Sir,
I have not only read your Book call'd, _The Lady's Monthly Director_, but
have tasted many elegant Dishes of Meat, ordered by the Receipts in it; but
I think, as you are a philosophical Gentleman, you should have taken a
little more Notice of the preservation of Flesh from Putrefaction: For in
many places I have set down to a Dinner which has sent me out of the Room
by the very smell of it; even, though I am so much of the _French_ Taste,
that I can bear the _Fumette_. The Husband, in this Case, has blamed his
Wife; and the Wife has taken the opportunity of whispering to her Husband,
that the Maid was not in right Sorts when she salted the Meat: but I am
sure, I shall set you to rights in that Point.
I have taken pains in my Family, which consists of thirty Persons, to have
my Wife order the Experiment to be made, and I am satisfied from her
Arguments, that there is nothing in the Notion above. But now to the
purpose. Let your Flesh-Meat be fresh, and take all the bleeding Arteries
from it; then sprinkle it with common Salt, and let it lie in the Air for
twelve Hours; but salt the Places, where the Arteries were, more
particularly: then wipe your Meat dry, and make some Salt very hot, over
the Fire, then rub in the Salt very well, and lay the Pieces of salted Meat
one upon another, and it will keep for several Months.
Or with common Salt, rub the several Pieces of Meat briskly with it, after
the Blood is out, and especially in the hollow Places lay Salt enough. So
will you be sure to have your Meat sweet, either Beef or Pork.
To send _Venison_ Sweet in hot Weather.
Give it a little Salt, and have the Haunches parted, taking out the Marrow
and all the Veins, as they are called, that bleed; and then wipe all of it
quite dry after you have wash'd it with Vinegar, and then powder it with
Pepper, and in an open Basket send it up to _London._
Sometimes Venison (meaning a Buck) comes up to _London,_ not fit for the
Table; to prevent which, order the Keeper, when he has killed it, to strew
three or four Pounds of Pepper, beaten fine, upon it; and especially upon
the Neck Parts of the Sides, after he has wash'd them with Vinegar and
dried them well.
But if it stinks, when you receive it, wash it with Vinegar, and dry it,
then pepper it and wrap it in a dry Cloth, bury it in the Ground, three
foot deep at least, and in sixteen Hours it will be sweet, fit for eating;
then wash off the Pepper with Vinegar, and dry it with a Cloth, and hang it
where the cool Air may pass, and the blue Flies cannot come at it. _Query._
Is it not strange, that we see daily the Limbs of Horses hung up in Trees,
and they do not stink, but remain good a long while fit for Dogs Meat? If
any one will say, that Dogs all delight to eat Carrion, I must deny that;
but that every sort of Dog will roll himself in Carrion, when he can find
it, is certain.
To send _Partridges_ a long way in hot Weather.
When you have killed your Partridges, take out the Crop, and the Artery
which bleeds in the Neck, then fill the Place with Pepper; and the Mouths
of the Fowls should be fill'd with the same, for these Parts take a taint
sooner than the rest; the Vent too, ought to be taken care of, and open'd,
and filled with Pepper, beaten grossly. _N.B._ This Pepper may be always
wash'd away without leaving any Season or Flavour behind it, and is a
certain Antidote against Corruption. So the same may be done with
Pheasants, and you should likewise leave on their Feathers.
To keep an _Hare_ a long Time.
As soon as 'tis kill'd and discharged of its Entrails, take care that all
the Blood be dried away with Cloths about the Liver, for there it is apt to
settle, then dust the Liver well with Pepper; and fill the Body with
Nettles, or dry Moss, for these will not raise a ferment as Hay and Straw
will do, when they come to be wet; then fill the Mouth with Pepper, and it
will keep a long time.
To keep _Wild-Ducks_ fresh.
Draw them, and fill the Body with red Sage, after the inside is well
pepper'd; and likewise pepper the inside of the Mouth, leave on the
Feathers. A Goose may be serv'd the same way.
But if they be too long kept, or through want of Care, they should receive
a taint; then, when they are pull'd, wash the Inside very well, with
Vinegar and Water, and dry it well with a Cloth; and scrape away, if need
be, what are call'd the Kidneys; then strew the Inside afresh with Pepper,
and hang them up for an Hour or two, where the Air may pass through them.
Some in such a case will put an Onion into the Body, which does very well
towards restoring it to a freshness; then wash out all, and prepare it for
the Spit.