Clean it very nicely, and soak it in water, that it may look very white.
Take out the tongue to salt, and the brains to make a little dish. Boil
the head extremely tender; then strew it over with crumbs and chopped
parsley, and brown them; or, if preferred, leave one side plain.
Bacon and greens are to be served to eat with it.
The brains must be boiled, and then mixed with melted butter, chopped
scalded sage, pepper, and salt.
If any be left of the head, it may be hashed next day, and a few slices
of bacon just warmed and put round.
Cold calf’s head eats well.
_Hashed Calf’s Head._
When half boiled, cut off the meat in slices, half an inch thick, and
two or three inches long. Brown some butter, flour, and sliced onion,
and throw in the slices with some good gravy, truffles, and morels. Give
it one boil, skim it well, and set it in a moderate heat to simmer till
very tender.
Season with pepper, salt, and Cayenne, at first; and ten minutes before
serving, throw in some shred parsley, and a very small bit of tarragon,
and knotted marjorum, cut as fine as possible. Just before you serve,
add the squeeze of a lemon. Forcemeat balls and bits of bacon rolled
round.
_Mock Turtle._
Bespeak a calf’s head with the skin on: cut in half, and clean it well;
then half boil it. Have all the meat taken off in square bits, and break
the bones of the head: boil them in some veal and beef broth, to add to
the richness. Fry some shalot in butter: dredge in flour sufficient to
thicken the gravy, which stir into the browning, and give it one or two
boils: skim carefully, then put in the head. Put in a pint of Madeira
wine, and simmer till the meat be quite tender. About ten minutes before
you serve, put in some basil, tarragon, chives, parsley, Cayenne pepper,
and salt to your taste; and two spoonfuls of mushroom catsup, and one of
soy. Squeeze the juice of a lemon into the tureen, and pour the soup
upon it. Forcemeat balls, and small eggs.
_A cheaper way._
Prepare half a calf’s head, without the skin, as above. When the meat is
cut off, break the bones, and put into a saucepan, with some gravy made
of beef and veal bones, and seasoned with fried onions, herbs, mace, and
pepper. Have ready two or three ox palates, boiled so tender as to
blanch, and cut in small pieces; to which a cowheel, likewise cut in
pieces, is a great improvement. Brown some butter, flour, and onion, and
pour the gravy to it; then add the meats as above, and stew. Half a pint
of sherry wine, an anchovy, two spoonfuls of walnut catsup, the same of
mushroom, some chopped herbs as before. Balls, &c.
_Forcemeat as for Turtle, at the Bush, Bristol._
A pound of fine fresh suet, one ounce of ready dressed veal or chicken,
chopped fine, crumbs of bread, a little shalot or onion, salt, white
pepper, nutmeg, mace, pennyroyal, parsley, and lemon; thyme finely
shred: beat as many fresh eggs, yelks and whites separately, as will
make the above ingredients into a moist paste: roll into small balls,
and boil them in fresh lard, putting them in just as it boils up. When
of a light brown, take them out, and drain them before the fire. If the
suet be moist or stale, a great many more eggs will be necessary.
Balls made this way are remarkably light; but being greasy, some people
prefer them with less suet and eggs.
_Another Forcemeat, for Balls or Patties._
Pound cold veal or chicken: take out the strings: add some fat bacon;
and, if you like, the least portion of scraped ham: herbs, as for the
preceding: pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, crumbs of bread, a little
onion, and two eggs.
_Note._ When forcemeat is to be eaten cold, as in pies, bacon is far
better than suet, and the taste is always higher.
