HOW TO CUT AND CURE MEATS

It is often economical for a family (o buy beef by the quarter, unit smaller aniioala whole, eapecially when wunted for winter use, onci every faoQBekeeper ought to know bow to cut up meaU and to understand the uses and relative value of Che piecex. It is not difficult to out up beef, and is very easy to reduce any of the smaller anliuals to convenient proportions for domestic use ; and in order to make the subject clear we present the accompanying: engravings, the first of which represents (lie half of a beef, including, of course, the hind and fore-quarters. The letters indicate the direction in wliich the cuts should be made, beginning in the order of the al- phabet, cutting first from A tu B, then C to D, etc. In the fore-quarter cut from A to B, from B to V, from D to E, etc. For cutting, use a sliarp, long, and pointed knife, and a saw of the t)e9t steel, slmrp, and .wl for butelier's use. The beef siiuiild be laid on a bench or table with the inner side up. In hind quarter 1 represents the "rump," which is bestcornod; 2, "round," the under part of which makes steaks, the outside good corning pieces, or the whole moy be used fur dried beef; 3, "shank" for SoUjis; 4. " rump steaks ;" 5, "veiny piece" for dried lieef or coming; 6, sirloin, tlie best steak ; 7. flank for coming or slews; S. ]>orterhouse, the upper part of which Is equal to sirloin. Cut in llii.t ' way a part of the tenderloin, the choicest

hit of the beef, lies in the sirloin, and a smaller part in the upper part of the porterhouse steok. In (he fore-quarter I is tlie "rib piece" for lioiling or coming; 2, the "plate" piece for corniug; 3, the "fore-shank" for soup; 0, the "rib roast," first cut; 6, "rib roast," best cut, and the best roast in the beef; 7, "chuck rib roast," commonly used for "pot roast;" 8, neck piece, (or coming or pie meat; 9, best cut for corn beef.

HO W TO CUT AND CURE MEATS,

A — Loin, best end, for roasting.

B — Loin, chump end, for roasting.

O — Fillet, for baking or roasting.

I)— KBucklCf for stewing.

E — Fore-knuckle, for stewing.

F — Neck, best end, for roasting.

G — Neck, scrag end, for stewing.

H — Blade bone.

I — Breast, for stewing.

K — Brisket, for stewing.

A— Back, lean part for roast B — Loin, for roast. C — Bacon, to be cured. D — Shoulder, to be cured. E — Ham, to be cured.

A— Leg, for boiling piece.

B — Loin, for roast.

C — Rump piece, for roast

D — Chops, frying or broiling.

E— Fore-shoulder for boiling.

F — Neck, for stewing or roasting.

G — Brisket, for stewing.

Spiced Corned Beef. — To ten pounds beef, take two cups salt, two cupa tnolHsses, two table-spoons saltpeter, one table-spoon ground pepper, one ta- ble-siK)on cloves ; rub well into the beef, turn every day, and rub the mixture i:i : will be ready for use in ten days.

To Keep Hams after Curing. — Cut hams in slices suitable for cooking, trim off the rind, and pack as compactly as possible in a stone jar; over tl^ toi> pour molted lard, so as to completely exclude the air. When ham is wanted for use, scrai)e off the lard, remove a layer of meat, and always he particular to melt the lard and return it immediately to the jar. It will keep through the season.

A New Way to Smoke Hams. — Smoke the barrel^ in which the hams are to be pickled, bv inverting it over a kettle containing a slow fire of hard wood, for eight days (keeping water on the head to prevent shrinking); in this barrel pack the hams, and pour over them, after it has cooled, a brine made in the profwrtion of four gallons of water, eight pounds of salt, five pints of molasse.«>, and four ounces saltpetre, boiled and skimmed in the

HOW TO CUT AND CURE MEATS. 515

usaal manner. They will be cured in eight or nine days, and they may be kept in the pickle for a year without damage.

To Keep Lard from Molding. — Use a tub that has had no tainted lard or meat in it; scour it out thoroughly with two quarts of wheat bran to four of boiling water, but use no lye of soap. Fry the lard until the scraps are brown, but not scorched or burned ; remove from the fire, cool until it can be handled, and strain into the prepared tub; when cold, set it away in the cellar. Lard dipped off as fast tis it melts will look very white, but will not keep through the summer. No salt should be added, as it induces moisture and invites mold.

