adding some cold ham or bacon, in the proportion of a pound of liver to
a quarter of a pound of fat bacon. Add also some boiled pigs' feet,
allowing to each pound of liver four pigs' feet boiled, skinned, boned,
and chopped. Season with pepper, powdered mace or nutmeg, and sweet
herbs, (sweet basil and marjoram.) Put the mixture (packed hard,) into
straight-sided tin or white ware pans, and cover them with a clean
cloth. Put heavy weights on the top. Cover them also with folded brown
paper, and set them in a cool dry place. They will be fit to eat next
day. Slice them thick, and send them to the tea or breakfast table. Or
you may fill with the mixture, some nicely cleaned and very transparent
sausage skins, (of a large size,) and tie up the ends with coarse brown
thread, to be removed before going to table.
You may cut them into large pieces, and broil them, or fry them in lard.
Calves' liver makes still nicer puddings.
Keep liver puddings in flat stone jars.
Never use newspaper to cover or wrap up any thing eatable. The black
always rubs off, and the copperas in the printing ink is very poisonous.
HAM, etc.
BRINE FOR PICKLING MEAT.--To every four gallons of water allow four
pounds of fine salt, two ounces of saltpetre, three pounds of brown
sugar, and two quarts of West India molasses. Boil the whole together,
stirring it well, and skimming it after stirring. When clear, let it
cool. The meat being clean and dry, rub it all over with ground red
pepper. Then put as much meat into the pickling-tub as can be very well
covered by the brine, which must be poured on cold. Let it remain six
weeks in the pickle, (carefully taking off the scum,) and turning each
piece every day. Afterwards, hang it till it is dry outside, and then
smoke it well for a fortnight, hanging it high above the fire with the
large end downward. The fire in the smoke-house should be steadily kept
up all the time. Hickory or oak is the best wood for this purpose. On no
account use pine, cedar, spruce, or hemlock. They will communicate to
the meat a strong taste of turpentine, and render it uneatable. A fire
made of corn-cobs is excellent for smoking meat, and they should be
saved for that purpose. When the meat is smoked, rub it all over with
ground pepper to prevent insects, and sew up all the pieces in new
cotton cloths, coarse and thick, and then white-wash them. We have seen
ham-covers, painted with flowers and gilded. Since California, gilding
pervades the land.
This pickle will be found excellent for hams, bacon, tongues, or beef.
Meat for pickling must be very fresh, and of excellent quality. Before
sewing it up in covers see that it is free from insects. If to go to
sea, pack in boxes of powdered charcoal for a long voyage. For a short
one, barrels of wood-ashes will do.
TO CURE HAMS.--To make good hams the pork must be of the best quality.
No animal tastes so much of its food as the pig. In America, we
consider a pig "killed off the slop" as unfit to eat; and so he is. All
our pigs are kept up in a pen, and fattened with Indian corn, or corn
meal, for several weeks previous to killing. A hundred pounds of corn
meal, (mixed with water to about the consistency of very thick mush,) is
said to be equal in fattening pigs to two hundred pounds of dry-shelled
corn. They should be kept up, and well fed for eight weeks; and
occasionally, in the country, where such fruits are superabundant, the
pigs should have a regale of melons, peaches, &c. This we have seen, and
the pork was, of course, very fine. The hams or hind-quarters are
considered the most valuable part of the animal. They are cured in
various modes. But the Newbold receipt has hitherto been the most
popular. Mr. Newbold was a Pennsylvania farmer. The following
directions, we believe, are authentic.
For one hundred pounds of fine pork, take seven pounds of coarse salt,
five pounds of brown sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, half an ounce of
pearlash, and four gallons of water. Boil all together, and skim the
pickle when cold. Pour it on the meat. Let hams or tongues remain in the
pickling-tub eight weeks. Before it is smoked, hang it up and dry it two
or three days. Three weeks will be sufficient for pickling beef.
Previous to sewing the hams in cases, rub them all over with ground
black pepper.
Soap-suds given frequently to pigs, when kept up to fatten, will greatly
promote their health.
BOILED HAM.--Having soaked a fine ham from early in the evening till
near bed-time, putting it into warm water, and changing that water about
ten or eleven o'clock--wash and brush it well in the morning, and trim
it so as to look nicely all over. Lay at the bottom of the ham-boiler a
bed of nice fresh hay, which will greatly improve the flavor. Let the
hock bone be sawed off short. A long shank bone looks very awkward.
