Part 22

Hamburgh Beef.--Take a piece of meat from the bed, or other fleshy part; scatter common salt under and over it, and let lie 24 hours to void the blood; then put into a pickle made with 1 gal. water that has been boiled, 1 lb. common salt, 1½ lb. coarse sugar, 2 oz. saltpetre, ½ pint vinegar; simmer until all are melted, and pour the liquor over the meat placed in a deep narrow pan, so that it may be covered completely; it will be ready for smoking in 3 weeks; well dry with a cloth, and rub pea meal all over it until you have got a coat on it; if well smoked, it will come out bright yellow, and will keep any length of time. (Robinson.)

Hams.--(1) Four days after being killed, rub them all over with common rough salt, particularly about the hip-bone and knuckle joints. Having brushed off the salt (which should remain on for a day and night), and dried the hams with a coarse cloth, rub thoroughly and equally into each, 1 oz. finely powdered saltpetre, and let it lie for 24 hours, then take 1 oz. saltpetre, ½ lb. common salt, ¼ lb. bay salt, 1 lb. coarse sugar. Make them hot in a pan--but be careful not to melt them--and rub them well in, while hot, all over the fleshy and rind sides, and finish with ½ lb. more of common salt. Let them lie thus until a brine appears, and then with plenty of bay leaves, strewed both under and over, turn them every day, and rub and baste them well with the brine for the space of 3 weeks; then take them out of pickle and immerse them in cold spring water for 24 hours; let them drip; wipe them well with a cloth; rub hog’s blood, that has coagulated, all over them, and put them to smoke for a week, well smothered. (Robinson.)

(2) Three days after killing rub well with 1 oz. saltpetre, ½ lb. bay salt, 1 lb. treacle, and a handful each of bay leaves, marjoram, and thyme, chopped fine; keep on rubbing and basting for a week, turning over each day; next strew salt on an inch thick, and let remain till the salt and brine are well mixed; boil the pickle, and pour it hot (not scalding) over the meat; let lie for 14 days; smoke, without wiping, for a week in gentle heat for the first 6 hours and afterwards cool.

(3) Take a leg of pork about 20 lb. and rub all over with 3 oz. saltpetre; let lie 14 hours; then boil 2 qt. stale beer or porter, 2 lb. salt, 2 lb. coarse sugar, 1 lb. pounded bay salt, skim well, and pour hot over the meat; let lie a month, rubbing and turning every alternate day; take out, rub dry, and roll for ½ hour in malt-dust or oatmeal; when well covered, smoke for 3 weeks; and immediately wash over with a hot paste of quicklime and water; leave for a week, and hang in cool dry place.

(4) Take a leg of pork 16-18 lb.; rub in 1 oz. sal prunelle and leave for 24 hours; boil 12 oz. bay salt, 10 oz. common salt, 1½ oz. saltpetre, 2 lb. treacle, 2 qt. vinegar, 3 heads garlic, and a handful of chopped sage; skim, pour hot over the meat, and well rub in daily for 10 days; let lie 10 days with frequent turning; dry, and smoke for 3 weeks.

Herrings.--The fish are spread on a floor, and sprinkled with salt; when sufficiently salted, they are thrown into large vats, and washed. Each fish is then threaded through the gills, on long thin spits holding 25 each. These are hung upon trestles in the smoking-room, where fires of oak-boughs are kept smouldering. For “bloaters,” to be consumed in England, the smoking lasts about 24 hours; “red-herrings” for export are salted more, and are smoked for 3 or 4 to 40 days, usually about 14 days. “Kippers” are taken while fresh, and split up. They are then washed, and thrown into vats with plenty of salt for a few minutes; finally they are spread out on tenter-hooks, on racks, and hung up for 8 hours’ smoking.

Herring Paste.--1 doz. herrings put in a pan, cover with hot water; when pretty soft, pull them to pieces, take out all the bones (use only white part of fish and soft roes), pound in a mortar, with ½ lb. butter, cayenne to taste, ¼ pint anchovy sauce; when well pounded, put into small pots with lard over. Will keep good for months, and will be found delicious.

Hungarian Beef.--Take about 10 lb. of fine fat short rib or sirloin of beef that has been killed 4 or 5 days; rub thoroughly with ½ lb. coarse sugar or treacle until none can be seen; after lying 2 days take 2 oz. juniper berries, ½ lb. bay salt, 2 oz. saltpetre, 1 oz. sal prunelle, 1 lb. common salt, all finely beaten to powder, and some bay leaves and thyme chopped small; rub in for an hour, and let lie for 3 weeks in an earthen pan, rubbing well every day with the brine; take out, wipe well, and plunge into cold water for 12 hours; rub perfectly dry, and colour with bullocks’ blood; hang up in gentle smoke for 3 days, after which smoke until nearly black.