To Keep Meat Fresh in Hot Weather. — For a five-pound piece of meat take a three-gallon stone crock ; have some pans of skimmed milk that is taming sour, just getting thick; put some of the milk in the crock; then put in the meat; then put in milk till it covers the meat; now turn an earthen dish or plate bottom-up on the meat to hold it down; fill the crock with the milk ; tie a cloth over the top, and set in a cool place ; it will keep five or six days in the hottest weather. When wanted for use, wash thor* oughly in water, and cook in any manner desired.

To Keep Hams. — For one hundred ix)unds of meat, take eight pounds of salt, two ounces saltpetre, and four gallons water; put hams in this pickle in the fall, keeping them well under the brine ; in April, take out, drain three or four days, slice as for cooking, fry nearly as much as for table, pack in. stone jars, pressing down the slices as fast as they are laid in the jars; whea full, put on a weight, and when entirely cold cover with the fat fried out. Prepared in this way, they retain the ham flavor without being smoked. The gravy left from frying will be found verv useful in cooking.

To Cure Hams. — In the fall, about tlie first of Novemuer, people in the country generally kill a ^ood-sized pig, to last until "butchering time." To cure the nams of such, first rub well, es])ecially around the bone on fleshy side, with one-half of the salt, sug^r, cavenne and salti)€tre, well pulverized (same proportions as for corned-beef ), adding a teasi>oon of allspice to each ham ; put a layer of salt in bottom of cask, and pack in hams as closely as possible; let stand three or four days, then make a brine of the other half of salt, etc., and jwur over meat, putting a good weight on top ; when it has lain three or four weeks it is ready for use.

To Cure and Dry Beep Tongues. — For one dozen tongues make a brine of a gallon and a half of water (or enough to cover them well), two pints good salt, one of molasses, or one pound brown sugar, and four red peppers ; bring to a boil, skin, and set to cool. Pack the tongues in a large jar, and when the brine is entirely cold, pour it over them, put on a weignt, let remain ten or twelve days, take out, drain, and hang to smoke about two days, then dry moderately, and put away in a flour sack in a dry place. When wanted for use, boil six or eight hours in a pot filled with water, adding more when necessary so as to keep well covered all the time until done ; when done, take out' and set away to cool, but do not skin till needed for the table.

Sausage. — For ten |X)unds meat take five table8j)oons sage, four of salt and two of pepper. Some add one tablespoon ginger, and some a little summer savory. When nicely minocd, pack in jars, and treat precisely as in preceding recipe — **To Keep Hams." If kept in a cool place, and care taken to replace the lard, there is no difliculty in keeping sausage perfectly fresh almost any length of time. Some persons partially cook meat before packing, but this is not necessary. Fresh meat may be kept nicely in the same way, being first seasoned with salt and ))e))per.

Or, one pound salt, one-half pint of sage and three and one-half ounces pepper, scattered over forty pounds of meat before grinding.

£eef-8Teak for Winter Use. — Cut the steak large, and the usual thick- ness; have ready a mixture made of salt, sugar and finely powdered salt- petre, mixed in the same proportion as for corning beef; sprinkle the bottom of a large jar with salt, lay in a piece of steak, and sprinkle over it some of

516 HOW TO CUT ASD CURE MEATS.

the mixture, as much or a little more than you would use to season in cook- ing, tlien put in another slice, sprinkle, and so on till jar is filled, with a sprinkle of the mixture on ton; over all, put a plate, with a wei|?bt on it, and set in a cool, airy place, wliere it wiil not freeze. This needs no brine, as it makes a brine of its own. Twenty-five or thirty i)Ounds may be kept perfectly sweet in this wa}'. Take out to u.se as wanted, and broil or fry as usual. * •

Virginia 8al'.'<a({e Meat. — Pick the sausajre meat to get out all the pieces of bones and strinjrs; wa.sh it in lukewarm water, and lay on a table to drain ; let it stand uH nijrht. Take oft' .*?oine of the fat from the backbone to mix with the lean, if you use ''leaf fat" when you fry the sausage, it will Molt away to gravy and leave a little knot of lean, hard'and dry, floating in 1 sea of melted grease. The fat must be taken ofl' before the chines are sahed, and washed, skinned and put to drain with the lean. Next day, choj« it fine, picking out all the strings. When fine enough, season it with salt. sage, black and red peijper, to taste. Pack it in a close vessel. If you wish to stuff them, have some nicely-cleaned chitterlings kept in salt and water ten days or a fortnight. Stufi*, hang on sticks and dry. A little smoke im- proves them ; too much makes them bitter.

