THE CABE OF MEATS

In hot weather, if there is no refrigerator, then wipe meat dry, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper, and hang in the cel lar. Or, still better, wrap it, thus prepared, in a dry cloth, and cover it with charcoal or with wood-ashes. Mutton, wrapped in a cloth wet with vinegar, and laid on the ground of a dry cellar, keeps well and improves in tenderness.

Hang meat a day or two after it is killed before corning it.

In winter, meat is kept finely if well packed in snow, with out salting ; but some say it lessens the sweetness.

Frozen meat must be thawed in cold water, and not cook ed till entirely thawed. .

Beef and mutton are improved by keeping as long as they remain sweet. If meat begins to taint, wash it, and rub it with powdered charcoal, which often removes the taint.

MAKKETING AND CAEE OF MEATS. 23

Sometimes rubbing with salt will cure it. Soda water is good also.

Take all the kernels out that you will find in the round and thick end of the flank of beef, and in the fat, and fill the holes with salt. This will preserve it longer.

Salt your meat, in summer, as soon as you receive it.

A pound and a half of salt rubbed into twenty-five pounds of beef, will corn it so as to last several days in ordinary warm weather ; or put it in strong brine.

In most books of recipes there are several different ones for corning, for curing pork hams, and for other uses, while an in experienced person is at a loss to know which is best. The recipes here given are decided to be the best, after an exami nation of quite a variety, by the writer, who has resided where they were used; and she knows that the very best results are secured by these directions. These also are pronounced the best by business men of large experience.

To Salt down Beef to keep the Year round.— One hundred pounds of beef ; four quarts of rock-salt, pounded fine ; four ounces of saltpetre, pound ed fine ; four pounds of brown sugar. Mix well. Put a layer of meat on the bottom of the ban-el, with a thin layer of this mixture under it. Pack the meat in layers, and between each put equal proportions of tbis mixture, allowing a little more to the top layers. Then pour in brine till the barrel is full.

To cleanse Calf's Head and Feet. — Wash clean, and sprinkle pounded res in over the hair ; dip in boiling water and take out immediately, and then scrape them clean ; then soak them in water for four days, changing the water every day.

To prepare Rennet. — Take the stomach of a new-killed calf, and do not wash it, as it weakens the gastric juice. Hang it in a cool and dry place five days or so ; then turn the inside out, and slip off the curds with the hand. Then fill it with salt, with a little saltpetre mixed in, and lay it in a stone pot, pouring on a tea-spoonful of vinegar, and sprinkling on a handful of salt. Cover it closely, and keep for use. After six weeks, take a piece four inches square and put it in a bottle with five gills of cold water and two gills of rose brandy ; stop it close, and shake it when you use it. A table- spoonful is enough for a quart of milk.

To Salt down Fish.— Scale, cut off the heads, open down the back, and re move most of the spine, to have them keep better. Lay them in salt water

24 THE HOUSEKEEPER AND HEALTHKEEPEK.

two hours, to extract blood. Sprinkle with fine salt, and let them lie over night. Then mix one peck of coarse and fine salt, one ounce of saltpetre, (or half an ounce of saltpetre and half an ounce of saleratus,) and one pound of sugar. Then pack in a firkin. Begin with a layer of salt, then a layer of fish, skin downward. A peck of salt will answer for twenty-five shad, and other fish in proportion.

As in most country families, when meat is salted for the year's use, pork is the meat most generally and most largely relied upon, considerable space is devoted to its proper prep aration. Special attention is given to various modes of cur ing and preserving it.

To try out Lard. — Take what is called the leaves, and take off all the skin, cut it into pieces an inch square, put it into a clean pot over a slow fire, and try it till the scraps look a reddish-brown ; take great care not to let it burn, which would spoil the whole. Then strain it through a strong cloth, into a stone pot, and set it away for use.

Take the fat to which the smaller intestines are attached, (not the large ones,) and the flabby pieces of pork not fit for salting, try these in the same way, and set the fat thus obtained where it will freeze, and by spring the strong taste will be gone, and then it can be used for frying. A tea-cup of water prevents burning while trying.

Corn-fed pork is best. Pork made by still-house slops is almost poisonous, and hogs that live on offal never furnish healthful food. If hogs are properly fed, the pork is not un- healthful.

Pork with kernels in it is measly, and is unwholesome.

A thick skin shows that the pork is old, and that it re quires more time to boil. If bought pork is very salt, soak it some hours. Do not let pork freeze, if you intend to salt it.