_Another Mock Turtle._
Put into a pan a knuckle of veal, two fine cowheels, two onions, a few
cloves, peppers, Jamaica peppers, mace, and sweet herbs: cover with
water, and then, tying a thick paper over the pan, set it in an oven for
three hours. When cold, take off the fat very nicely: cut the meat and
feet into bits an inch and half square: remove the bones and coarser
parts; then put the other on to warm, with walnut and mushroom catsup, a
large spoonful of each, half a pint of sherry or Madeira wine, a little
mushroom powder, and the jelly of the meat. When hot, if it want any
more seasoning, add it, and serve with hard eggs, forcemeat balls, a
juice of lemon, and a spoonful of soy.
This is a very easy process, and the dish is excellent.
_Another Ditto._
Stew a pound and a half of scrag of mutton, with three pints of water to
a quart; then set the broth on, with a calf’s foot and a cowheel: cover
the stewpan tight, and simmer till you can cut off the meat from the
bones in proper bits. Set it on again, with the broth, a quarter of a
pint of Madeira or sherry wine, a large onion, half a teaspoonful of
Cayenne pepper, a bit of lemonpeel, two anchovies, some sweet herbs, and
eighteen oysters cut in pieces, and then chopped fine, a teaspoonful of
salt, a little nutmeg, and the liquor of the oysters: cover tight, and
simmer three quarters of an hour. Serve with forcemeat balls, and hard
eggs in the tureen.
_Note._ Cowheels, with veal or head, are a great improvement; and if not
too much boiled, have a very fine flavour stewed for turtle; and are
more solid than the calf’s feet.
_Calf’s Head Pie._
Stew a knuckle of veal till fit for eating, with two onions, a few
isinglass shavings, a bunch of herbs, 2 blade of mace, and a few
peppercorns, in two quarts or less of water. Keep the broth for the pie.
Take off a bit of the meat for the balls, and let the other be eaten;
but simmer the bones in the broth till it is very good. Half boil the
head, and cut it in square bits: put a layer of ham at the bottom, then
some head, first fat then lean, with balls and hard eggs cut in half,
and so on till the dish be full; but be particularly careful not to
place the pieces close, or the pie will be too solid, and there will be
no space for the jelly. The meat must be first pretty well seasoned with
pepper and salt, and a scrape or two of nutmeg. Put a little water and a
little gravy into the dish, and cover it with a tolerably thick crust:
bake it in a slow oven; and when done, pour into it as much gravy as it
can possibly hold, and do not cut it till perfectly cold: in doing
which, observe to use a very sharp knife, and first cut out a large bit,
going down to the bottom of the dish; and when done thus, the different
colours, and the clear jelly, have a beautiful marbled appearance.
A small pie may be made to eat hot; which, with high seasoning, oysters,
mushrooms, truffles, morels, &c. has a very good appearance.
The cold pie will keep some days. Slices make a pretty side dish.
The pickled tongues of former calves’ heads may be cut in, to vary the
colour, instead of, or besides ham.
_Calf’s Head Fricasseed._
Clean, and half boil half a head. Cut the meat in small bits, and put
into a tosser, with a little gravy made of the bones, and some of the
water it was boiled in, a bunch of sweet herbs, an onion, and a blade of
mace. If you have a sweetbread, or young cockerels in the house, use the
cockscombs; having first boiled them tender and blanched. Season the
gravy with a little pepper, nutmeg, and salt: rub down some flour and
butter, and give all a boil together; then remove the herbs and onion,
and add a little cup of cream, but do not boil it in. Serve with small
bits of bacon rolled round, and balls.
_Veal Patties._
Mince some veal, that is not quite done, with a little parsley,
lemonpeel, a scrape of nutmeg, and a little salt: add a little cream and
gravy just to moisten the meat; and if you have any ham, scrape a little
bit and add to it. Do not warm it till the patties are baked; and
observe to put a bit of bread into each, to prevent the paste from
rising into cake.
