<h2>TO CURE BACON, BEEF, PORK, SAUSAGE, &c.</h2>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Cure Bacon.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>To one thousand weight of pork, put one bushel of fine salt, one
pound
and a half of saltpetre rolled fine and mixed with the salt; rub this
on
the meat and pack it away in a tight hogshead; let it lay for six
weeks,
then hang it up and smoke it with hickory wood, every day for two
weeks,
and afterwards two or three times a week for a month; then take it down
and rub it all over with hickory ashes, which is an effectual remedy
against the fly or skipper. When the weather is unusually warm at the
time of salting your pork, more care is requisite to preserve it from
taint. When it is cut up, if it seems warm, lay it on boards, or on the
bare ground, till it is sufficiently cool for salting; examine the meat
tubs or casks frequently, and if there is an appearance of mould, strew
salt over; if the weather has been very warm after packing, and on
examining, you should find evidence of its spoiling, lose no time in
unpacking the meat; for a hogshead of hams and shoulders that are in
this state, have six pounds of brown sugar, three pounds of salaeratus,
mixed with half a bushel of salt; rub each piece with this, and as you
pack it in the hogshead, (which should be well washed and cleaned,)
sprinkle a little coarse salt over each layer of pork, and also on the
bottom of the hogshead. I have known this plan to save a large quantity
of pork, that would have been unfit for use, if it had not been
discovered and attended to in time. Some persons use crushed charcoal
to
purify their meat. Shoulders are more easily affected than hams, and if
the weather is warm the ribs should be cut out of the shoulders. Jowls
also require particular care; black pepper, about a pound to a
hogshead,
sprinkled on the meat before it is hung up to smoke, is valuable as a
preventive where flies are troublesome; have a large pepper-box kept
for the purpose, and dust every part that is exposed; pepper is also
good to put on beef before it is hung up to dry; wash it off before
cooking, and it does not injure the flavor.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Pickle Pork.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Take out all the ribs, and cut it in pieces of about three pounds
each;
pack it in a tight barrel, and salt it well with coarse salt; boil a
very strong pickle made of coarse salt, and when it is cold pour it
over
the meat, and put a weight on the top; if you wish pork to keep, do not
put saltpetre in, as it injures the flavor.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Cure Hams and Shoulders.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>To cure five hundred weight of hams and shoulders, take fifteen
quarts
of common salt, one pound and a half of saltpetre rolled fine, half a
pound of red pepper pods chopped fine, and four quarts of molasses; mix
them all together and rub the meat well, pack it down, cover it close,
and let it remain six weeks, then hang it up and smoke it with green
hickory wood for three weeks. If there is a damp spell of weather, it
is
best to make a fire in your meat-house occasionally through the summer,
to keep the meat from moulding.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Make a Pickle for Chines.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Rub the chines with fine salt, and pack them in a tight barrel, make
a
pickle of coarse salt, strong enough to bear an egg, boil and skim it,
and when nearly cold pour it on, let there be enough to cover them, and
put a weight on the top. Chines are good smoked. It is best to make a
separate pickle for the heads; wash and scrape them, cut off the ears
and noses, and take out the eyes. The jowls may be packed and smoked
with the bacon. Sausage Meat, &c. Separate the tender parts of the
meat
from the rough and bony pieces, and chop each sort separately, to
twenty-two pounds of meat have half a pound of salt, three heaped
table-spoonsful of sage, three of pepper, and two of thyme. If you have
a box large enough to hold this quantity, sprinkle it over the meat
before it is chopped, and it will be thoroughly mixed by the time it is
done. It is best to have a small piece fried to taste, and if it is not
seasoned right, it can be altered; you should have some pieces of fat,
chopped in with the meat. The sage and thyme should be carefully dried,
but not heated too much, neither should it be hung up too near the
fire,
as it would spoil the flavor, rub it through a wire sifter, and if that
should not make it fine enough, pound it in a mortar or grind it in
your
pepper mill. The pepper should be ground and ready some days before it
is needed, as the pork season in the country is (while it lasts) one of
the busiest in the year, every thing should be prepared beforehand that
you possibly can. It is a good plan to have plenty of bread and pies
baked, and a quantity of apples stewed, vegetables washed and ready to
cook, so that every member of the family, that is able, may devote
herself to the work of putting away the meat which is of so much
importance for the coming year, while some are cutting up the fat to
render into lard, others may be employed in assorting the sausage meat,
and cutting it into small pieces for the chopping machine, by trimming
off every part that can be spared. You can have one hundred pounds of
sausage from twelve hundred weight of pork, and since the introduction
of sausage choppers, a great deal more sausage is made, than formerly,
by the old method. Clean a few of the maws, and soak them in salt and
water, and fill them with sausage meat, sew them close, let them lay in
pickle for two weeks then hang them up, and when your meat is smoked,
let them have a few days smoke. In this way sausage will keep all
summer, and is very nice when boiled slowly for several hours, and
eaten
cold. The best fat to chop in with sausage is taken from the chines or
back bones. To keep sausage for present use, put it in small stone
pans,
and pour melted lard over the top; for later in the season, make muslin
bags that will hold about three pounds, with a loop sewed on to hang
them up by; fill them with meat, tie them tight, and hang them in a
cool
airy place; they will keep in this way till August, when you want to
fry
them, rip part of the seam, cut out as many slices as you want, tie up
the bag and hang it up again. If you have a large quantity, a sausage
chopper is a great convenience. Liver Sausage Take four livers, with
the
lights and hearts, have two heads cleaned, and boil them with any
scraps, or skinny pieces you have, skim the pot, take out the livers
when they are done, and let the heads boil longer, when they are done,
pick out the bones, and chop all together, season with sage, thyme,
sweet marjoram, salt and pepper, put it in pans, and fry it as sausage.