Place the ham upon the hay--pour in plenty of cold water, and keep it
simmering very slowly an hour before you allow it to boil. Then increase
the heat gradually, and keep the ham boiling steadily for four, five, or
six hours, according to its size and age. An old ham requires more
soaking and boiling than a new one. Skim it frequently after the boiling
begins. It will be much improved by transferring it to a spit, (having
taken off the whole skin,) and roasting the ham, for the last two or
three hours, basting it with its own essence. Save the skin to cover the
cold ham, and keep it fresh. Before it goes to table cover the ham with
grated bread-crumbs, sifted on so as to form a slight crust.
If the ham is to be eaten cold, and is intended for company, brush it
all over with beaten yolk of egg. Then dredge on sufficient grated
crumbs to form a crust half an inch thick, and finish by going all over
it with cream. Set it to brown in an oven, or put it on the spit of a
roaster. When cold, this glazing will be found surpassingly fine.
Decorate the hock with white paper, handsomely cut, or with a bunch of
flowers cut out of vegetables.
Carve a ham in very thin slices--if cut thick, they have not the same
taste, besides looking ungenteelly.
BAKED HAM.--For baking, take a small ham, or part of a large one,
trimmed and made of good shape, cutting away whatever looks unsightly.
Have the bone sawed off at the knuckle, or end of the hock. The evening
previous to cooking, lay the ham in soak in a large pan of hot water. At
bed-time pour off the water, and renew it. Keep it closely covered all
night. In the morning wash and brush it well. Make a coarse paste of
coarse flour mixed with water only, and roll it out about an inch thick.
Line a clean iron bake-oven with this, and put in the ham, reserving
enough of paste to cover the top. Pour in a very little water, merely
sufficient to keep the ham from burning. Put on the lid of paste, and
having wet the edges slightly press them together, so as to unite
closely the top and bottom crust. Bake it over a steady fire, from four
to five or six hours, or more, according to its size. When done, skim
the gravy, remove the paste, (which is of no farther use,) and take off
the skin of the ham. Dredge it all over with finely grated bread-crumbs,
before it goes to table. A ham can scarcely be cooked too much, and too
slow. The general fault is in cooking them too little, and too fast. A
ham of the smallest size will require at least four hours baking or
boiling, even after it has been all night in soak. Save the skin whole,
to cover the cold ham when it is put away in the pantry.
When a cooked ham is nearly all used up, take what remains, cut it all
off from the bone, and stew the bits in a little water, till they are
all to rags. You will find the essence an improvement to gravies,
strained from the fragments.
MADEIRA HAM.--This is a dish only seen at dinner parties. No one can
believe, for a moment, that hams really cooked in Madeira wine are
served up every week at hotels, particularly at those houses where there
is no other superfluity, and where most of the great dishes exist only
in the bill of fare. A genuine Madeira ham is cooked as follows:--Take a
ham of the very finest sort; should be a Westphalia one. Lay it in hot
water, and soak it all day and all night, changing the water several
times, and every time washing out the pan. Early in the morning of the
second day, put the ham into a large pot of cold water, and boil it
slowly during four hours, skimming it well. Then take it out, remove the
skin entirely, and put the ham into a clean boiler, with sufficient
Madeira wine to cover it well. Boil, or rather stew it, an hour longer,
keeping the pot covered except when you remove the lid to turn the ham.
When well stewed take it up, drain it, and strain the liquor into a
porcelain-lined saucepan. Have ready a sufficiency of powdered white
sugar. Cover the ham all over with a thick coating of the sugar, and set
it into a hot oven to bake for an hour.
Mix some orange or lemon-juice with the liquor adding plenty of sugar
and nutmeg. Give it one boil up over the fire, and serve it up in a
tureen, as sauce to the ham.
What is left of the ham may be cut next day into small pieces, put into
a stew-pan, with the remains of the liquor or sauce poured over it, and
stewed for a quarter of an hour or more. Serve it up all together in the
same dish. While it is on the fire, add a little butter to the stew.
BROILED HAM.--Ham for broiling or frying should be cut into thin slices
the evening before, trimmed, and laid in a pan of boiling water, which,
near bed-time, should be changed for cold water, and very early in the
morning for boiling water, in which it should lie half an hour to soak
still longer. If ham is not well soaked previously, it will, when
broiled or fried, be disagreeably hard and salt; the salt frying out to
the surface and forming a rough unpleasant crust, which will create
thirst in the eaters for hours after. Much of the salt of a ham goes off
in boiling, but if it is _not_ boiled or soaked, the salt comes out to
the surface and there it sticks. The slices being cut thin and nicely
trimmed, they should be broiled on a very clean gridiron over a clear
fire, and so well done that they incline to curl up at the edges. Dish
them hot, and lay on every slice a very small bit of fresh butter, and
sprinkle them with pepper.