_Fricandeau._
Cut a large piece out of the prime part of a leg of veal, about nine
inches long, and half as broad and thick: beat it with a rolling pin;
then lard it very thickly on one side and the edges. Put it in a small
stewpan, with three pints of water, a pound of veal cut in small bits,
and four or five ounces of lean ham, and an onion: simmer till the meat
be tender; then take it out; cover to keep it moist, and boil the gravy
till it be a fine brown, and much reduced: then put the larded meat back
into the gravy, and pour a little of it over with a spoon. When quite
hot, serve the meat and gravy round in the dish, with the following
sauce in a boat.
_Sorrel Sauce._
Wash a quantity of sorrel, and boil it tender in the smallest quantity
of water you can: strain and chop it: stew it with a little butter,
pepper, and salt; and if you like it high, add a spoonful of gravy.
Be careful to do it in a very well tinned saucepan; or if you have a
silver one, or a silver mug, it is far better; as the sorrel is very
sour, especially in spring.
_Veal Olives._
Cut long thin collops: beat them, and lay on them thin slices of fat
bacon, and over a layer of forcemeat seasoned high, with the addition of
shred shalot, and Cayenne. Roll them tight, about the size of two
fingers, but not more than two or three inches long: fasten them round
with a small skewer: rub egg over, and fry them of a light brown.
Serve with brown gravy.
_Calf’s Liver._
Sliced: seasoned with pepper and salt, and nicely broiled. Rub a bit of
cold butter on it, and serve hot and hot.
_Roasted._
Wash and wipe it: then cut a long hole in it, and stuff it with crumbs
of bread, chopped anchovy, herbs, a good deal of fat bacon, onion, salt,
pepper, a bit of butter, and an egg. Sew the liver up; then lard or wrap
it in a veal caul, and roast it.
Serve with a good brown gravy, and currant jelly.
_Sweetbreads._
Half boil, and stew in a white gravy. Add cream, flour, butter, nutmeg,
salt, and white pepper: or, in brown, seasoned: or, after parboiling,
cover with crumbs, herbs, and seasoning, and brown in a Dutch oven.
Serve with butter, and mushroom catsup, or gravy.
_Sweetbread Ragout._
Cut them about the size of a walnut: wash and dry them; then fry of a
fine brown. Pour to them a good gravy, seasoned with salt, pepper,
allspice, mushrooms, or the catsup. Strain, and thicken with butter, and
a little flour. You may add truffles, and morels, and the mushrooms.
_Veal Sausages._
Chop equal quantities of lean veal and fat bacon, a handful of sage, a
little salt, pepper, and a few anchovies. Beat all in a mortar; and,
when used, roll and fry it, and serve with fried sippets.
Spadbury’s veal and pork sausages, under the article of pork.
_To make excellent meat of a Hog’s Head._
Split the head, take out the brains, cut off the ears, and sprinkle it
with common salt for a day; then drain. Salt it well with common salt
and saltpetre three days; then lay salt and head into water (a small
quantity) for two days. Wash it, and boil it till all the bones will
come out: remove them, and chop the head as quick as possible; having
skinned the tongue, and taken the skin carefully off the head, to put
under and over. Season with pepper, salt, a little mace or Jamaicas. Put
the skin into a small pan: press the cut head in, and put the other skin
over: press it down. When cold, it will turn out and make a kind of
brawn. If too fat, you may put a few bits of lean pork to go through the
same process. Add salt and vinegar, and boil with some of the liquor for
a pickle to keep it.
_To scald a Sucking Pig._
The moment the pig is killed, put it into cold water for a few minutes;
then rub it over with a little rosin, beaten extremely small, and put it
into a pail of scalding water half a minute; take it out, lay it on a
table, and pull off the hair as quickly as possible. If any part does
not come off, put it in again. When perfectly clean, wash it well with
warm water, then in two or three cold waters, lest any flavour of the
rosin should remain. Take off the four feet at the first joint: make a
slit down the belly, and take out the entrails: put the liver, heart,
and lights to the feet; wash the pig well in cold water, dry it
thoroughly, and fold it in a wet cloth to keep it from the air.