Bologna Sausage Chop ten pounds of beef, with two pounds and a half of
the fat of fresh pork, pound one ounce of mace, and one of cloves, and
mix in, let it stand a day, then stuff it in large skins, let them lay
in brine ten days, then hang them up to smoke a few days, they can be
put in the same brine with beef or tongues. Hogs' Head Cheese Take off
the ears and noses of four heads, and pick out the eyes, and lay them
in
salt and water all night, then wash and put them on to boil, take out
the bones carefully, chop and season them well, and pack it in bowls,
they will turn out whole, and may be eaten cold with vinegar, or fried
as sausage.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Pigs' Feet.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Pigs' feet should be well cleaned by dipping them in scalding water,
and
scraping off the hairs, leave them in weak salt and water two days,
changing it each day; if you wish to boil them for souse, they are now
ready, but if the weather is cold they will keep in this a month. They
should be kept in a cold place, and if they are frozen there is no
danger of their spoiling, but if there comes on a thaw, change the salt
and water, soak them in fresh water all night before you boil them. In
this way they are good to eat with pepper and vinegar while hot, or may
be dipped in batter and fried after they are cold.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To make Souse.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Boil the feet till the bones come out easily, and pick out all the
large
bones, pack them in a stone pan with pepper and salt, and cover it with
vinegar, they may be eaten cold, or dipped in flour and fried. Another
way is to pick out all the bones, season them with salt, pepper and
sage, and warm them up as you want to use them.</p>
<p>Pigs' feet, after being boiled, are very nice stewed as terrapins,
make the gravy with butter and water, they are nourishing food for
delicate persons.</p>
<p>Vessels for salting meat should be cleaned well after the meat is
hung
up, and set on boards in the cellar, if they do not smell sweet, they
should be washed and soaked before meat is packed in them again. You
should see that the hoops are sound, and have covers made to fit them.
If taken care of in this way, they will last a number of years.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Scrapple.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Take eight pounds of scraps of pork, that will not do for sausage,
boil
it in four gallons of water, when tender, chop it fine, strain the
liquor and pour it back into the pot, put in the meat, season it with
sage, summer savory, salt and pepper to taste; stir in a quart of corn
meal; after simmering a few minutes, thicken it with buckwheat flour
very thick, it requires very little cooking after it is thickened, but
must be stirred constantly.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Dried Beef.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>An experienced housekeeper has furnished the following method for
curing
and drying beef, which will keep good for two years, without being
injured by must or fly, and is much admired. Have the rounds divided,
leaving a piece of the sinew to hang up by, lay the pieces in a tub of
cold water for an hour, then rub each piece of beef that will weigh
fifteen or twenty pounds, with a handful of brown sugar and a
table-spoonful of saltpetre, pulverized, and a pint of fine salt,
sprinkle fine salt in the bottom of a clean tight barrel, and lay the
pieces in, strewing a little coarse salt between each piece; let it lay
two days, then make the brine in a clean tub, with cold water and
ground
alum salt--stir it well, it must be strong enough to bear an egg half
up, put in half a pound of best brown sugar and a table-spoonful of
saltpetre to each gallon of the salt and water, pour it over the beef;
put a clean large stone on the top of the meat to keep it under the
pickle, (which is very important,) put a cover on the barrel; examine
it
occasionally to see that the pickle does not leak,--and if it should
need more, add of the same strength; let it stand six weeks, then hang
it up in the smoke house, and after it has drained, smoke it moderately
for ten days, it should then hang in a dry place, before cooking, let
it
soak for twenty four hours; a piece that weighs fifteen or twenty
pounds
should boil two hours--one half the size, one hour, and a small piece
should soak six or twelve hours, according to size. Beef cured in this
way will make a nice relish, when thinly sliced and eaten cold, for
breakfast or tea, or put between slices of bread and butter for lunch,
it will keep for several weeks,--and persons of delicate stomachs can
sometimes relish a thin slice, eaten cold, when they cannot retain hot
or rich food.</p>
<p>This receipt will answer for all parts of the beef, to be boiled for
the
dinner table through the summer.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Cure Beef.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Make a pickle of six quarts of salt, six gallons of water, half a
pound
of saltpetre, and three of sugar, or half a gallon of molasses, pack
the
beef in a barrel, with fine and coarse salt mixed, when the pickle is
cold, pour it over, and put a weight on the top, let it stay two weeks,
when you can hang it up and smoke it, to boil through the summer, or