Mackerel.--Take the mackerel as soon as caught (for they quickly become dark and lose flavour), and with a light knife split open the back from head to tail; take out the guts, roes, livers, and gills, and be particular you do not burst the gall; wipe each fish well inside and out, and put into the following pickle:--1 gal. cold pure water, 1 oz. saltpetre, 2 lb. common salt, 1 lb. coarse sugar; if the fish be large and thick, let them lie in this state 6 hours; then take out and put two stretch laths across the back of each, extending them as much as possible; wash through the pickle once, and hang to dry for 2 hours; after which place in a hot smoke for 1 hour, and afterwards in a cool one for 20 hours, or until they become of a dark chestnut colour. When cold, pack them one on the other in bundles of 6, and keep them rather in a dry than in a damp room.

Mutton Hams.--Select a short, thick, round leg of wether mutton about 14 lb. weight; rub thoroughly for 20-30 minutes with coarse sugar, and let lie 12 hours, turning 3 times; plunge into the following pickle, with what sugar you have on the dish;-½ lb. bay salt, 1 lb. common salt, 1 oz. saltpetre, 2 oz. juniper berries, 1 handful each of thyme and bay leaves, 2 qt. soft water; simmer together one hour, and use lukewarm; let remain in this pickle 3 weeks; take out, but do not wipe; then smoke, but insist on its being turned frequently, sometimes shank upwards, and _vice versâ_, for a fortnight, in a strong regular fume; when cold, put into a calico bag, and hang up in the kitchen until you want to dress it; then bury it in the bag in a dry garden soil for 20 hours or so; and take care, when it is boiled, to put plenty of bay leaves, thyme, and marjoram into the pot along with it. (Robinson.)

Norfolk Chine.--Select the chine of a 10-score pig; remove rind and superfluous fat, and rub and turn daily for a week in 1 lb. each salt and treacle, and 1 oz. each bay and laurel leaves; then boil 3 qt. water with 1 lb. salt, 1 oz. each crushed juniper berries and shredded bay and laurel leaves, and a handful each of thyme and marjoram; skim, and pour cold over the meat so that it mingles with the first pickle; turn for 3 weeks, wipe dry, and coat with bran and then pea flour; smoke for 14 days with equal proportions dried fern, oak lops, and birch or beech chips; bake and eat cold.

Oysters.--A method of preserving oysters is adopted by the Chinese. The fish are taken from the shells, plunged into boiling water for an instant, and then exposed to the sun till all the moisture is removed. They remain fresh for a long time, and retain their full flavour. Only the fattest can be so treated. Oysters are also largely “canned,” much in the same way as salmon.

Pickled Pork.--Cut into convenient sized pieces and remove principal bones; rub well with saltpetre and then with a mixture of 2 parts bay salt and 1 part common salt; pack in a clean vessel with plenty of salt around the sides and covering the top.

Porker’s Head.--Choose a dairy-fed porker of 7 score; open the head, and remove gullet, tongue, eyes, &c.; wash 5 minutes in salt and water; rub well all over with coarse sugar and sliced onions; let remain in a deep dish 48 hours; boil ½ oz. powdered bay leaves, ¾ oz. saltpetre, 1 lb. bay salt or rock salt, 2 oz. ground allspice, 1 qt. water; skim well, and when cold, pour it over the head in a deep straight-sided earthen vessel; let lie 3 weeks, turning and basting with the pickle every other day; wipe dry, place the tongue in (having meantime cured it as neats’ tongue) and stuff all cavities with onions fried in olive oil or sweet lard, and powdered dried sage; bind the cheeks close together with tape, and smoke 3 weeks with 2 parts beech chips, 2 parts fern, 1 part peat, 1 part oak sawdust; keep in same packing as hams, tongues, &c., for 2 months; bake and eat cold.

Salmon.--The fish are beheaded and cleaned, and cut by a series of knives into the right lengths to fill 1 lb. cans. When these have been filled to within ¼ in. of the top, the covers are put on and soldered. In an air-tight condition, the full cans are passed to the boilers, vats measuring 5 ft. × 4 ft. × 4 ft., where they are steamed for 1 hour. They are then taken out and cooled. A small hole in the centre of each lid, hitherto remaining soldered up, is opened by applying a hot iron, and the air and cooking-gases are allowed to escape. The cans are then instantaneously made air-tight again, and are boiled for two hours in a bath of salted water, the salt being added to raise the boiling-point. They are then left to stand till quite cool.