_To roast a sucking Pig._
If you can get it when just killed, it is of great advantage. Let it be
scalded, which those who sell usually do. Then put some sage, crumbs of
bread, salt, and pepper in the belly, and sew it up. Observe to skewer
the legs back, or the under part will not crisp.
Lay it to a brisk fire till thoroughly dry; then have ready some butter,
in a dry cloth, and rub the pig with it in every part. Dredge as much
flour over as will possibly lie, and touch it no more till ready to
serve; then scrape off the flour, with the greatest care, with a blunt
knife: rub it well with the buttered cloth: take off the head while yet
at the fire, and take out the brains, and mix them with the gravy that
comes from the pig. Then take it up, and, without withdrawing the spit,
cut it down the back and belly: lay it in the dish, and chop the sage
and bread quickly, as fine as you can, and mix with a large quantity of
fine melted butter, which has very little flour. Put the sauce into the
dish after the pig has been split down the back, and garnished with the
two ears, and the two _jaws_; the upper part of the head being taken off
down to the snout.
In Devon, it is served whole if very small; the head only being cut off.
_Pettitoes._
Boil them, and the liver and heart, in a small quantity of water very
gently; then cut the meat fine, and simmer it with a little of the water
and the feet split, till the latter be quite tender. Thicken with a bit
of butter, a little flour, a spoonful of cream, a little salt, and
pepper: give a boil up, and pour over a few sippets of bread, and put
the feet on the mince.
_Porker’s Head roasted._
Choose a fine young head, clean it well, and put bread and sage as for
pig: sew it up tight, and put it on a string or hanging jack. Roast it
as a pig, and serve with the same sauce.
_Pig’s Cheek for boiling._
Cut off the snout, and clean the head: divide it, take out the eyes and
the brains, and sprinkling the head with salt, let it drain twenty four
hours. Salt it with common salt and saltpetre. Let it lie eight or ten
days, if to be dressed without stewing with peas; but less, if to be
dressed with peas; and it must be washed first, and then simmered till
all is tender.
_Collared Head._
Scour the head and ears nicely: take off the hair and snout, and take
out the eyes and the brain: lay it in water one night; then drain and
salt it extremely well with common salt and saltpetre, and let it lie
five days. Boil it enough to remove the bones, then lay it on a dresser,
turning the thick end of one side of the head towards the thin end of
the other, to make the roll of equal size, sprinkle it well with salt
and white pepper, and roll it with the ears; and if you approve, put the
pig’s feet round the outside when boned; or the thin parts of two
cowheels. Bind it in a cloth and with a broad tape, and boil it till
quite tender; then put a good weight upon it, and do not remove the
covering till cold.
If you choose it to be more like brawn, salt it longer, and let the
proportion of saltpetre be greater, putting in some pieces of lean pork,
and then cover it with cowheel, to look like the horn.
This may be kept in or out of pickle of salt, and water boiled, with
vinegar; and is a very convenient thing to have in the house.
If likely to spoil, slice and fry it with or without butter.
_To roast a Leg of Pork._
Choose a small leg of fine young pork, cut a slit in the knuckle with a
sharp knife, and fill the space with sage and onion, chopped, and a
little pepper and salt. When half done, score the skin in slices, but do
not cut deeper than the outer rind.
Apple sauce and potatoes should be served to eat with it.
_To boil a Leg of Pork_
Salt it eight or ten days; when to be dressed, weigh it; let it lie half
an hour in cold water to make it white; allow a quarter of an hour for
every pound, and half an hour over from the time it boils up; skim it as
soon as it boils, and frequently after. Allow water enough. Save some of
it to make pease soup. Some boil in a very nice cloth, floured, which
gives a very delicate look.
Serve pease pudding and turnips.
_Different ways of dressing Pig’s Feet and Ears._
Clean them carefully, and soak them some hours: boil them tender, then
take them out; and with some of the water boil some vinegar and a little
salt, and when cold put over them. When to be dressed, dry them, divide
the feet in two, and slice the ears; fry and serve them with butter,
mustard, and vinegar. They may be done in butter or only floured.
