CURING MEATS, POTTING AND COLLARING.
General Directions—Pickle for Beef, Pork, &c.—Dutch way to Salt Beef—Tongues—French method—Welsh Beef—Hunters—Curing Pork—Bacon—Hams—Lard—Pork Cheese—Potting—Collaring—A Marinade Brawn—Mutton Ham, &c.
MEAT intended for salting should hang a few days, till its fibres become short and tender, instead of being salted as soon as it comes from the market; though, in very hot weather, if may be requisite to salt as soon as possible; beginning by wiping dry, taking out the kernels and pipes, and filling the holes with salt.
Beef and pork, after being examined and wiped, should be sprinkled with water and hung to drain a few hours after, before they are rubbed with salt: this cleanses the meat from blood, and improves its delicacy. The salt should be rubbed in evenly; first, half the quantity of salt, and, after a day or two, the remainder. The meat should be turned every day, kept covered with the pickle, and rubbed daily, if wanted soon. The brine will serve for more than one parcel of meat, if it be boiled up, skimmed, and used cold.
In salting beef, the brisket and flat ribs should be jointed, so as to let in the salt, which should also be rubbed well into each piece; the meat should then be put down tightly in the salt-bin, the prime pieces at the bottom, and covered with salt; the coarse pieces being at the top, to be used first.
Bay-salt gives a sweeter flavor than any other kind. Sugar makes the meat mellow and rich, and is sometimes used to rub meat before salting. Saltpetre hardens meat, so that it is rarely used but to make it red. In frosty weather, warm the salt. to ensure its penetrating the meat.
Remember, that unless meat be quite fresh, it cannot be kept by salting. Neither will salt recover stale meat; for, if it be in the least tainted before it is put into the pickle, it will be entirely spoiled in one hot day.
It frosty weather, take care the meat is not frozen, and warm the salt in a frying-pan. The extremes of heat and cold are equally unfavorable for the process of salting. In the former, the meat changes before the salt can affect it: in the latter, it is so hardened, and its juices are so congealed, that the salt cannot penetrate it.
If you wish it red, rub it first with saltpetre, in the proportion of half an ounce, and the like quantity of moist sugar, to a pound of common salt.
In summer, canvas covers should be placed over salting-tubs to admit air and exclude flies, which are more destructive to salt than fresh meat.
As our book is designed for country as well as city families, we shall give several receipts for curing meats, making brine, &c., which are chiefly important to the former.
Pickle for Beef Pork, &c.—To four gallons of pump-water add eight pounds and a half of muscovado sugar, or treacle, two ounces of saltpetre, and six pounds of bay or common salt. Boil the whole, and remove all the scum that rises; then take off the liquor, and, when cold, pour it over the meat, so as to cover it. This pickle is fine for curing hams, tongues and beef, for drying; which, upon being taken out of the pickle, cleaned, and dried, should be put into paper bags, and hung up in a warm place.
Another pickle is, six ounces salt, and four ounces sugar to a quart of water, and one-quarter of an ounce of saltpetre; to be boiled and skimmed.
A round of beef, of twenty-five pounds, will take a pound and a half of salt to be rubbed in at once, and requires to be rubbed and turned daily: it will be ready, but not very salt, in four or five days; if to be eaten cold, it will be finer flavored, and keep better, for being a week in the brine.
An aitch-bone, of a dozen pounds’ weight, will require three-quarters of a pound of salt, mixed with one ounce of coarse sugar, to be well rubbed into it for four or five days.
Pickle for Beef.—Allow to four gallons of water two pounds of brown sugar, six pounds of salt, and four ounces of saltpetre; boil it about twenty minutes, taking off the scum as it rises; the following day pour it over the meat which has been packed into the pickling-tub. Pour off this brine, boil and skim it every two months, adding three ounces of brown sugar and half a pound of common salt. By this means it will keep good a year. The meat must be sprinkled with salt, and the next day wiped dry, before pouring the pickle over it, with which it should always be completely covered.
