For this purpose engage about twelve pounds of prime young meat, and
let it hang the full time to become tender. Trim away the skin neatly,
and cut it into pieces adapted to the family requirements. Set the
trimmings, with a pound of any rough beef, and a similar weight of lean
gammon of bacon, on the fire with
Allspice, crushed 1 oz.
Juniper berries, crushed 1 oz.
Black pepper, crushed 1 oz.
Eight shalots, minced
Bay salt 1 lb.
Common salt or rock ¾ lb.
Water 5 pints
and boil twenty minutes, skimming well; strain the liquor and pour it
hot over the meat, which must be totally immersed. In a week boil up
the pickle, adding
Saltpetre 2 oz.
Bay leaves, dry 1 oz.
Cochineal ½ oz.
Cover the meat again, and let it remain ten days more; then take it up,
dry it well with cloths, and hang it up in a quick current of air, rub
it well on both sides with warmed bran, and when it is not capable of
retaining any more, coat it with the gelatine and treacle composition
so effectually as to totally exclude the air. In three months, meat
thus preserved will be juicy and mellow, and presenting a striking
contrast with the dry and tough preparations of the general common
practice. When wanted for table, plunge a piece of the meat into a pan
of boiling water, and keep it so boiling for ten minutes or a quarter
of an hour, after which draw the utensil a little off the fire, and
simmer only, until the cooking is completed.