To Salt Pork. — Allow the meat to stand until the animal heat is entirely out of it; cut the sides into strips crosswise; cover the bottom of a barrel with salt, and pack in the pork closely edj^ewise, with rind next the barrel: cover each layer with salt, and proceed in like manner until all has been put in. Make a strong brine sufficient to cover the pork (soft water is best, and there is no danger of getting it too salt), boil, SKim and pour into the barrel while bailing hot. Have a board cut out round, a little smaller than the bar- rel, put over the pork, and on it place a weight heavy enough to keep it always under the brine. If at any time the orine froths or looks rea, it must be turned ofl^, scalded and returned while hat. Never put cold brine on old pork, unless you wish to lose it. In salting down a new supply of pork, boil down the old brine, remove the scum, and then pour it over the pork aa directed above.

Trying Lard. — Cut the fat into small pieces, put into kettle, and pour in enough water to cover the bottom ; boil gently until the " scraps" settle, or until the water has all evaporated, stirring often to prevent burning. Take off, strain into stone jars, and set in a coot place. The quality of the lard is improved by sprinkling over and slowly stirring in one tablespoon of sods to every five gallons of lard, just before removing from the fire. After adding soda*, the kettle must be removed from the stove, and watched closely, ana stirred constantly, as it foams rapidly, and is very likely to run over, and, if on stove, is likely to take fire. The leaf should be tried by itself for the nicest cooking. That from the smaller intestines, and the flabby pieces, not fit for salting, should be thrown into lukewarm water and allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, and then should be tried by itself, and the lard set away where it will freeze, and, by spring, the strong taste will be gone. A tca-cup.of water prevents burning while trying.

How TO Cut up Pork.— Split through the spine, cut off each half of head behind the ear, remove the pieces in front of the shoulder, for sausaee. Take out feaf which lies around kindeys, for lard ; cut out tlie lean meat, ribs, etc.. then tne ham and shoulder, and remove the loose pieces directly in front of the ham, for lard. Cut off a narrow strip of the belly, for sausage; and cut up the remainder, which is clear pork, into five or six strips of about equal width, for salting down. Smoke the jowl with hams, ana use the upper part of the head for boiling, or baking, or head-cheese.

Scorch the feet over the fire until the hoofs remove easily, scrape clean, place in hot water a few minutes, wash and scrape thoroughly, and they are ready for cooking.

All the flabby pieces shouldTbe tried up for lard. Remove all fat from in- testines, saving that which does not easily come off the larger intestines for

HOW TO CUT AND CURE MEATS, 517

soap-grease. The liver, heart, sweet-hreads and kidneys are all used for boil- ing or frying, and the smaller intestines are sometimes used for sausage cases.

The Despabd Red Round. — A round of beef weighing twenty-five pounds, one ounce of cloves, three ounces of saltpetre, three ounces of coarse su^r, half an ounce of allspice, six ounces of common salt, one nutmeg. The beef should hang two or thee days ; then take out the bone, rub the spicks and salt thoroughly together, and rub them well into the beef on both sides; cover the beef, turn and rub it every day for from two to three weeks. When you wish to use it, dip it in cold water to remove the loose spice ; bind it closely several times around the sides with a long strip of cotton cloth two inches wide; put it in a pan with half a pint of water m the bottom to pre- vent burning; cover the top of the meat with shred suet, and cover the pan with a crust half an inch thick, made of water and Graham or other flour, seeing that it adheres to the edge of the pan. Lay a brown paper over the crust; bake it slowly for five or six hours. The gravy, of wnich there will be a large quantity, may be used in soup, in beef-pie, or in hash. The place from which the bone was taken may be rub)>ed with fine chopped parsley, and sweet herbs may be laid between the skin and the meat.

To Clear Beep Tripe. — Empty the paunch, rinse it thoroughly in cold water, being careful not to let any or the contents get on the outside. Make strong cleansed water or white lye, let it heat a little, too warm to hold the hands in, pour it over tlie tripe in a tub, let it stand two or three hours, then tack it up against a board, and with a knife scrape downwards, taking off the inner sKin, or rinse it clean in cold water; sprinkle lime over, put in a tub, cover with warm water, and let it stand two or three houre, then scrape it with a knife ; if the dark does not all come off easil3% sprinkle more lime on, and let it lie for an hour longer, then scrape again, and rinse in cold water until clean. Place it in water enough to cover with a large handful of salt, let it remain in the salt water three days and nights, chang- ing it each day, then take it out) cut in pieces about six inches wide and twelve long, lay in buttermilk for a few hours to whiten; then rinse it clean in cold water, and boil until tender; it will tiike from four to ten hours, aa it should be done so that it can be mashed with the fingers. After thus pre* pared it can be cooked as preferred.