To salt Beef red.—Choose a piece of beef with as little bone as you can (the flank is the best), sprinkle it, and let it drain a day; then rub it with common salt, a small proportion of saltpetre, bay-salt, and a little coarse sugar; you may add a few grains of cochineal, all in fine powder. Rub the pickle every day into the meat for a week, then only turn it.
It will be excellent in 8 days. In 16, drain it from the pickle; and let it be smoked at the oven’s mouth when heated with wood, or send it to a smoke-house. A few days will smoke it. It is extremely good eaten fresh from the pickle, boiled tender with greens or carrots. If to be grated, then cut a lean bit, boil it till extremely tender, and while hot put it under a press. When cold, fold it in a sheet of paper, and it will keep in a dry place 2 or 3 months, ready for serving on bread and butter.
The Dutch way to salt Beef.—Take a lean piece of beef, rub it well with treacle or brown sugar, and turn it often. In 3 days wipe it, and salt it with common salt and saltpetre beaten fine; rub these well in, and turn it every day for a fortnight. Roll it tight in a coarse cloth, and press it under a heavy weight; hang to dry in wood-smoke, but turn it upside down every day. Boil it in pump-water, and press it: it will grate or cut into shivers, and makes a good breakfast dish.
To 12 lbs. of beef the proportion of common salt is 1 lb.
To salt Beef for immediate use, and to make into Soup.—Take the thin flank or brisket, cut it into pieces of the size you wish for your family—from 3 to 7 lbs. Rub the pieces thoroughly with dry salt; then lay them in a tub, and cover it close. Turn the pieces every day, and in a week it will be excellent boiled with vegetables, or made into plain peas soup. It will last six weeks in this way.
Mutton may be salted in the same manner.
An excellent Pickle for Hams, Tongue, &c.—Take one gallon of water, one pound and a half of salt, one pound of brown sugar or molasses, one ounce of allspice, and one ounce of saltpetre; scald, skim, and let it cool. Rub the meat with salt, and let it lie two days; then pour the pickle over it. Let the hams remain from a fortnight to a month in this pickle, according to their size, turning them every day.
Care must be taken to secure bacon and hams from the fly. The best method is, to put them in coarse calico or canvass bags; paper is apt to break in damp weather. Always keep smoked meat in a dark place.
To salt Fat Pork.—Pack it down tightly in the barrel, each layer of pork covered with clean coarse salt; then make a strong brine with two gallons of water and as much coarse salt as will dissolve in it; boil and skim; let it stand till it is perfectly cold, and then pour it to the meat till that is covered. Pork is best without sugar or saltpetre, provided it be always kept covered with this strong brine.
Beef Tongues.—These may be cured by any of the receipts which we have already given for pickling beef, or for hams and bacon. Some persons prefer them cured with salt and saltpetre only, and dried naturally in a cool and airy room. For such of our readers as like them highly and richly flavored we give our own method of having them prepared, which is this:—Rub over the tongue a handful of fine salt, and let it drain until the following day; then should it weigh from seven to eight pounds, mix thoroughly 1 oz. of saltpetre, 2 oz. of the coarsest sugar, and half an ounce of black pepper; when the tongue has been well rubbed with these, add 3 oz. of bruised juniper berries; and when it has lain 2 days, 8 oz. of bay salt dried and pounded; at the end of 3 days more, pour on it half a pound of treacle, and let it remain in the pickle a fortnight after this; then hang it to drain, fold it in brown paper, and send it to be smoked over a wood fire for 2 or 3 weeks. Should the peculiar flavor of the juniper berries prevail too much, or be disapproved, they may be in part, or altogether, omitted and 6 oz. of sugar may be rubbed into the tongue in the first instance when it is liked better than treacle.
Tongue 7 to 8 lbs.; saltpetre, 1 oz.; black pepper, half an oz.; sugar, 2 oz.; juniper berries, 3 oz.: 2 days. Bay salt, 8 oz.; 3 days. Treacle, half a pound: 14 days.
