Classic Cook Books
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page 167
lose no time in unpacking the meat; for a hogshead of hams and shoulders that
are in this state, have six pounds of brown sugar, three pounds of salæratus,
mixed with half a bushel of salt; rub each piece with this, and as you pack it
in the hogshead, (which should be well washed and cleaned,) sprinkle a little
coarse salt over each layer of pork, and also on the bottom of the hogshead. I
have known this plan to save a large quantity of pork, that would have been
unfit for use, if it had not been discovered and attended to in time. Some
persons use crushed charcoal to purify their meat. Shoulders are more easily
affected than hams, and if the weather is warm the ribs should be cut out of the
shoulders. Jowls also require particular care; black pepper, about a pound to a
hogshead, sprinkled on the meat before it is hung up to smoke, is valuable as a
preventive where flies are troublesome; have a large pepper-box kept for the
purpose, and dust every part that is exposed; pepper is also good to put on beef
before it is hung up to dry; wash it off before cooking, and it does not injure
the flavor.
To Pickle Pork.
Take out all the ribs, and cut it in pieces of about three pounds each; pack it
in a tight barrel, and salt it well with coarse salt; boil a very strong pickle
made of coarse salt, and when it is cold pour it over the meat, and put a weight
on the top; if you wish pork to keep, do not put saltpetre in, as it injures the
flavor.
To Cure Hams and Shoulders.
To cure five hundred weight of hams and shoulders, take fifteen quarts of common
salt, one pound and a half of saltpetre rolled fine, half a pound of red pepper
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Classic Cook Books
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