_Feet and Ears Fricasseed._
Put no vinegar in the pickle, if to be dressed with cream. Cut the feet
and ears into neat bits, and boil them in a little milk; then pour that
from them, and simmer in a little veal broth, with a bit of onion, mace
and lemonpeel. Before you serve, add a little cream, flour, butter, and
salt.
_Jelly of Feet and Ears._
Clean and prepare as in the foregoing receipt; then boil in a very small
quantity of water until every bone can be taken out; throw in half a
handful of chopped sage, the same of parsley, a seasoning of pepper,
salt, and mace, in fine powder; simmer till the herbs are scalded, then
pour the whole into a melon form.
_Pork Steaks._
Cut them from a loin or neck, of middling thickness: pepper and broil
them, turning often. When nearly done, put the salt necessary, rub a bit
of butter over, and serve the moment they are taken off the fire; a few
at a time.
_To cure Hams. First way._
Hang them a day or two; then sprinkle with a little salt, and drain them
another day. Pound an ounce and a half of saltpetre, ditto petresalt,
half an ounce of sal prunel, and a pound of the coarsest sugar: mix
these well, and rub into each ham every day for four days, and turn it.
If a small one, turn it every day for three weeks: if a large one, a
week longer; but do not rub after four days. Before you dry it, drain
and cover with bran. Smoke it ten days.
_Another way. Second way._
Choose a leg of a hog that is fat and well fed: hang as above. To it, if
large, put, in fine powder, one pound of bay salt, four ounces
saltpetre, one pound of the coarsest sugar, and one handful of common
salt, and rub it thoroughly. Lay the rind downwards, and cover the
fleshy part with the salts. Baste it as often as you can with the
pickle; the more the better. Keep it four weeks in the pickle, turning
it daily. Drain and throw bran over it; then hang it in a chimney where
wood is burnt, and turn it sometimes for ten days.
_Another way. Third way._
Hang the ham and sprinkle with salt as above, then rub it daily with the
following in fine powder: half a pound of salt, ditto bay salt, two
ounces of saltpetre, and two ounces of black pepper, mixed with a pound
and a half of treacle. Turn it twice a day in the pickle, for three
weeks. Lay it in a pail of water for one night, wipe it quite dry, and
smoke it two or three weeks.
_Another way, that gives a high flavour. Fourth way._
When the weather will permit, hang the ham three days: mix an ounce of
saltpetre with one quarter of a pound of bay salt, ditto common salt,
ditto of coarsest sugar, and a quart of strong beer; boil them together,
and pour over immediately on the ham; turn it twice a day in the pickle
for three weeks. An ounce of black pepper, ditto of pimento, in finest
powder, added to the above, will give still more flavour. Cover with
bran when wiped, and smoke from three to four weeks, as you approve; the
latter will make it harder, and more of the flavour of Wesphalia. Sew
hams in hessings, i.e. coarse wrapper, if to be smoked where there is
strong fire.
_A method of giving a still higher flavour._
Sprinkle the ham with salt after it has hung two or three days: let
drain; make a pickle of a quart of strong beer, half a pound of treacle,
an ounce of coriander seeds, two ounces of juniper berries, an ounce of
pepper, ditto pimento, an ounce of saltpetre, half an ounce of sal
prunel, a handful of common salt, and a head of shalot, all pounded or
cut fine. Boil these together a few minutes, and pour over the ham: this
quantity for one of ten pounds. Rub and turn it every day, for a
fortnight; then sew it up in a thin linen bag, and smoke it three weeks.
Observe to drain it from the pickle, and rub it in bran previous to
drying.