0bs.—Before the tongue is salted, the gullet, which has an unsightly appearance, should be trimmed away: it is indeed usual to take the root off entirely, but some families prefer it left on for the sake of the fat.
Beef Tongues (a Suffolk Receipt).—For each very large tongue, mix with half a pound of salt, two ounces of saltpetre, and three-quarters of a pound of the coarsest sugar; rub the tongues daily, and turn them in the pickle for five weeks, when they will be fit to be dressed, or to be smoked.
I large tongue; salt half a pound: sugar, three-quarters of a pound; saltpetre, 2 ounces: 5 weeks.
Keeping Meat in Snow.—An excellent way to keep fresh meat during the winter, is practised by the farmers in the country, which they term “salting in the snow.” Take a large clean tub, cover the bottom 3 or 4 inches thick with clear snow; then lay in pieces of fresh meat, spare-ribs, fowls, or whatever you wish to keep, and cover each layer with 2 or 3 inches of snow, taking particular care to fill snow into every crevice between the pieces, and around the edges of the tub. Fowls must be filled inside with the snow. The last layer in the tub must be snow, pressed down tight; then cover the tub and keep in a cold place—the colder the better. The meat will not freeze; and, unless the weather should be very warm, the snow will not thaw, but the meat will remain as fresh and juicy as when it was killed.
French Method of Smoking Hams.—Stop up all the crevices of an old cask, as a sugar hogshead, and cut a hole in the bottom of it, large enough to introduce a small stove or pan, to be filled with saw-dust, wood, or other fuel, which produces much smoke. The articles to be smoked must then be hung upon a cross stick, fixed near the top of the cask, and the head must be covered with a cloth. It is stated, that half a dozen hams may be completely cured in this way in 48 hours.
Tongues, fish, and beef, may be smoked in the same way.
Hung Beef (the Derrynane Recipe).—Rub the beef well with salt and saltpetre, in the proportion of 2 oz. of saltpetre and 7 lbs. of salt to 50 lbs. of beef. Put the beef into a cask or tub, place a board over it, and weights upon that; leave it so for about a fortnight, then take it out and hang it in the kitchen to dry, which will generally take about 3 weeks. Some persons leave it for a longer time in the tub, which they merely cover without the weight; but the above is the better way.
Cheap Hung Beef.—Take the fleshy part of a leg of beef, salt it three days; then put it into a clean pan, and rub it with this mixture daily for a week,—four ounces of coarse sugar, one ounce of ground allspice, and one ounce of powdered saltpetre; next drain the beef, wrap it in brown paper, hang it in a chimney to dry; and in a month it will be fit to dress.
Welsh Beef—Rub 2 oz. of saltpetre into a round of beef, let it remain an hour, then season it with pepper, salt, and a fourth portion of allspice; allow the beef to stand in the brine for 15 days, turning it frequently. Work it well with pickle; put it into an earthen vessel, with a quantity of beef suet over and under it, cover it with a coarse paste and bake it, allowing it to remain in the oven for 6 or 8 hours. Pour off the gravy, and let the beef stand till cold. It will keep for 2 months in winter, and will be found useful amid the Christmas fare in the country.
To Dress Beef Tongues.—When taken fresh from the pickle they require no soaking unless they should have remained in it much beyond the usual time, or have been cured with a more than common proportion of salt; but when they have been smoked and hung for some time, they should be laid for two or three hours in cold, and as much longer in tepid water, before they are dressed: if extremely dry, ten or twelve hours must be allowed to soften them, and they should always be brought very slowly to boil. Two or three carrots and a large bunch of savory herbs, added after the scum is cleared off, will improve them. They should be simmered until they are extremely tender, when the skin will peel from them easily. A highly dried tongue will usually require from three and a half to four hours’ boiling; an unsmoked one, about an hour less; and for one which has not been salted at all, a shorter time will suffice.