boil the pickle over again, and leave it in till you want to use it;
this is for two hundred pounds.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>A New Method of Curing Beef.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Take six gallons of water, nine pounds of salt, (fine and coarse
mixed,)
three pounds of sugar, one quart of molasses, three ounces of
saltpetre,
and one ounce of pearl ash or salaeratus, boil and skim it well, and
let
it stand till entirely cold, when pour it on beef that has been
sprinkled with salt for several days. You can boil of this beef from
the
brine all winter, or hang it up, and smoke it with your bacon.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Cure a Dozen Tongues.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Soak the tongues an hour in a tub of cold water to extract the
blood,
and cut off most of the root, mix together a quarter of a pound of
saltpetre, finely powdered, one pound of brown sugar, and a pint of
salt, rub the tongues with this, and put them in a tight barrel; then
make a pickle that will bear an egg, which pour over them, turn them
every three days, and let them stay in the pickle two weeks, then smoke
them two days, and hang them up in a dry place; boil and skim the
pickle
that the tongues have been in, and it will do for a round of beef.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Pickle for Two Rounds of Beef.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Cut the rounds in a suitable shape for drying, mix together two
pints of
salt, one of molasses, or a pound of sugar, and half a pound of
saltpetre, rub them with this, and pack them in a tight vessel, make a
pickle that will bear an egg, and pour it over, put a weight on the
top,
and let it lay for ten days, when take it out, and smoke it two days,
hang it up in a dry place, it will be fit to slice and broil in a week,
or cut it very thin, and stew or fry it with butter and cream. Legs of
mutton may be salted as rounds of beef, and will resemble venison, when
dried and chipped.</p>
<p>In preparing pickle for any kind of meat, observe that one gallon of
water will hold, in solution, a quart of salt and two ounces of
saltpetre.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Corn Beef, Pork or Mutton.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Rub the meat well with salt, and pack it in a tub. If the weather is
warm, it will require a good deal of salt, but no saltpetre.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Restore Meat that has been kept too long.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>When meat has been kept too long in summer, it may be improved by
putting it in sour milk for several hours, or washing it in vinegar is
good, some hours before it is cooked, you must wash it well in cold
water several times, if it lays all night in sour milk, or salt and
vinegar, it should be put in soak early in the morning in cold water.
In
very hot weather, when you have fresh meat, fowls, or fish left at
dinner, sprinkle them with strong vinegar, salt and pepper, warm this
up
the next day, either as a fry or stew, the vinegar will evaporate, and
not injure the taste. Cold rock fish is good, seasoned with salt,
pepper
and vinegar, to use as a relish for breakfast or tea.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Keep Meat Fresh.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Where persons live a distance from market, and have no fresh meat
but
what they kill, it is important to know how to keep it fresh. In
winter,
if it is hung up in an out-house, it will keep very well for six weeks,
or more, when it has once frozen, it is safe till a thaw comes on, when
rub it with salt. In the summer, if you have an ice-house, you can keep
it without trouble. If rubbed with salt, and pinned in a cloth, it will
keep in the cellar two days, or by lowering it down your well, attached
to a rope, and changing the cloth every other day, it will keep good a
week in hot weather.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Put up Herring and Shad.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Those that put up their own fish should be careful to have the
barrels
tight and well cleaned, if the pickle leaks from them, they are liable
to spoil. Scale the fish and wash them, as it will save much time, when
you prepare them for cooking, take out the gills, but leave on the
heads
of herrings.</p>
<p>The heads should be taken off the shad, and split them down the
back,
put a layer of fish, then a layer of ground alum salt,--and after they
are packed, put on a weight to keep them down. If herring are well
cured, they will be good at the end of two years.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Put up Herring, <i>According to the Harford Mode</i>.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>First put the herring into the brine left from curing bacon, or, if
you
have none of that description, make a brine that will bear an egg, and
let them remain in it thirty or forty hours; then, if for pickled
herring, change them into new brine, which must also bear an egg, and
head them up to keep. If for red herring, hang them up, and smoke them
thoroughly. A little saltpetre, added to the brine, is an improvement.
It is better to take out the roe.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<hr>
<p></p>
<p></p>
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