To Cure Hams AtND Bacon. — When killed and cool cut up, and begin im- mediately to salt them. Rub the outside of each ham witn a teaspoon of powdered saltpetre, and the inside with a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Hav- ing mixed together two pounds of brown sugar and salt, mixed m tne propor- tion of one pound and a half of sugar to a pint of salt, rub the i)ork well with it. This qtiantity of sugar and salt will be sufficient for fifty pounds of meat. Have ready some large tubs, the bottom sprinkled with salt, and lay the meat in the tubs with the skin downward. Put plenty of stilt be- tween each laypr of meat. After it has lain eight days, take it out and wipe off the salt, and wtush tlie tubs. Make a pickle of soft water, equal quanti- ties of salt and molasses and a little .saltpetre ; allowing five ounces of salt|)etre to two quarts of molasses and two quarts of salt, which is the proportion for fifty pountls of meat. The pickle must he strong enough to hear up an egg. Boil and skim it, an<l, when it is cold, pour it over the meat, which must he. turneii frequently and basted with the pickle. The hauLs should remain in the pickle at least four weeks; the bacon three weeks. They should then be taken out and smoked. Having washed off the pickle, before you smoke the meat, bury it while wet in a tub of hran. This will form a criist over it, and prevent evap)ratk)n of the juices. Let the smoke-house be readv to receive the meat immediately. Take it out of the tub after it has lain half an hour, and rub the hran evenly over it. Then liang it up to smoke "with the small end downwanl. Tongues may be cured in the above manner.

Brine for Beef, Hams and SiiorLnERs. — To one hundred pounds beef, take eight pounds salt, five of sugar or five pints molasses (Orleans best, but •ny good will do), two ounces soda, one ounce saltpeter, four gallons soft

518 HOW TO CUT AXD CURE MEATS.

water, or enough to cover the meat. Mix part of tlie salt and sugar together^ rub each piece and place it in the barrel (oak is best), having covered the bot- tom with salt. When the meat is all in, put the remainder of salt and sugar in the water. Dissolve the soda and saltpeter in hot water, add it to the brine and pour over the meat; place a board on top of meat, with a weight sufii- cient to keep it under the hrine. Let the pieces intended for dried beef re- main in the brine for three weeks, take out, place in a tub, cover with water, let stand over night, string and dry. String it (smoke for a few days, if you like), hang it up to ceiling over the kitchen stove, or on a frame set Ijehind the st<jve, turn round once a day so as to give all parts an equal exposure, and let remain for three or four weeks. Test by cutting a piece, which .sliould be well dried on the outsi<ie, and froe from raw^ness to the center. When dried, sprinkle with ground black pepper, put in paper sacks, tie up lightly, and hang in a C(K)1, dry, dark place, or put, without sacks, in an empty flour barrel, and cover closely. Boil hrine, skim well, let cool, and pour orer the bonv pieces left. Those are good boiled and eaten either hot or cold, and thev will Keep good for several months. Tongue may be pickled with the beel.

Brine made the same way, with the addition of two pounds more of salt, is good for hams and shoulders. Take part of the mixture of salt and sugar, rub each piece thoroughly on fleshy side, lay in barrel (having first covered the bottom with salt) skin side down. When all are in, make a pickle of the remainder of the mixture, as directed in "Brine for Beef," pour over the meat; have a round board, a little smaller than the barrel, place on the meat with a weight (a large stone is good, W'hich may be w^ashed clean and laid away to be used year after year), sufficient to keep it under the brine; let remain from four to eight weeks, according to size; take out, drain, sprinkle with cayenne penper, particularly around the bone. Hang them ready to smoke, let them urain for two days, and then smoke with corn cobs or green hickory or maple wood, taking care to have smoke, bvt not fire enough to vmke heat. Hang up to smoke with hock downwards, as the skin then retains the juices of the meat. After smoking four weeks take down, sprinkle with ground black pepper, tie tightly, in whole paper sacks, hang in a dry, dark, cool place, watching closely for fear of mold. Or, wrap in paper, sew in a. coarse, cotton bag, whitewash on the outside and hang near the roof in the garret; or, wrap in brown i)aper, and cover with dry ashes {dry leached ashes are best); or, pack without sacks, hock end upixM-most, in oats or shelled corn, or in clean, sweet hay, before tlics come. Cover box or barrel closely, i.nd keep in a dry, cool place. If there is any danger from flies, take direct from smoke-house and pack immediately. Brine for pickled pork should have all the salt it will dis