Curing Pork.—The pork being killed, several points require attention—first, the chitterlings must be cleaned, and all the fat taken off; they are then to be soaked for two or three days in four or six waters, and the fat may be melted for softening shoes, &c.; the inside fat, or flare, of pork must be melted for lard as soon as possible, without salt, if for pastry. The souse should be salted for two or three days, and then boiled till tender; or fried, or broiled, after being boiled. The sides for bacon must be wiped, rubbed at the bone, and sprinkled with salt, to extract the blood: the chines, cheeks, and spare-ribs, should be similarly salted. On the third day after pork is killed, it may be regularly salted, tubs or pans being placed to receive the brine, which is useful for chines and tongues. December and January are the best months for preparing bacon, as the frost is not then too severe.
The hog is made into bacon, or pickled.
Bacon—(The method of curing Malines Bacon, so much admired for its fine flavor).—Cut off the hams and head of a pig, if a large one; take out the chine and leave in the spare-rib, as they will keep in the gravy and prevent the bacon from rusting. Salt it first with common salt, and let it lie for a day on a table that the blood may run from it; then make a brine with a pint of bay-salt, one-quarter peck of common salt, about one-quarter pound of juniper-berries, and some bay-leaves, with as much water as will, when the brine is made, cover the bacon; when the salt is dissolved, and when quite cold, if a new-laid egg will swim in it, the brine may be put on the bacon, which after a week must be rubbed with the following mixture:—Half pound of saltpetre, 2 oz. of sal-prunella, and 1 pound of coarse sugar; after remaining 4 weeks, it may be hung up in a chimney where wood is burned; shavings, with sawdust and a small quantity of turf, may be added to the fire at times.
Westphalia Hams—Are prepared in November and March. The Germans place them in deep tubs, which they cover with layers of salt and saltpetre, and a few laurel-leaves. They are left four or five days in this state, and then are completely covered with strong brine. At the end of three weeks, they are taken out, and soaked twelve hours in clear spring water they are then hung for three weeks in smoke, produced from the branches of juniper-plants.
Another method is to rub the leg intended for a ham with half a pound of coarse sugar, and to lay it aside for a night. In the morning, it is rubbed with an ounce of saltpetre, and an ounce of common salt, mixed. It is then turned daily for three weeks, and afterwards dried in wood and turf-smoke. When boiled, a pint of oak saw-dust is directed to be put into the pot or boiler.
Obs.—Dried meats, hams, &c., should be kept in a cold but not damp place.
Smoked provisions keep better than those which are dried on account of the pyroligneous acid which the former receive from the smoke.
Hams superior to Westphalia.—Take the hams as soon as the pork is sufficiently cold to be cut up, rub them well with common salt, and leave them for three days to drain; throw away the brine, and for a couple of hams of from fifteen to eighteen pounds’ weight, mix together two ounces of saltpetre, a pound of coarse sugar, and a pound of common salt; rub the hams in every part with these, lay them into deep pickling-pans with the rind downwards, and keep them for three days well covered with the salt and sugar; then pour over them a bottle of good vinegar, and turn them in the brine, and baste them with it daily for a month; drain them well, rub them with bran, and let them be hung for a month high in a chimney over a wood-fire to be smoked.
Hams, of from 15 to 18 lbs. each, 2; to drain, 3 days. Common salt and coarse sugar, each 1 lb.; saltpetre, 2 ozs.: 3 days. Vinegar, 1 bottle: 1 month. To be smoked 1 month.
Obs.—Such of our readers as shall make trial of this admirable receipt, will acknowledge, we doubt not, that the hams thus cured are in reality superior to those of Westphalia. It was originally given to the public by the celebrated French cook, Monsieur Ude, to whom, after having proved it, we are happy to acknowledge our obligation for it. He directs that the hams when smoked should be hung as high as possible from the fire, that the fat may not be melted;—a very necessary precaution, as the mode of their being cured renders it peculiarly liable to do so. This, indeed, is somewhat perceptible in the cooking, which ought, therefore, to be conducted with especial care. The hams should be very softly simmered, and not over-done. They should be large, and of finely-fed pork, or the receipt will not answer. We give the result of our first trial of it, which was perfectly successful.