FRIED HAM.--Ham for frying need not be _quite_ so thin as for broiling.
Put but little butter in the frying-pan, as their own fat is generally
sufficient to cook them. Break an egg over the middle of each slice, and
let it cook till the white is set, and the yolk appears round and yellow
through it. Before it goes to table trim off nicely the discolored and
ragged edges of the fried eggs. They look disgusting when left on.
Cold ham is excellent for broiling or frying, and very nice without any
further cooking. Send it to table strewed with either nasturtion
flowers, pepper-grass, or parsley. All these things have a fine flavor
of their own, especially nasturtions.
NICE FRIED HAM.--Having scalded and soaked some nice ham, cut it into
rather thick slices, and then cut these slices into mouthfuls or little
narrow slips. Put them into a hot frying-pan, and fry them well. When
done, season them with pepper and nutmeg, and serve them up in their own
gravy. It will be an improvement to add a beaten egg just before they go
to table.
You may add to the ham some bits of cold boiled chicken, pulled in
little slips, from the breast, and fried with the ham, adding a little
fresh butter.
SLICED HAM.--Slice very thin some cold boiled ham, and let the slices be
nearly of the same size and appearance, making them look as handsome as
you can. Cover them with fresh green pepper-grass at a summer breakfast
or tea-table; and decorate the pepper-grass by interspersing with it
some nasturtion flowers, which are very nice to eat, having a taste
agreeably and slightly pungent. Pepper-grass and nasturtions, are very
appetizing accompaniments to nice bread and butter.
DISGUISED HAM.--Scrape or grate a pound of cold boiled ham, twice as
much lean as fat. Season it slightly with pepper and a little powdered
mace or nutmeg. Beat the yolks only, of three eggs, and mix with them
the ham. Spread the mixture thickly over slices of very nice toast, with
the crust pared off, and the toast buttered while hot. Brush it slightly
on the surface with white of egg, and then brown it with a red hot
shovel or salamander. This is a nice breakfast dish.
HAM CAKE.--This should be made the day before it is wanted. Take the
remains of a cold ham. Cut it into small bits, and pound it well (fat
and lean together) in a marble mortar, adding some butter and grated
nutmeg; or a little cream, sufficient to moisten it throughout. Fill a
mould with the mixture, and set it for half an hour into a moderate
oven. When ready for use, set the mould for a few minutes into hot
water, and then turn out the ham cake on a dish. Cover the surface all
over with a coating of beaten white of egg. And before it is quite dry,
decorate it with capers, or pickled nasturtion seeds, arranged in a
pattern.
Send small bread rolls to the supper table with the ham cake.
HAM OMELET.--Mince very fine some cold boiled ham, (twice as much lean
as fat,) till you have a half pint. Break six eggs, and strain them into
a shallow pan. Beat them till very light and thick, and then stir in
gradually the minced ham. Have ready, in a hot omelet pan, three
table-spoonfuls of lard. When the lard boils, put in the omelet mixture
and fry it. Occasionally slip a knife under the edge to keep it loose
from the pan. It should be near an inch thick, as a ham omelet is best
not to fold over. Make it a good even shape; and when one side is done,
turn the other and brown it. You can turn it easily with a knife and
fork, holding carefully, close to the omelet, the hot dish on which it
is to go to table. Dredge the surface with a little cayenne.
Omelets may be made in this manner, of smoked tongue, or oysters
chopped, cold sweetbread, asparagus minced, boiled onions, mushrooms,
&c. A good allowance for a small omelet is the above proportion of eggs
and lard, or fresh butter; and a large tea-cup of the seasoning article,
which must always have been previously cooked.
They are much lighter when served up of their full size, and not folded
over in halfs. A large omelet must have from eight to ten, or a dozen
eggs. It is best to bake all omelets of the six egg size, and have more
in number if required.
HAM TOAST.--Make some very nice slices of toast, with all the crust
trimmed off; and dip each toast for an instant into a bowl of hot water,
then butter it slightly. Have ready some grated cold ham, and spread it
thick over each slice of toast. Tongue toast is made in the same manner.
SANDWICHES.--Spread some thin slices of bread very thinly with nice
fresh butter, and lay a thin slice of cold ham (the edges neatly
trimmed) between every two slices of bread and butter. You may make them
so thin, as to roll up--a number being piled on a plate.