Salmon, Kippered.--Lay the fish on a board with the tail towards you, and the back to the right hand; insert the knife at the point of the nose, and split down the backbone, or as near to it as possible. Take out the inside and the roe, and scale and wipe the fish perfectly clean; remove the backbone and every particle of blood. When clean, rub in a mixture of equal parts salt, brown sugar, and ground black pepper, about 4 large spoonfuls of each ingredient to a 10 lb. fish. Let the fish remain in the pickle 2-3 days, according to size, turning it every day. Afterwards press it between 2 flat stones in a cool place for 2-3 days more, then sprinkle it with ground pepper, and hang it out in the sun against a wall until dry, with wooden skewers to keep it flat, or it may be hung above the fireplace in the kitchen when it is warm, but not hot. After that it may be smoked for 2 days and nights in the smoke of dried seaweed and oak sawdust, or painted over with pyroligneous acid, or with Smith’s Cambrian essence.

Salmon, Pickled.--Take a good salmon; cut it across in 2 or 3 pieces without splitting it; wash carefully and boil in pickle made with coarse salt and spring water strong enough to float an egg. The fish must be put down in cold pickle, and allowed very slowly to boil till it begins to separate from the bone, keeping it well skimmed all the while. Put the fish on a table to drain, and when cold pack it in a crock or keg as closely as possible without breaking the pieces, sprinkling a small quantity of powdered saltpetre, a little salt, and some bay leaves on each layer. Then cover with a pickle made thus: 1 qt. vinegar, 3 pints spring water, ¼ lb. lump sugar, 16 drops oil of cloves. This pickle will preserve any kind of fish fit for pickling, and is particularly good for oysters. These should be boiled slowly before put in it.

Sardines.--The beheaded and cleaned fish are spread upon sieves, and plunged for 1 or 2 minutes beneath the surface of boiling oil in coppers. After draining a little, the fish are packed closely in tin boxes, which are filled up with pure cold oil, and soldered. The quality deteriorates with every immersion, owing to the matters disengaged by the boiling oil, and the coppers need frequent replenishing with oil.

Sausages.--(_a_) Take a quantity of pig’s meat, remove all nerves and skin with great care; then chop it as finely as possible. Put it in an earthenware pan, add to it garlic, parsley, mint, thyme, marjoram, and burnet finely minced; pepper and cloves powdered; and salt, all in such proportions as taste may suggest. Work the whole with a wooden spoon for some time, so as to get all the ingredients well mixed; then add a tumblerful of white wine for every 2 lb. meat, and work it for some time longer. Have some skins perfectly cleaned, rub them well all over with lemon juice, and put them in water with plenty of lemon juice squeezed into it. Take them out one at a time, dry them, fill them with the meat, and tie them in lengths of about 3 in. The sausages should then be hung up to dry in a strong current of air for some days. These sausages are best eaten boiled with cabbages or greens. (The G. C.)

(_b_) Beef sausages are prepared in exactly the same manner as pork. The best part to use is beef steak. To 1 lb. of this use ¼ lb. beef suet or other good fat, ¼ pint stock, or water, 1½ oz. sifted breadcrumbs, 1 large teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful dried and sifted parsley mixed with a similar quantity of thyme, and 1 small teaspoonful salt. If these sausages are properly made and cooked, they will, when cut, give plenty of gravy; they are considered somewhat less rich than those made of pork.

(_c_) 1½ lb. pigmeat cut from the griskin, without any skin, 1½ lb. veal, 1½ lb. beef suet, the yolks and whites of 5 eggs, 1 dessertspoonful sifted sage (after being well dried), pepper and salt to taste. Chop the meat into small pieces, pound it together in a marble mortar till it is soft and tender, chop the suet very fine, and when the eggs are well beaten together (after the specks are taken out) pour the liquid over the pounded meat and chopped suet, kneading it well together with a clean hand, throwing in the sifted sage and pepper and salt from a coarse pepper-box during the operation, so as to let them impregnate the whole mass without being predominant in any part of it. Press the whole, when well mixed together, into a wide-mouthed jar, and keep it from the air in a cold place; roll the sausages on a floured board, and use very little grease in frying them, as they will be almost fat enough to fry themselves, with the aid of a frying-pan. They should be made into small flat cakes, about the size of a five-shilling piece. Lovelock’s sausage-making machine is very useful.