Leg of farm-house pork, 14 to 15 lbs.; saltpetre, 1¼ oz. strong coarse salt, 6 ozs.; coarse sugar, 8 ozs.: 3 days. Fine white-wine vinegar, 1 pint. In pickle, turned daily, 1 month. Smoked over wood, 1 month.
Obs.—When two hams are pickled together, a smaller proportion of the ingredients is required for each than for one which is cured by itself.
To cure Pig’s Cheeks.—Cut out the snout, remove the brains, split the head, and take off the upper bone. Rub the cheek well with salt; next day pour off the brine, and salt it again the following day. Then rub over the cheeks half an ounce of saltpetre, two ounces of bay-salt, a little common salt, and four ounces of coarse sugar. Turn the cheeks often, and in ten days smoke them as bacon.
Pork Cheese.—Choose the head of a small pig which may weigh about twelve pounds the quarter. Sprinkle over it and the tongues of four pigs, a little common salt and a very little saltpetre. Let them lie four days, wash them, and tie them in a clean cloth; boil them until the bones will come easily out of the head, take off the skin as whole as possible, place a bowl in hot water and put in the head, cutting it into small pieces. In the bottom of a round tin, shaped like a small cheese, lay two strips of cloth across each other; they must be long enough to fold over the top when the shape is full; place the skin round the tin, and nearly half fill it with the meat, which has been highly seasoned with pepper, cayenne, and salt; put in some tongue cut into slices, then the rest of the meat, and the remainder of the tongue, draw the cloth tightly across the top; put on it a board or a plate that will fit into the shape, and place on it a heavy weight, which must not be taken off till it be quite cold. It is eaten with vinegar and mustard, and served for luncheon or supper.
Hog’s Lard.—Melt it with great care in a jar, put into a kettle of water, set on the fire to boil, adding to the lard a sprig of rosemary, while melting; then run it into small clean, bladders.
Suet and lard keep better in tin than in earthen vessels; suet may be kept for a year, if chopped, packed in tin, and covered with treacle.
Potting and Collaring.—To pot and collar are only different modes of preserving fish and meat for a longer time than they could be kept fresh; chiefly, in the instance of potting, by pounding the materials with seasoning, when dressed, and then putting small portions in closely covered jars or pots; while collaring is done by slicing portions of the meat or fish, and, when well seasoned, rolling it in round pieces, to be eaten cold as savory dishes at breakfast and luncheon.
In potting, take care to wait until the meat is cold; press the meat firmly into the pots; but, before putting it there, drain the gravy thoroughly from the meat, or the gravy will turn it sour; then cover well with clarified butter, and tie over it oil-skin, or oiled paper, to exclude the air.
To clarify Butter for Potting.—Put the butter into a basin, or boat, and set it in a stewpan with water in it, over the fire. As the butter melts, the milky parts will sink to the bottom, and the clear should be poured off upon the articles to be potted. After being used it will still serve for basting or for meat-pie paste.
Potted Beef.—Rub a piece of lean fleshy beef, about three pounds in weight, with an ounce of saltpetre powdered, and afterwards with two ounces of salt; put it in a pan or salting-tray, and let it lie two days, basting it with the brine, and rubbing it into it each day. Then put the meat into an earthenware jar, just large enough to hold it, together with all the skin and gristle of the joint, first trimmed from it: add about a pint of water, put some stiff paste over the top of the jar, and place it in a slow oven to bake for four hours. When it is done, pour off the gravy, (which save to use for enriching sauces or gravies,) take out the gristle and the skin; then cut the meat small, and beat it in a mortar, adding occasionally a little of the gravy, a little fresh butter, and finely powdered allspice, cloves, and pepper, enough to season it. The more you boat and rub the meat, the better, as it will require so much less butter or gravy, which will assist it to keep the longer; but when potted beef is wanted for present use, the addition of gravy and butter will improve its taste and appearance. When it is intended for keeping, put it into small earthenware pots or into tin cans, press it down hard, pour on the top clarified butter to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and tie over it a piece of damp bladder.