BISCUIT SANDWICHES.--This is a very nice and very pretty dish for a
supper table. Have ready one or two dozen of fresh soft milk biscuit.
Split them, and take a very little of the soft crumb out of each
biscuit, so as to make a slight hollow. Butter the biscuits with very
nice fresh butter, and fill them liberally with grated ham or tongue.
Stick round the inside of the edges, full sprigs of pepper-grass, or
curled parsley, or the green tops of celery. Arrange the sprigs closely
and handsomely, so as to project out all round the sides, forming a
green border or fringe. We highly recommend biscuit sandwiches.
POTTED HAM.--Take some cold ham, slice it, and mince it small, fat and
lean together. Then pound it in a mortar; seasoning it as you proceed
with cayenne pepper, powdered mace, and powdered nutmeg. Then fill with
it a large deep pan, and set it in an oven for half an hour. Afterwards
pack it down hard in a stone jar, and fill up the jar with lard. Cover
it closely, and paste down a thick paper over the jar. If sufficiently
seasoned, it will keep well in winter; and is convenient for sandwiches,
or on the tea-table. A jar of this will be found useful to travelers in
remote places.
Tongue may be potted as above.
TO PREPARE BACON.--All pieces of pork that, after pickling, are dried
and smoked, come under the denomination of bacon; except the
hind-quarters or legs, and they are always called ham, and are justly
considered superior to any other part of the animal, and bring a higher
price. The shoulders or fore-quarters, the sides or flitches, the jowl
or head, and all the other parts, are designated as bacon; and in some
places they erroneously give that name to the whole animal, if cured, or
preserved by the process of smoking.
To prepare bacon for being cooked, examine it well, and scrape it
carefully, and trim off all unsightly parts. If the fat is yellow, the
meat is rusty or tainted, and not fit to eat. So, also, if on the lean
there are brownish or blackish spots. All sorts of food, if kept too
long, should be thrown away at once.
If perfectly good, prepare the bacon for cooking, by washing it well,
and then soaking it for several hours in a pan full of cold water,
removing the water once or twice during the process. If the bacon is
salt and hard, soak it all night, changing the water at bed-time, and
early in the morning.
Ham should also be soaked before cooking.
A dish of broiled ham is a nice accompaniment to one of calves'
chitterlings, at breakfast.
TO BOIL BACON.--Put two or three pounds of nice bacon into a pot with
plenty of cold water, and let it simmer slowly for an hour before it
begins to boil. Skim it well, and when no more scum rises, put in the
vegetables which are usually eaten with bacon, and which taste better
for boiling with the meat. These are young greens, or sprouts, very
young roots and leaves of the poke plant, and green beans--strung and
cut in half--not smaller. On no account should any other vegetables be
boiled with bacon. When the bacon is so tender as to be easily pierced
through with a fork, even in the thickest places, take it up and drain
it well in a cullender or sieve. Remove the skin. Then take up the
vegetables and drain them also, pressing out _all_ the liquid. Season
them with pepper only. Send the meat to table with the vegetables heaped
round it, on the same large dish, (the cabbage being chopped, but not
minced fine.) Potatos, squashes, peas, asparagus, &c., should never be
boiled in the same pot, or served up in the same dish with bacon, which
is too plain a dish for any but a country table; while a ham is a
delicacy for the city, or for any place.
BACON AND BEANS.--Scrape and trim a nice piece of bacon, (not too fat,)
and see that no part of it looks yellow or rusty, or shows any
appearance of being too old. If so, do not cook it, as it is
unwholesome, unpalatable, and unfit to eat. A shoulder is a good piece
to boil. The best of the animal, when smoked, is, of course, the ham or
leg. We are now speaking of the other pieces that, when cured, are
properly called bacon, and are eaten at plain tables only.
The meat, if very salt, is the better for being put in soak early in the
morning, or the night before. Afterwards put it into a pot, and boil and
skim it till tender. Have ready a quart or two of fresh green string
beans, cut into three pieces, (not more); put them into the pot in which
the bacon is boiling, and let them cook with the meat for an hour or
more. When done, take them out, drain them well; season them well with
pepper, and send them to table on a separate dish from the bacon.
Many persons like so well this bacon flavor, that they _always_, when
boiling string-beans, put a small piece of bacon in the pot, removing it
before the beans are sent to table.