(_d_) To each lb. veal put ½ lb. ham, in equal quantities of fat and lean. Season with ½ teaspoonful salt, a whole one of pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and sweet herbs; mix with 1 oz. sifted breadcrumbs, and moisten with 4 tablespoonfuls stock made from trimmings of the veal and ham. Proceed as for pork sausages.

Shrimps.--To preserve shrimps in a dried state, they are boiled for ½ hour with frequent sprinkling of salt; then spread out on hard dry ground, with frequent turning, to dry and bleach for 3 or 4 days. They are then trampled to remove the shells, and are winnowed and bagged.

Shrimps, Potted.--Take some freshly boiled shrimps and half their weight of butter, pick out the meat from the tails, and chop it up fine; take the rest of the shrimps and pound them up with a little of the butter until reduced to a smooth paste, then add the meat from the tails and pound all together, seasoning well with pounded mace, grated nutmeg, and cayenne pepper; put it into pots, and cover with clarified butter.

Smoked Geese.--When geese are cheap, take as many as you please, only seeing that they are fresh, and not in the least damp or muggy; then cleanly draw, pick from pen-feathers, and wipe well out with a cloth dipped in strong salt and water; after which immerse in the following (quantities for 6 geese):--2 lb. coarse sugar, 1 lb. bay salt, 3 oz. saltpetre, 1 handful finely beaten sage, 3 shallots, 2 handfuls crushed bay leaves; boil together 10 minutes, and afterwards simmer ½ hour; when cold, pour over the geese, which must be turned often, and, if possible, kept covered with the pickle; let remain 48 hours; take out and let them drip (do not wipe), and rub cayenne pepper plentifully inside each until it adheres; smoke 3 days and nights in a cool smoke, and hang each up in a calico bag in the kitchen; when wanted for table, dissect them, and broil over a clear fire.

Smoked Neats’ Tongues.--Take 6 tongues and rub well with sugar for 2 days; then rub well with common salt and saltpetre for 2 days more, apart from the sugar; then take 1 qt. each of water and porter, ¼ lb. saltpetre, 2 lb. bay salt, 2 lb. common salt, and with the sugar first used make a hot pickle, which skim well, and pour over the tongues laid in a deep narrow tin pan completely covered; let lie for 8 days more, and they will be fit for use in any way; if to be smoked, wipe them well, and turn in the chimney 4 or 5 times for 5 days.

Sprats.--Pick out the largest, and then the second size, rejecting the remainder, or refuse, which, however, may be useful to pot. Put into baskets, and well wash in salt and water; then set to drain an hour, and afterwards plunge into a pickle that will float an egg: the smaller ones may be taken out of pickle in 4 hours, and the large ones in 6 hours, and be set to drain; which done, proceed to stick them on frames, the eye being pierced by each nail, and then, with a steady hand, put into the chimney. Set on a gentle heat for ½ hour, and let it be succeeded by a strong smoke for 12 hours longer; when cold, they will be fit for immediate consumption; but if you want them to keep a month or so, you must continue the smoke on them for 30 hours, or until they become a dark brown colour; and if for packing, they should be placed as bloaters, keeping the same-sized ones together in a dry room, and after a few hours they will have sweated in the packages, and will be very mellow and fine flavoured.

Sprats, Pickled.--For this purpose the sprats must be quite fresh and unsalted. Clean, take off the heads, and thoroughly wash them. Drain, and put in layers and rows, heads and tails, into china-lined earthen pie-dishes, wide, well glazed, or stoneware crocks, with whole pepper, allspice, chili-pods, and bay leaves; of the latter sparingly. Dissolve 1 spoonful salt in hot water, pour it over the fish, and add vinegar to cover them completely. Cover and bake slowly for 1-2 hours, according to quantity, till all the fish are well cooked through. Take off the cover and let them cool before putting away for use. Add a little more vinegar if too dry. A few shallots or slices of silverskin onions can be added if approved of. Sprats pickled thus should come to the table in the vessel they are cooked in, and removed in layers. In cold weather, if kept for a week or two, the bones will be found to be quite dissolved by the action of the vinegar. Fresh herrings, trout, salmon peal, eels, and a variety of fresh-water fish can be thus prepared.

Sprats, Potted.--Pour some boiling (slightly salted) water on the sprats, cleaned as above-mentioned, in a deep pan. After a few minutes the meat can easily be removed from the bones. When this is done, mash it up finely and carefully with a silver fork. Add red and white pepper and a little more salt to taste. Grease 1 lb. jam-pots with clarified butter. Pack the fish closely into these, and bake for ½-1 hour in slow heat. When cold, pour some of the clarified butter or some American tinned marrow fat to the depth of 1 in. on the top of each pot, and allow to harden before tying down for use. These will keep well 1-3 weeks.