To make potted meat more savory, you may beat up with it the flesh of an anchovy or two, or a little minced tongue, or minced ham or bacon; or mushroom powder, curry powder, a few shalots, or sweet herbs of any kind, the flavor of whichever may be most agreeable.
Meat that has been stewed to make gravy, may be used to make potted beef; only adding the salt, seasoning, and flavoring in pounding it.
Potted ham, veal, or ox-tongue is made in the same manner, only varying the seasonings to suit the taste of the meat.
To pot Beef in imitation of Venison.—Put 8 or 10 lbs. of lean beef into a deep dish; pour over it a pint of red wine, and let it lie in it for 2 days, seasoning it well with mace, pepper, salt, and a clove of garlic; then put it into a closely covered pot along with the wine, and another glassful if it be not sufficient, and bake it for 3 hours in a quick oven; when cold, pound it to a paste, and pot it as above.
Potted Chicken or Partridge.—Roast the birds as for table, but let them be thoroughly done, for if the gravy be left in, the meat will not keep half so well. Raise the flesh of the breast, wings, and merry thought quite clear from the bones, take off the skin, mince, and then pound it very smoothly with about one-third of its weight of fresh butter, or something less, if the meat should appear of a proper consistence without the full quantity; season it with salt, mace, and Cayenne only, and add these in small portions until the meat is rather highly flavored with both the last: proceed with it as with other potted meats.
To pot Boned Pigeons whole.—Bone, truss, and pack them into a deep pan, with pepper, salt, and a little fine powder of thyme, or any sweet herb that may be agreeable, and a clove of garlic bruised and rubbed into the salt, and spices; cover with butter; bake them well covered. While they are yet warm, put them into the pots they are to be presented in; these pots ought to have close covers; press them well down, and lay a weight upon them; when cold put a little of the butter they were baked in over them. If mushrooms can be had, pack them with the pigeons, or stuff them with them.
All birds that are potted should be boned, as they cut with less waste, and keep better.
Potted Lobster.—Pick out, from a boiled lobster, the white meat, and mix it with the spawn of a good hen-lobster that has been boiled; beat it well in a mortar with the addition of a little powdered mace, white pepper, Cayenne pepper, and salt enough to flavor it. Let all be well beat, and mixed into a stiff paste; then put it into a jar or pot, pressed down as close as possible; pour over it clarified butter, and tie over the jar a piece of bladder.
Crabs are potted in the same manner, also crayfish, shrimps, and other small fish; but the seasoning may be varied by the addition of powdered allspice, and leaving out the Cayenne.
In Collaring, be careful to roll the meat tightly and bind it firmly. Let it be thoroughly done, left in a cool place, some times rubbed with pickle, but always wiped perfectly dry.
To collar Beef.—Make a pickle with 6 oz. of brown sugar, 4 oz. of common salt, and 1 oz. of saltpetre. Then take a flank of beef, and leave it in the pickle for ten days or a fortnight, turning it every day. When taken out, remove the bone and gristle, but leave on the outer skin; lay it upon the table, with the skin downwards, and beat the inside well with a rolling-pin or wooden mallet until quite tender; that done, score the flesh in rows, down and across, about the breadth of two fingers; but in doing so take care not to cut the outside skin. Then fill the scores alternately with slices of the fat of the bacon and corned pork, and sweet herbs of all sorts, chopped, and seasoned with spice, till you have filled them all; after which, roll the flank up very tightly, and bind it round with coarse broad tape, wrap it in a cloth, and boil it gently, but steadily, for four or five hours, according to the size of the joint. When quite cold take it out of the cloth, unbind the tape, and fasten the roll with small skewers. If you wish to improve its appearance, you may also either glaze it, or rub it with yolk of egg and brown it with a salamander.
