|
Classic
Cook Books
< last page | next page >
page 102
DRIED BEEF.
Buy the best of beef, or that part which will be the most lean and tender. The
tender part of the round is a very good piece. For every twenty pounds of beef
use one pint of salt, one teaspoonful of saltpetre, and a quarter of a pound of
brown sugar. Mix them well together, and rub the beef well with one-third of the
mixture for three successive days. Let it lie in the liquor it makes for six
days, then hang up to dry.
A large crock or jar is a good vessel to prepare the meat in before drying it.
BEEF CORNED OR SALTED. (Red.)
Cut up a quarter of beef. For each hundred weight take half a peck of coarse
salt, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, the same weight of saleratus, and a
quart of molasses, or two pounds of coarse brown sugar. Mace, cloves and
allspice, may be added for spiced beef.
Strew some of the salt in the bottom of a pickle-tub or barrel; then put in a
layer of meat, strew this with salt, then add another layer of meat, and salt
and meat alternately, until all is used. Let it remain one night. Dissolve the
saleratus and saltpetre in a little warm water, and put it to the molasses or
sugar; then put it over the meat, add water enough to cover the meat, lay a
board on it to keep it under the brine. The meat is fit for use after ten days.
This receipt is for winter beef. Rather more salt may be used in warm weather.
Towards spring take the brine from the meat, make it boiling hot, skim it clear,
and when it is cooled, return it to the meat.
Beef tongues and smoking pieces are fine pickled in this brine. Beef liver put
in this brine for ten days, and then wiped dry and smoked, is very fine. Cut it
in slices, and fry or broil it. The brisket of beef, after being corned, may be
smoked, and is very good for boiling.
Lean pieces of beef, cut properly from the hind quarter, are the proper pieces
for being smoked. There may be some fine pieces cut from the fore-quarter.
After the beef has been in brine ten days or more, wipe it dry, and hang it in a
chimney where wood is burned, or make a smothered fire of sawdust or chips, and
keep it smoking for ten days; then rub fine black pepper over every part to keep
the flies from it, and hang it in a dry, dark, cool place. After a week it is
fit for use. A strong, coarse brown paper, folded around the beef, and fastened
with paste, keeps it nicely.
Tongues are smoked in the same manner. Hang them by a string put
< last page | next page >
Classic
Cook Books
|