_Hogs’ Cheeks to dry._
The snout being cut off, the brains removed, and the head cleft, but not
cut apart on the upper side, rub it well with salt. Next day remove the
brine, and salt it again; the following day cover the head with half an
ounce of saltpetre, two ounces of bay salt, a little common, and four
ounces of coarsest sugar. Let the head be often turned. In twelve days
smoke for a week like bacon.
_To dress Hams._
If long hung, put the ham into water a night, and either dig a hole in
the earth, or let it lie on damp stones, sprinkled with water to mellow,
two or three days, covering it with a heavy tub, to keep vermin from it.
Wash it well, and put it into a boiler with plenty of water. Let it
simmer four, five, or six hours, according to the size. When
sufficiently done, if before the time of serving, cover it with a clean
cloth doubled, and keep the dish hot over boiling water. Remove the
skin, and strew raspings over the ham. Garnish with carrot. Preserve the
skin as whole as possible, to keep over the ham when cold, which will
prevent its drying.
_The manner of curing Wiltshire Bacon._
Sprinkle each flitch with salt, and let the blood drain off for twenty
four hours; then mix one pound and a half of coarse sugar, ditto of bay
salt, not quite so much as half a pound of saltpetre, and a pound of
common salt, and rub it well on the bacon, turning it every day for a
month; then hang it to dry, and afterwards smoke it ten days. The above
salts are for the whole hog.
_To pickle Pork._
The quantities proportioned to the middlings of a pretty large hog; the
hams and shoulders being cut off.
Mix and pound fine four ounces of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar,
one ounce of sal prunel, and a little common salt. Having sprinkled the
pork with salt, and drained it twenty four hours, rub it with the above,
and then pack the pieces light in a small deep tub, filling up the
spaces with common salt. Place large pebbles on the pork, to prevent its
swimming in the pickle which the salt will produce.
_Sausages._
Chop fat and lean of pork: season with sage, pepper, and salt; and you
may add two or three pimentos. _Half fill_ hog’s guts, that have been
soaked and made extremely clean: or the meat may be kept in a very small
pan, closely covered; and so rolled and dusted with a very little flour
before they are fried.
_An excellent Sausage to eat cold._
Season fat and lean pork with some salt, saltpetre, black and Jamaica
pepper, all in finest powder, and well rubbed into the meat. The sixth
day cut it small, and mix with it some shred shalot, or garlick, as fine
as possible. Have ready an ox gut that has been scoured, salted, and
soaked well, and fill it with the above stuffing: tie up the ends, and
hang it to smoke as you would hams; but first wrap it in a fold or two
of old muslin. It must be high dried. Some eat it without boiling,
others like it boiled first. The skin should be tied in different
places, making each link about eight or nine inches long.
_Spadbury’s Oxford Sausages._
Chop a pound and a half of pork, and the same of veal, cleared of skins
and sinews. Add three quarters of a pound of beef suet, mince and mix
them. Steep the crumbs of a penny loaf in water, and with a little dried
sage, pepper, and salt, mix with the meat.
_Black Puddings._
The blood must be stirred with salt till cold. Put a quart of it, or
rather more, to a quart of old grits, to soak one night; and soak the
crumbs of a quartern loaf in rather more than two quarts of new milk,
made hot. In the mean time prepare the guts, by washing and scraping
with salt and water, and changing the water several times. Chop fine a
little winter savory and thyme, a great deal of pennyroyal, pepper,
salt, a few cloves, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg. Mix these with three
pounds of beefsuet, and six eggs well beaten and strained, and then beat
the bread, grits, &c. all up with the seasoning. When well mixed, have
ready some hogs fat cut in large bits, and as you fill the skins put it
in at proper distances. Tie them in links, having only half filled them,
and boil them in a large kettle, pricking them as they swell, or they
will burst. When boiled, lay them between clean cloths till cold, and
hang them up in the kitchen. When to be used, scald them a few minutes
in water, wipe and put them in a Dutch oven.