An economical way.—Take the best part of a shin of beef, of which soup has been made (for it must be stewed until very tender), and an ox-tail, also well stewed; cut them into small pieces, season them well, add a glass of wine, and a glass of catsup, and put it into a stew pan covered with a part of the liquor in which the ox-tail has been boiled; stew it for about 20 minutes, and then put it into a mould. It must be very cold before it is turned out. This is a good way of employing the beef and heel when soup or jelly is made; a few chopped sweet herbs may be added, and hard eggs cut into slices, or pickles, such as sliced cucumbers, intermingled. The flavor may be varied in many ways.
To collar a Pig.—Take a fine fat pig of a month or five weeks old, prepared for the table; cut off the head and split the pig down the back, and bone it; chop a handful of sage very small, mix it with 2 nutmegs and 3 or 4 blades of mace beaten fine; add to it a large handful of salt, and season the pig all over; roll it hard, tie it with tape, sew it in a clean linen cloth, and boil it in water with a little oatmeal and a good seasoning of salt; boil till very tender, which will take several hours. Keep it in the cloth in which it was boiled until quite cold. Then take the cloth from the pig, and let it lay for eight days in a marinade. Eat it with mustard, sugar and vinegar.
A Marinade for Collared Meats.—Make thin water-gruel of oatmeal; season it well with salt; add half a pint of white wine and half a tea-spoonful of white pepper; boil it all together for half an hour; allow it to become cold before the collar is put into it.
Brawn.—Split and nicely clean a hog’s head, take out the brains, cut off the ears, and rub a good deal of salt into the head; let it drain 24 hours; then lay upon it 2 oz. of saltpeter, and the same of common salt, for 3 clays; lay the head and salt into a pan, with just water to cover it for 2 days more
Wash it well, and boil until the bones will come out; remove them, and chop the meat as quickly as possible in pieces of 1 inch long; but first take the skin carefully off the head and the tongue, the latter also cut in bits. Season with pepper and salt. Put the skin of one side of the head into a small long pan, press the chopped head and tongue into it, and lay the skin of the other side of the head over, and press it down. When cold it will turn out. The head may probably be too fat, in which case prepare a few bits of lean pork with the head. Boil 2 oz. of salt, a pint of vinegar, and a quart of the liquor, and, when cold, pour it over the head. The ears are to be boiled longer than the head, cut in thin strips, and divided about it, the hair being nicely removed. Re-boil the pickle often.
To cure Mutton Ham.—Cut a hind-quarter of good mutton into the shape of a ham, pound 1 oz. of saltpetre, with 1 lb. of coarse salt, and 4 oz. of brown sugar, rub the ham well with this mixture, taking care to stuff the whole of the shank well with salt and sugar, and let it lie a fortnight, rubbing it well with the pickle every 2 or 3 days; then take it one and press it with a weight for 1 day; smoke it with saw-dust for 10 or 15 days, or hang it to dry in the kitchen. If the ham is to be boiled soon after it has been smoked, soak it 1 hour, and if it has been smoked any length of time, it will require to be soaked several hours. Put it on in cold water, and boil it gently 2 hours. It is eaten cold at breakfast, luncheon, or supper. A mutton ham is sometimes cured with the above quantity of salt and sugar, with the addition of half an ounce of pepper, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, and 1 nutmeg.
Turkish Method of making new-killed Meat tender.—Slash it from 3 to 5 slashes. To give a proper idea of the distance, a leg of mutton will take 5 slashes. Bruise some cloves of garlic, and put a clove of it with a little bit of bay salt into each slash; bind up the meat, that the slashes may go together; and wrap it up tight. It may be used in 12 hours after.
This might be tried with new-killed venison.