CHAPTER XXIV.
CURING VARIOUS KINDS OF MEATS, SOUSINGS, &C.
Hams.
CUT off a fine ham from a fat hind quarter of pork. Take two ounces of saltpetre, a pound of coarse sugar, a pound of common salt, and two ounces of sal prunella; mix all together, and rub it well. Let it lie a month in this pickle, turning and basting it every day; then hang it in a wood smoke in a dry place, so that no heat comes to it; and, if you intend to keep them long, hang them a month or two in a damp place, and it will make them cut fine and short. Never lay these hams in water till you boil them, and then boil them in a copper, if you have one, or the largest pot you have. Put them into the water cold, and let them be four or five hours before they boil. Skim the pot well, and often, till it boils. If it is a very large one, three hours will boil it; if a small one, two hours will do, provided it is a great while before the water boils. Take it up half an hour before dinner, pull off the skin, and throw raspings, finely sifted, all over. Hold a red-hot salamander over it, and when dinner is ready, take a few raspings in a sieve, and sift all over the dish, then lay in your ham, and with your finger make figures round the edge of your dish. Be sure to boil your ham in as much water as you can, and keep skimming it all the time it boils. The pickle you take your ham out of will do finely for tongues. Let them lay in it a fortnight, and then lay them in a place where there is wood smoke, to dry. When you broil any slices of ham or bacon, have some boiling water ready, let them lay a minute or two in it, and then put them on a gridiron. This is a very good method, as it takes out the violence of the salt, and makes them have a fine flavour.
MIX well together half a peck of salt, three ounces of saltpetre, half an ounce of sal prunella, and five pounds of very coarse salt. Rub the hams well with this: put them into a large pan or pickling-tub, and lay the remainder on the top. Let them lie three days, and then hang them up. Put as much water to the pickle as will cover the hams, adding salt till it will bear an egg, and then boil and strain it. The next morning put in the hams, and press them down so that they may be covered. Let them lay a fortnight, then rub them well with bran, and dry them. The quantity of ingredients here directed, is for doing three middle-sized hams at once, so that if you do only one, you must proportion the quantity of each article.
New England Hams.
GET two fine hams, and in the mode of cure for this purpose, proceed as follows: take two ounces of sal prunella, beat it fine, rub it well in, and let them lie twenty-four hours. Then take half a pound of bay-salt, a quarter of a pound of common salt, and one ounce of saltpetre, all beat fine, and half a pound of the coarsest sugar. Rub all these well in, and let them lie two or three days. Then take some white common salt, and make a pretty strong brine, with about two gallons of water and half a pound of brown sugar. Boil it well, and scum it when cold; put in the hams, and turn them every two or three days in the pickle for three weeks. Then hang them up in a chimney, and smoke them well a day or two with horse litter. Afterwards let them hang about a week on the side of the kitchen chimney, and then take them down. Keep them dry in a large box, and cover them well with bran. They will keep good in this state for a year, though if wanted, may be used in a month.
Bacon.
TAKE off all the inside fat of a side of pork, and lay it on a long board or dresser, that the blood may run from it. Rub it well on both sides with good salt, and let it lie a day. Then take a pint of bay-salt, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, and beat them both fine; two pounds of coarse sugar, and a quarter of a peck of common salt. Lay your pork in something that will hold the pickle, and rub it well with the above ingredients. Lay the skinny side downwards, and baste it every day with a pickle for a fortnight. Then hang it in a wood-smoke, and afterwards in a dry but not hot place. Remember that all hams and bacons should hang clear from every thing, and not touch the wall. Take care to wipe off the old salt before you put it into the pickle, and never keep bacon or hams in a hot kitchen, or in a room exposed to the rays of the sun, as all these matters will greatly contribute to make them rusty.
Mutton Hams.
TAKE a hind quarter of mutton, cut it like a ham, and rub it well with an ounce of saltpetre, a pound of coarse sugar, and a pound of common salt, mixed well together. Lay it in a deepish tray with the skin downward, and baste it with the pickle every day for a fortnight. Then roll it in sawdust, and hang it in a wood-smoke for a fortnight. Then boil it, and hang it up in a dry place. You may dress it whole, or cut slices off, and broil them, which will eat well, and have an excellent flavour.
Beef Hams.
CUT the leg of a fat Scotch or Welch ox as nearly in the shape of a ham as you can. Take an ounce of bay-salt, an ounce of saltpetre, a pound of common salt, and a pound of coarse sugar, which will be a sufficient quantity for about fourteen or fifteen pounds of beef; and if a greater or less quantity of meat, mix your ingredients in proportion. Pound these ingredients, mix them well together, rub your meat with it, turn it every day, and at the same time baste it well with the pickle. Let it lie in this state for a month, then take it out, roll it in bran or sawdust, and hang it in a wood-smoke for a month. Then take it down, hang it in a dry place, and keep it for use. You may dress it in whatever manner you please, and as occasion may require. If you boil a piece of it, and let it be till it is cold, it will eat very good, and shives like Dutch beef; or it is exceeding fine cut into rashers and broiled, with poached eggs laid on the tops.
Neat’s Tongue.
SCRAPE your tongue clean, dry it well with a cloth, and then salt it with common salt, and half an ounce of saltpetre well mixed together. Lay it in a deep pan, and turn it every day for a week or ten days. Then turn it again, and let it lay a week longer. Take it out of the pan, dry it with a cloth, strew flour on it, and hang it up in a moderate warm place to dry.
Hung Beef.
MAKE a strong brine with bay-salt, saltpetre, and pump-water; put a rib of beef into it, and let it lay for nine days. Then hang it up a chimney where wood or sawdust is burnt. When it is a little dry, wash the outside with bullock’s blood two or three times, to make it look black; and when it is dry enough boil it, and serve it up with such kind of vegetables as you think proper.