Tongues.--(_a_) Sprinkle the tongue well all over with common salt, and let it stand 2 days. If it appear slimy, remove the salt with the slime, then mix 1 lb. saltpetre and 1 tablespoonful coarse brown sugar together, with which rub the tongue well, and let it be in pickle 3-7 weeks, taking care to turn and baste it well every day during that time. If it be allowed to remain in pickle as long as 7 weeks, it should be taken out, rubbed dry, and hung up to keep for five days before using it. It is better, however, not to keep them in so long, as tongues are always best used straight out of the pickle. Like all other boiled meats, tongues require great care in cooking. The fact is they never should boil; they should be soaked for 2 hours or more after they are taken out of the pickle, according to the number of weeks they have been in it, and should then be put into a large saucepan or stewpan in cold water. As soon as this shows symptoms of boiling, and before it begins regularly to boil, the pan should be drawn sufficiently to the side of the fire to keep up a constant simmering, to be kept up until it is done. In this way the tongue will be as tender as possible, and, cured with saltpetre as described, it should have a nice red colour.

(_b_) ½ oz. saltpetre, ½ oz. salprunella, 1 lb. salt, ½ lb. very coarse sugar, 4 bay leaves, 10 juniper berries, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, and 3 pints water. Let all boil for ½ hour, skim off the scum, and pour the liquid into a pickling dish, when it is quite cold put the tongue in, and turn it every day for 3 weeks, if you wish to cook it green, but if you intend to hang it, let it stop for a month in pickle. This pickle will keep good for months if reboiled and skimmed. Every tongue put in should be well rubbed with salt, left to drain for 3 days, and wiped dry before being put in.

Trout, Potted.--(_a_) Pour boiling water on the fish, and let them steep ½ hour; bone and skin them, and pound them in a mortar with ½ lb. butter to double the quantity of fish; add by degrees, salt, cayenne, and spices to taste; when reduced to a smooth paste, put it into pots and cover with clarified fat or butter.

(_b_) Mix together the following quantity of spices, all finely pounded. 1 oz. cloves, ½ oz. Jamaica pepper, ¼ oz. black pepper, ¼ oz. cayenne, 2 nutmegs, a little mace, and 2 teaspoonfuls ginger; add the weight of the spices and half as much again of salt, and mix all thoroughly. Clean the fish, and cut off the heads, fins, and tails; put 1 teaspoonful of the mixed spices into each fish, and lay them in a deep earthen jar with the backs downwards; cover them with clarified butter, tie a paper over the mouth of the jar, and bake them slowly for 8 hours. When the backbone is tender the fish are done enough. Take them out of the jar and put them in a pan with the backs upwards; cover them with a board, and place a heavy weight upon it. When perfectly cold remove the fish into fresh jars, smooth them with a knife, and cover them with clarified butter.

_Pickling._--The chief agent in pickling is hot vinegar, and the best way to prepare it is as follows:--Bruise ¼ lb. each of black pepper, ginger, cloves, pimento, and mace, with some garlic, horse-radish, capsicums, and shallots, in 1 qt. of the strongest and best vinegar in a stoneware jar; cork tightly, cover with a bladder soaked in the pickle, and place on a trivet near the fire for 3 days, shaking it up 3 or 4 times a day. Gherkins and similar articles should be pricked before immersion, to admit the pickle better. The addition of a little alkali (such as soda bicarbonate) heightens the green colour of the pickles. Glazed or block-tin vessels should alone be used for making pickles in. Glass or earthenware jars are best for strong pickles; they must be tightly corked and tied down with bladder soaked in the pickling liquor. A damp store cupboard is fatal to them.

Cabbage.--Choose a fine closely-grown red cabbage, strip the outside leaves off, cut it across in rather thin slices, and lay on a dish, scattering salt over; cover with a cloth, and let lie 20 hours; drain the cabbage on a sieve, and put it in a clean jar with allspice, whole pepper, and a little ginger sliced; pour cold white wine vinegar over it to cover it well, and tie closely from the air.

Chutney.--(_a_) Cayenne pepper, ¼ oz.; mustard seed, 2 oz.; brown sugar, ½ lb.; ground ginger, 1 oz.; vinegar, 1½ pint; stoned raisins, ¼ lb.; garlic, 2 oz.; onions, ¼ lb.; salt, 2 oz.; apples, 1½ lb. Boil until soft enough to mash through a colander. (C. G. J.)