With bacon and beans, serve up whole potatos boiled and peeled--and in
the country, where cream is plenty, they boil some with butter, and pour
it over the potatos, touching each one with pepper.
BROILED HAM OR BACON.--Wash and trim a nice piece of bacon; soak it all
night, or for several hours, in cold water. In the morning scald it with
boiling water. Let it lie till cool, then throw away the water, and
scald it again. Cut it into thin slices, very smooth and even; the rind
being previously pared off. Curl up the slices, rolling them round, and
securing them with wooden skewers. Broil them on a gridiron, or bake
them in a Dutch oven. If cut properly thin, they will cook in a quarter
of an hour. They must not be allowed to burn or blacken. Before you send
them to table, take out the skewers. They may be cooked in flat slices,
without curling, but they must be cut always very thin. Slice some
hard-boiled eggs, and lay them on the meat. Season with black pepper.
_Cold_ boiled ham cooked as above, will require no soaking, and can be
speedily prepared for a breakfast dish. Lay sprigs of parsley on the
ham.
Serve up with them mashed potatos made into balls, or thick flat cakes,
and browned on the surface with a red-hot shovel.
STEWED HAM.--Cut some thin slices of cold boiled ham. Season them
slightly with pepper. No salt. Lay them in a stew pan with plenty of
green peas or lima beans, or else cauliflowers, or young summer cabbage,
quartered, and the thick stalk omitted. Add a piece of fresh butter, or
_a very little lard_. Put in just water enough to keep the things from
burning. When the vegetables are quite done, add a beaten egg or two,
and in five minutes, take up the stew and send it to table.
STEWED BACON.--Take a small piece of bacon, not too fat or salt. It had
best be soaked in cold water the night before. Put it into a pot, with a
large portion of string beans, each cut into three pieces, (not more,)
or else some cabbage, or young cabbage sprouts. Early in the spring, the
young stalks of the pokeberry plant will be found excellent with stewed
bacon. Stew the bacon and vegetables in just water enough to cover them
all; skimming frequently. Drain all, through a cullender, when done.
Have a dish of boiled potatos also. A molasses indian pudding is a good
conclusion to this homely dinner.
PREPARED LARD.--As soon as it is cut off from the newly killed pork, put
the fat into a crock, or deep earthen pot. Cover the crock with its own
lid, and let it stand all night in a cool place. Next day, cut it into
small bits, (carefully removing all the fleshy particles of lean); and
then put the fat into a _very clean_ pot, without either water or salt.
The pot should not be more than half full of pork-fat. Let it boil
_slowly_, (stirring it frequently from the bottom, lest it burn,) till
it becomes quite clear and transparent. Then ladle it into clean pans.
When almost cold, put it into stoneware jars, which must be closely
covered, and kept in a cool place. If it is to go to a distance, tie it
up in new bladders.
There are two sorts of pork-fat for lard. The leaf-fat, which is best;
and the fat that adheres to the entrails. These two fats should be
boiled separately.
The large entrails, whose skins are to be used for sausages, must be
cleaned out carefully, well scraped, and thrown into strong salt and
water for two days, (changing the brine the second day,) and afterwards
into strong lye for twenty-four hours. Lastly, wash them in fresh water.
We think it much better to dispense with the skins altogether; keeping
your sausage meat in jars, and frying it in cakes when wanted for use.
Its own fat (as it exudes) will cook it.
Never use bad butter when you can obtain good lard, for frying, and
other purposes.
VENISON.
You may judge of the age of venison by looking at the hoof, which is
always left on the leg. The deer is young if the cleft of the hoof is
small and smooth; but large and rough, if he is old. Buck venison is
considered better than the meat of the doe. The haunch, or hind-quarter,
is the best part, and the fat upon it should, be thick and white. The
shoulder, or fore-quarter, is the next best piece. The saddle comprises
both hind-quarters; and these, for a large company, are always cooked
together.
To eat venison in perfection, it should be killed when the deer can find
plenty of fresh food in the forest, and when they have fattened on the
abundance of wild berries, which they can obtain during the autumn. In
winter, they are brought into the cities, lean, hard, dry, and black,
and the meat infested all through with small threadlike white worms;
showing that decomposition has commenced, and requiring the disguise of
spices, wine, currant jelly, &c., to render it _eatable_, not
_wholesome_, for every sort of food in the slightest degree tainted is
utterly injurious to health, and cannot often be eaten with impunity.
It never was very fashionable, in America, to eat spoiled victuals, and
it is now less so than ever. Fortunately, in our land of abundance, "we
do not see the necessity".