Sprats
pickled thus should come to the table in the vessel they are cooked
in, and removed in layers. In cold weather, if kept for a week or
two, the bones will be found to be quite dissolved by the action of
the vinegar. Fresh herrings, trout, salmon peal, eels, and a variety
of fresh-water fish can be thus prepared.
Sprats, Potted.--Pour some boiling (slightly salted) water on the
sprats, cleaned as above-mentioned, in a deep pan. After a few
minutes the meat can easily be removed from the bones. When this is
done, mash it up finely and carefully with a silver fork. Add red and
white pepper and a little more salt to taste. Grease 1 lb. jam-pots
with clarified butter. Pack the fish closely into these, and bake for
½-1 hour in slow heat. When cold, pour some of the clarified butter
or some American tinned marrow fat to the depth of 1 in. on the top
of each pot, and allow to harden before tying down for use. These
will keep well 1-3 weeks.
Tongues.--(_a_) Sprinkle the tongue well all over with common salt,
and let it stand 2 days. If it appear slimy, remove the salt with
the slime, then mix 1 lb. saltpetre and 1 tablespoonful coarse brown
sugar together, with which rub the tongue well, and let it be in
pickle 3-7 weeks, taking care to turn and baste it well every day
during that time. If it be allowed to remain in pickle as long as 7
weeks, it should be taken out, rubbed dry, and hung up to keep for
five days before using it. It is better, however, not to keep them
in so long, as tongues are always best used straight out of the
pickle. Like all other boiled meats, tongues require great care in
cooking. The fact is they never should boil; they should be soaked
for 2 hours or more after they are taken out of the pickle, according
to the number of weeks they have been in it, and should then be put
into a large saucepan or stewpan in cold water. As soon as this shows
symptoms of boiling, and before it begins regularly to boil, the pan
should be drawn sufficiently to the side of the fire to keep up a
constant simmering, to be kept up until it is done. In this way the
tongue will be as tender as possible, and, cured with saltpetre as
described, it should have a nice red colour.
(_b_) ½ oz. saltpetre, ½ oz. salprunella, 1 lb. salt, ½ lb. very
coarse sugar, 4 bay leaves, 10 juniper berries, 1 tablespoonful
vinegar, and 3 pints water. Let all boil for ½ hour, skim off the
scum, and pour the liquid into a pickling dish, when it is quite cold
put the tongue in, and turn it every day for 3 weeks, if you wish to
cook it green, but if you intend to hang it, let it stop for a month
in pickle. This pickle will keep good for months if reboiled and
skimmed. Every tongue put in should be well rubbed with salt, left to
drain for 3 days, and wiped dry before being put in.
Trout, Potted.--(_a_) Pour boiling water on the fish, and let them
steep ½ hour; bone and skin them, and pound them in a mortar with
½ lb. butter to double the quantity of fish; add by degrees, salt,
cayenne, and spices to taste; when reduced to a smooth paste, put it
into pots and cover with clarified fat or butter.
(_b_) Mix together the following quantity of spices, all finely
pounded. 1 oz. cloves, ½ oz. Jamaica pepper, ¼ oz. black pepper, ¼
oz. cayenne, 2 nutmegs, a little mace, and 2 teaspoonfuls ginger;
add the weight of the spices and half as much again of salt, and mix
all thoroughly. Clean the fish, and cut off the heads, fins, and
tails; put 1 teaspoonful of the mixed spices into each fish, and lay
them in a deep earthen jar with the backs downwards; cover them with
clarified butter, tie a paper over the mouth of the jar, and bake
them slowly for 8 hours. When the backbone is tender the fish are
done enough. Take them out of the jar and put them in a pan with the
backs upwards; cover them with a board, and place a heavy weight upon
it. When perfectly cold remove the fish into fresh jars, smooth them
with a knife, and cover them with clarified butter.
_Pickling._--The chief agent in pickling is hot vinegar, and the best
way to prepare it is as follows:--Bruise ¼ lb. each of black pepper,
ginger, cloves, pimento, and mace, with some garlic, horse-radish,
capsicums, and shallots, in 1 qt. of the strongest and best vinegar
in a stoneware jar; cork tightly, cover with a bladder soaked in the
pickle, and place on a trivet near the fire for 3 days, shaking it up
3 or 4 times a day. Gherkins and similar articles should be pricked
before immersion, to admit the pickle better. The addition of a
little alkali (such as soda bicarbonate) heightens the green colour
of the pickles. Glazed or block-tin vessels should alone be used for
making pickles in. Glass or earthenware jars are best for strong
pickles; they must be tightly corked and tied down with bladder
soaked in the pickling liquor. A damp store cupboard is fatal to them.
