CURING MEATS, POTTING, AND COLLARING.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

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, it 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 flavour than any other kind. Sugar makes the meat mellow and rich, and is sometimes used to rub meat before salting. 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.

In 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 unfavourable 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, canvass 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 will 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 flavoured, 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 picklingtub. 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.

AN EXCELLENT PICKLE FOR HAMS, TONGUES, &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 BEEF.

To six pounds of common salt, add twelve ounces of brown sugar, six ounces of saltpetre, some bruised bay leaves, thyme, winter savoury, and sweet marjoram, with a few cloves and blades of mace; with this mixture rub the piece of beef for a few minutes every day for six days running, after which merely turn it over in the brine once a-day for six days. If

the beef is thin it will be ready for use. A round will take a fortnight longer. This receipt is suitable for every kind of salted meat.

TO SALT BEEF.

Another Way.

To four gallons of water, add six pounds of salt, one pound of sugar, four ounces of saltpetre; boil this mixture, and skim; when cold, immerse the meat to be preserved, and press with a weight; it is essential that the meat be covered. The same pickle may be used repeatedly, provided it be boiled up occasionally with additional salt to restore its strength, diminished by the combination of part of the salt with the meat, and by the dilution of the pickle by the juices of the meat extracted.

By boiling, the albumen, which would cause the pickle to spoil, is coagulated, and rises in the form of scum, which must be carefully removed.

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 eight days. In sixteen, drain it from the pickle; and let it be smoked at the