The gentleman who uses the following recipe for curing pork hams, says it has these advantages over all others he has tried or heard of, namely, the hams thus cured are sweet er than by any other method ; they are more solid and ten der, and are cured in less than half the time. Moreover, they do not attract flies so much as other methods :

Recipe for Molasses-cure'd Hams. — Moisten every part of the ham with molasses, and then for every hundred pounds use one quart of fine salt, and four ounces of saltpetre, rubbing them in very thoroughly at every point. Put the hams thus prepared in a tight cask for four days. Then rub again

MAKKETING AND CAKE OF MEATS. 25

with molasses and one quart of salt, and return the hams to the cask for four days. Repeat this the third and the fourth time, and then smoke the hams. This process takes only sixteen days, while other methods require five or six weeks.

The following is the best recipe for the ordinary mode of curing hams ; and the brine or pickle thus prepared is equal ly good for corning and all other purposes for which brine is used. Some persons use saleratus instead of the saltpetre, and others use half and half of each, and say it is an improve ment:

Brine or Pickle for corning Hams, Beef, Pork, and Hung Beef. — Four gal lons of water ; two pounds of rock-salt, and a little more of common salt ; two ounces of saltpetre ; one quart of molasses. Mix, but do not boil. Put the hams in a barrel and pour this over them, and keep them covered with it for six weeks. If more brine is needed, make it in the same proportions.

Brine for Beef, Pork, Tongues, and Hung Beef .—Four gallons of water ; one and a half pounds of sugar ; one ounce of saltpetre. ; one ounce of sale ratus. Add salt ; and if it is for use only a month or two, use six pounds of salt ; if for all the year, use nine pounds. In hot weather, rub the meat with salt before putting it in, and let it lie for three hours, to extract the blood. When tongues and hung beef are taken out, wash the pieces, and, when smoked, put them in paper bags, and hang in a dry place.

Brine by Measure, easily made. — One gallon of cold water ; one quart of rock-salt ; and two of blown salt ; one heaping table-spoonful of saltpetre, (or half as much of saleratus, with half a table-spoonful of saltpetre ;) six heaping table-spoonfuls of brown sugar. Mix, but not boil. Keep it as long as salt remains undissolved at bottom. When scum rises, add more salt, sugar, salt petre, and soda.

To Salt down Pork. — Allow a peck of salt for sixty pounds. Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. Put down one layer of pork, and cover that with salt half an inch thick. Continue thus till the barrel is full. Then pour in as much strong brine as the barrel will receive. Keep coarse salt between all pieces, so that the brine can circulate. When a white scum or bloody-looking matter rises on the top, scald the brine and add more salt. Leave out bloody and lean pieces for sausages. Pack as tight as pos sible, the rind next the barrel ; and let it be always kept under the brine. Some use a stone for this purpose. In salting down a new supply, take the old brine, boil it down and remove all the scum, and then use it to pour over the pork. The pork may be used in six weeks after salting.

26 THE HOUSEKEEPER AND HEALTHKEEPEE.

To prepare Cases for Sausages. — Empty the cases, taking care not to tear them. Wash them thoroughly, and cut into lengths of two yards each. Then take a candle-rod, and fastening one end of a case to the top of it, turn the case inside outward. When all are turned, wash very thoroughly, and scrape them with a scraper made for the purpose, keeping them in wann wa ter till ready to scrape. Throw them into salt and water to soak till used. It is a very difficult job to scrape them clean without tearing them. When finished, they look transparent and very thin.

Sausage-Meat. — Take one third fat and two thirds lean pork, and chop it; and then to every twelve pounds of meat add twelve large even spoonfuls of pounded salt, nine of sifted sage, and six of sifted black pepper. Some like a little summer-savory. Keep it in a cool and dry place.

Another Recipe. — To twenty-five pounds of chopped meat, which should be one third fat and two thirds lean, put twenty spoonfuls of sage, twenty-five of salt, ten of pepper, and four of summer-savory.

Bologna Sausages. — Take equal portions of veal, .pork, and ham ; chop them fine ; season with sweet herbs and pepper ; put them, in cases ; boil them till tender, and then dry them.

To smoke Hams. — Make a small building of boards, nailing strips over the cracks to confine the smoke. Have within cross-sticks, on which to hang the hams. Have only one opening at top, at the end farthest from the fire. Set it up so high that a small stove can be set under or very near it, with the smoke-pipe entering the floor at the opposite end from the slide. These di-

MARKETING AND CAKE OF MEATS. 27

rections are for a wooden house, and it is better thus than to have a fire with in a brick house, because too much warmth lessens the flavor and tenderness of the hams. Change the position of the hams once or twice, that all may be treated alike. When this can not be done, use an inverted barrel or hogs head, with a hole for the smoke to escape, and resting on stones ; and keep a small, smouldering fire. Cobs are best, as giving a better flavor ; and brands or chips of walnut wood are next best. Keeping a small fire a longer time is better than quicker smoking, as too much heat gives the hams a strong taste, and they are less sweet. The house and barrel are shown in Fig. 5, on preceding page.

28 THE HOUSEKEEPER AND HEALTHKEEPEK.