Cabbage.--Choose a fine closely-grown red cabbage, strip the outside
leaves off, cut it across in rather thin slices, and lay on a dish,
scattering salt over; cover with a cloth, and let lie 20 hours; drain
the cabbage on a sieve, and put it in a clean jar with allspice,
whole pepper, and a little ginger sliced; pour cold white wine
vinegar over it to cover it well, and tie closely from the air.
Chutney.--(_a_) Cayenne pepper, ¼ oz.; mustard seed, 2 oz.; brown
sugar, ½ lb.; ground ginger, 1 oz.; vinegar, 1½ pint; stoned raisins,
¼ lb.; garlic, 2 oz.; onions, ¼ lb.; salt, 2 oz.; apples, 1½ lb. Boil
until soft enough to mash through a colander. (C. G. J.)
(_b_) Peel 4 lb. green mangoes, take out the stones, and cut them
into quarters lengthwise; boil them slightly in 1 bottle vinegar, and
put it aside in a jar till cold. Take another bottle of vinegar, to
which add 2 lb. sugar, and boil it till it becomes a thin syrup; put
aside till cold. Take 1 oz. salt, 2 lb. picked and dried raisins, 1
oz. yellow mustard seed, 1 oz. garlic, 2 oz. dried chillies, 1 lb.
green ginger sliced. Pound the garlic, chillies, and ginger finely
in a mortar; mix all the ingredients together, bottle and expose to
the sun for 3-4 days, or place it in a cool oven. Apples can be used
instead of mangoes; they should be finely cut up.
(_c_) Apple.--6 large sharp apples, 3 large onions, 6 oz. sultana
raisins, 1 teaspoonful ground ginger, 1 saltspoonful red pepper, 1
dessertspoonful salt, 2 tablespoonfuls tomato sauce or the pulp of 2
or 3 tomatoes, 1 dessertspoonful anchovy essence, 1 dessertspoonful
Indian soy, 1 tablespoonful salad oil, ½ vinegar. Chop very finely
the apples and onions, and chop the raisins roughly. Now put all
the ingredients, with the exception of the vinegar, into a mortar,
and pound together, and by degrees add the vinegar. When all the
ingredients are well blended together, put into wide-mouthed bottles,
and cork tightly.
(_d_) Elder.--The berries that remain from elder ketchup, an onion
finely minced, ¼ oz. ginger, and a blade of mace and 6 cloves; pound
the spice together, and put all the ingredients into an enamelled
stewpan, with 3 oz. sultana raisins, 2 oz. Demerara sugar, ½ pint
vinegar, 1 saltspoonful cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoonful salt, and,
if convenient, a few mulberries; boil all together 5 minutes, take
from the fire, and, when cold, put into wide-mouthed bottles, and
cork tightly. This makes a very good chutney for cold meat; it can be
made hotter if liked.
(_e_) Green Gooseberry.--4 pints green gooseberries boiled in 1½ pint
brown vinegar, 2 lb. brown sugar made into a syrup, 1½ pint vinegar;
1½ lb. raisins, stoned and chopped; 6 oz. garlic, pounded and dried;
6 oz. mustard seed, gently dried and bruised; 2 oz. dried chillies,
pounded. Mix all together, put in a cool oven for some hours on
several different occasions; and after, if too dry, add a little
vinegar, as may be required, at the end of a month or two.
(_f_) Tomato.--Take 4-5 lb. ripe tomatoes, pick out the stalks, wipe
the fruit with a dry piece of flannel, place them in a jar with a
lid, add a breakfastcupful of salt, the same of vinegar, close the
jar by placing a stiff paste of flour and water round the edge of
the lid so as to make it air-tight, place the jar in a large pan of
boiling water, let the fruit simmer slowly for 6 hours, then pulp
through a colander to get quit of the skins and cores. Shred 2 oz.
red chillies, the same of garlic, make a syrup of 2 pints vinegar and
2 lb. loaf sugar, cut small 2 oz. ginger, mix all with the tomatoes,
place on a slow fire, simmer gently; when it comes to the boil take
off the chutney, bottle when cold, cork tight, keep in a warm, dry
place.