Another method of preparing hung beef is this: take the navel-piece, and hang it up in your cellar as long as it will keep good, and till it begins to be a little sappy; then take it down, cut it into three pieces, and wash it in sugar and water, one piece after another. Then take a pound of saltpetre, and two pounds of bay-salt, dried and pounded small. Mix with them two or three spoonsful of brown sugar, and rub your beef well with it in every place. Then strew a sufficient quantity of common salt all over it, and let the beef lie close till the salt is dissolved, which will be in six or seven days. Then turn it every other day for a fortnight, and after that hang it up in a warm but not hot place. It may hang a fortnight in the kitchen, and when you want it, boil it in bay-salt and pump-water till it is tender. It will keep when boiled, two or three months, rubbing it with a greasy cloth, or putting it two or three minutes into boiling water to take off the mouldiness.
Dutch Beef.
TAKE a buttock of beef, cut off all the fat, and rub the lean all over with brown sugar. Let it lie two or three hours in a pan or tray, and turn it two or three times. Then salt it with saltpetre and common salt, and let it lay a fortnight, turning it every day. After the expiration of this time, roll it very straight in a coarse cloth, put it into a cheese-press for a day and a night, and then hang it to dry in a chimney. When you boil it put it into a cloth, and when cold, it will cut like Dutch beef.
Hunting Beef.
TAKE a pound of salt, two ounces of saltpetre, a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, one ounce of corianders, one ounce of cloves, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of nutmeg, two ounces of allspice, a quarter of a pound of pepper, half an ounce of chyan pepper, and two ounces of ginger; let the whole be ground and well mixed. Take your buttock of beef and rub it well with the spices, and keep turning and rubbing it every day, one month: when your beef is to be done, take a deep pan, put in your beef with plenty of fat over and under, taking care that your beef does not touch the bottom of the pan. Cover your pan down close so that the steam does not come out, which may be prevented by putting a paste to the cover made of flour and water. Send it to the oven, and if moderate it will be done enough in five hours. It should not be taken out of your pan till quite cold; be sure to have plenty of fat, as there must not be any water put in.
Pickled Pork.
BONE your pork, and then cut it into pieces of a size suitable to lay in the pan in which you intend to put it. Rub your pieces first with saltpetre, and then with two pounds of common salt, and two of bay-salt, mixed together. Put a layer of common salt at the bottom of your pan or tub, cover every piece over with common salt, and lay them one upon another as even as you can, filling the hollow places on the sides with salt. As your salt melts on the top, strew on more, lay a coarse cloth over the vessel, a board over that, and a weight on the board to keep it down. Cover it close, strew on more salt as may be occasionally necessary, and it will keep good till the very last bit.
Mock Brawn.
TAKE the head, and a piece of the belly-part of a young porker, and rub them well with saltpetre. Let them lay three days, and then wash them clean. Split the head and boil it, take out the bones, and cut it into pieces. Then take four cow-heels boiled tender, cut them in thin pieces, and lay them in the belly-piece of pork, with the head cut small. Then roll it up tight with sheet-tin, and boil it four or five hours. When it comes out, set it up on one end, put a trencher on it within the tin, press it down with a large weight, and let it stand all night. Next morning take it out of the tin, and bind it with a fillet. Put it into cold salt and water, and it will be fit for use. If you change the salt and water every four days, it will keep for a long time.
Turkey soused in Imitation of Sturgeon.
DRESS a fine large turkey, dry and bone it, then tie it up as you do a sturgeon, and put it into the pot, with a quart of white wine, a quart of water, the same quantity of good vinegar, and a large handful of salt; but remember that the wine, water, and vinegar, must boil before you put in the turkey, and that the pot must be well skimmed before it boils. When it is enough, take it out, and tie it tighter; but let the liquor boil a little longer. If you think the pickle wants more vinegar or salt, add them when it is cold, and pour it upon the turkey. If you keep it covered close from the air, and in a cool dry place, it will be equally good for some months. Some admire it more than sturgeon, and it is generally eaten with oil, vinegar, and sugar, for sauce.
To make fine Sausages.
TAKE six pounds of young pork, free from skin, gristles, and flit. Cut it very small, and beat it in a mortar till it is very fine. Then shred six pounds of beef-suet very line, and free from all skin. Take a good deal of sage, wash it very clean, pick off the leaves, and shred it fine. Spread your meat on a clean dresser or table, and then shake the sage all over it, to the quantity of about three large spoonsful. Shred the thin rind of a middling lemon very fine, and throw them over the meat, and also as many sweet herbs as, when shred fine, will fill a large spoon. Grate over it two nutmegs, and put to it two tea-spoonsful of pepper, and a large spoonful of salt. Then throw over it the suet, and mix all well together. Put it down close in a pot, and when you use it, roll it up with as much egg as will make it roll smooth. Make them of the size of a sausage, and fry them in butter, or good dripping. Be careful the butter is hot before you put them in, and keep rolling them about while they are doing. When they are thoroughly hot, and of a fine light brown, take them out, put them into a dish, and serve them up. Veal mixed with pork, and done in this manner, eats exceeding fine.
Oxford Sausages.
TAKE a pound of young pork, fat and lean, without skin or gristle, a pound of lean veal, and a pound of beef-suet, chopped all fine together; put in half a pound of grated bread, half the peel of a lemon shred fine, a nutmeg grated, six sage-leaves washed and chopped very fine, a tea-spoonful of pepper and two of salt, some thyme, savory, and marjorum, shred fine. Mix all well together, and put it close down in a pan till you use it. Roll it out the size of a common sausage, and fry them in fresh butter of a fine brown, or broil them over a clear fire, and send them to table as hot as possible.