BACON. 67 



and baked with meats lend them flavor, and mitigate their 

 grossness. Vegetables should be sliced, and the solid roots 

 parboiled and put in when the meat is half done. 



Meats baked in the oven of a modern range, where the 

 door is occasionally opened and the meat basted, bear a 

 nearer resemblance to roasts than meats prepared in a com- 

 mon stove. 



Tongues and hams soaked for twenty-four hours, and the 

 water changed in the evening, are frequently taken out, and, 

 after being wiped, put into a coarse paste, and set into the 

 oven, and baked till tender. The paste is taken off before 

 they are sent to the table. 



BACON. Pork that is young, not over ten or twelve 

 months, is best for family bacon. It should be well bled, 

 and carefully trimmed. 



For fifty pounds of pork, I have frequently used the fol- 

 lowing receipt : Three and a half pints of salt, six ounces 

 of saltpetre, and three pounds of moist sugar ; rubbing in the 

 saltpetre, and, mixing the salt and sugar together, rubbing it 

 also in thoroughly. Allow it to remain in a deep wooden 

 trough or tub for six weeks, turning it every day, and bast- 

 ing it with the liquor formed by the sugar, salt, and salt- 

 petre. Take it out, dry it, and smoke it for three weeks. 



Bay or Lisbon salt, or salt formed by the gradual action 

 of the winds and sun, is thought to impart a milder flavor to 

 meat than manufactured salt. 



If you cure large quantities of pork, and your brine should 

 become offensive with blood and slime, do not attempt to boil 

 it over and skim and return it when cold, as is sometimes 

 done ; such pickle, diluted with water, can be used on a gar- 

 den. Make a fresh brine, and, after having scalded your 

 tub with a strong lye made of wood-ashes, and then with 

 hot water, wipe your bacon dry, removing all slime, and 