If there are not sufficient skins, put the stuffing in basons, and boil,
covered with floured cloths; and slice and fry it when used.
_Black Puddings another way._
Soak a quart of bruised grits in two quarts of hot milk, or less, if
sufficient to swell them. Chop a good quantity of pennyroyal, some
savory and thyme; salt, pepper, and Jamaica pepper, finely powdered. Mix
the above with a quart of the blood, prepared as before: then half fill
the skins, after they have been cleaned most thoroughly, and put as much
of the leaf, i. e. fat of the pig, as shall make it pretty rich. Boil as
before directed.
_White Hogs’ Puddings._
When the skins have been soaked and cleaned as before directed, rinse
and soak them all night in rosewater, and put into them the following
filling; mix half a pound of blanched almonds, cut in seven or eight
bits, with one pound of grated bread, two pounds of marrow or suet, one
pound of currents, some beaten cinnamon, cloves, mace, and nutmeg, a
quart of cream, yelks of six, and whites of two eggs, a little orange
flour water, a little fine Lisbon sugar, some lemon peel, and citron
sliced, and half fill the skins. Boil as before directed.
_Hogs’ Lard._
Should be carefully melted in a jar, put into a kettle of water, and
boiled and run into bladders that have been extremely well cleaned. The
smaller they are, the better the lard keeps; as after the air reaches
it, it becomes rank. Put in a sprig of rosemary when melted.
This being a most useful article for frying fish, it should be prepared
with care. Mixed with butter it makes fine crust.
_Pig’s Harslet._
Wash and dry some liver, sweetbreads, and fat and lean bits of pork;
beating the latter with a rolling pin to make it tender. Season with
pepper, salt, sage, and a little onion, shred fine. Put all when mixed
into a cawl, and fasten it up tight with a needle and thread. Roast it
on a hanging jack, or by a string. Or serve in slices with parsley for a
fry.
Serve with a sauce of port and water, and mustard just boiled up, and
put into the dish.
_Loins and Necks of Pork, roast._
Shoulders and breasts put into pickle, or salt the former as a leg.
_Rolled Neck._
Bone it. Put a forcemeat of chopped sage, a very few crumbs of bread,
salt, pepper, and two or three pimentos over the inside: then roll the
meat as tight as you can, and roast it slowly, and at a good distance at
first.
_To make a Pickle for Hams, Tongues, or Beef, if boiled and skimmed
between each parcel of them, that will keep for years._
To two gallons of spring water put two pounds of coarse sugar, two
pounds of bay, and two and a half pounds of common salt, and half a
pound of saltpetre, in a deep earthen glazed pan, that will hold four
gallons, and has a cover that will fit close. Keep the beef or hams as
long as they will bear, before you put them into the pickle, and
sprinkle them with coarse sugar in a pan, from which they must drain.
Rub the hams, &c. well with the pickle, and pack them in close, putting
as much as the pan will hold, so that the pickle may cover them. The
pickle is not to be boiled at first. A small ham may lie fourteen days,
a large one three weeks; a tongue twelve days; beef in proportion to its
size. They will eat well out of the pickle without drying. When to be
dried, let each piece be drained over the pan, and when it will drop no
longer, take a clean sponge and dry it thoroughly. Six or eight hours
will smoke them; and there should be only a little sawdust and wet straw
burnt to smoke them; but if put into a baker’s chimney, sew them in
coarse cloth, and hang them a week.
_Excellent Bacon._
When the hog is divided, if a large one, the chine should be cut out.
The bacon will be preserved from being rusty, if the spareribs are left
in. Salt the bacon six days; then drain it from the first pickle. Mix as
much salt as you judge proper with eight ounces of bay salt, four ounces
of saltpetre, and one pound of coarse sugar, to each hog, the hams being
first cut off. Rub the salts well in, and turn it every day for a month.
Drain, and smoke a few days; or dry without, by hanging in the kitchen,
not near the fire.