No. 6. 



The Art of Curing Bacon. 



187 



possible, (and they may be made to do it per- 

 fectly,) with the fleshy sides up. When you 

 shall thus have covered the wiiolc bottom of 

 the trough with hams, sprinkle a plenty of 

 salt over them. Do not be afraid of using too 

 much salt. The meat can only absorb a given 

 quantity in a given time, and whatever re- 

 mains can be used for salting stock, &c. A 

 bushel of salt to 800 lbs. of purk is the rule in 

 Virginia, but I think it prudent to use more 

 than that in this latitude. You will thus put 

 in course after course of hams until the trough 

 (or hogshead) be one-third filled ; — then ap- 

 propriate another third of the trough to 

 shoulders, and the remaining third to mid- 

 dlings, chines and jowls. These can be filled 

 up a foot above the edges of the trough. The 

 skulls and other bloody parts should be salted 

 separately. 



If the weather should prove favourable, 

 your meat will, in the course of a week, set- 

 tle down very considerably, and the brine 

 formed by it will rise above the highest course 

 of joints. I think you need entertain no fears 

 for itg^afety after this happens. Should the 

 weather become very warm, however, within 

 fifteen days after the salting, it will be pru- 

 dent to see that no flies are about it ; and 

 even to displace some of the middlings so as 

 to enable you to see one of the shoulders. 

 Should this, and the brine prove pretty cold 

 to the hand, and the joint appear to be attain- 

 ing considerable firmness, disturb it no fur- 

 ther. But, on the contrary, should the brine 

 be warm and the joint spongy, your meat will 

 be in great danger. It will then have ,to be 

 spread out and the bone extracted. With 

 good management, however, I believe this 

 state of things will hardly ever come to pass. 



At the expiration of tliree weeks, all the 

 middlings and smaller pieces may be strung 

 and liung up in your smoke house ; and at 

 the expiration of four weeks the joints may 

 be taken out and strung. Splits of white oak 

 make the best strings for this purpose that I 

 have ever seen tried. After this is done, let 

 each joint be very well rubbed with the ashes 

 of hickory wood, and- then hung up carefully 

 with as much of the ashes adhering to the 

 joint as possible. 



It is very desirable that your smoke house 

 be both large and high; otherwise, the heat 

 of the fire may raise the temperature to such 

 a degree as to injure your meat very serious- 

 ly. I have frequently known bacon to be af- 

 fected in this way. If your smoke house be 

 built of logs, let it be perfectly well chinked 

 and daubed with clay, and the roof be ren- 

 dered as tight as convenient ; otherwise the 

 smoke will escape too rapidly. 



Have a hole dug in the centre of your smoke 

 bouse eighteen inches deep by three feet 



square, in the bottom of which the smoke 

 must be made ; and upon the joists, inune- 

 diately over this hole, should be placed a 

 platform, five or six feet square, composed of 

 slabs or planks. The object of this is to pre- 

 vent the heat of the fire from aifecting the 

 meat immediately above it. 



Hickory wood chips is the best material to 

 smoke with ; a peck to a half bushel being 

 sufficient for a day. These chips should bo 

 rendered very damp in order to prevent their 

 burning too freely. A smoke is made by 

 placing two chunks in the bottom of the hole, 

 with their fire ends lapped together, the chips 

 poured over them, and the whole covered 

 three or four inches deep with damp saw- 

 dust. This last is absolutely necessary to 

 prevent the fire from burning too freely. In- 

 deed I consider saw dust (any kind will do) 

 so essential in this process, that I would send 

 fifty miles for it, rather than attempt to make 

 bacon without it. 



The smoke should be kept up throughout 

 the day, but be permitted to go out at night, 

 lest the temperature of the house be too much 

 raised. 



At the expiration of two weeks the jowls 

 and chines must be taken down and put into 

 barrels, or something else, as they would he 

 injured by being exposed longer to the smoke. 

 One of them will then be found to make a 

 very excellent and convenient dish, especially 

 if boiled with turnep-tops. 



At the expiration of three weeks the mid- 

 dlings must be taken down and secured in 

 like manner from the further influence of the 

 smoke. 



With regard to the joints, it is very diffi- 

 cult to smoke them too much, and they may, 

 therefore, be continued under this process to 

 as late a period in the spring as may be 

 consistent with a due regard to their safety 

 from the depredations of the skipper fly.* 



Whenever your joints may be considered 

 as sufficiently smoked they must be taken 

 down and packed in hogsheads, barrels, &c. 

 with the ashes of hickory wood; — the me- 

 thod of packing to be very much the same 

 as in the salting process : except that, as the 

 packing in ashes is designed in part to pro- 

 tect the meat from the ravages of skippers, 

 bugs, &c. a more liberal use of the ashes 

 must be resorted to than of the salt. Let the 

 layers of meat be well separated by the ashes 

 (say half an inch at least, but as much more 

 as you please,) and all the space not occupied 

 by the meat should be occupied by the ashes : 



* With regard to thrse destruclive insects, it is 

 thoiiKht by many that a free use of the pods of red pep- 

 per, in tlie smoking process, will greatly retard their 

 operations, if not entirely expel tlieni from a smoke 

 house. It is worthy of trial, but I do not give it as tho 

 result of iiiy esperjence, 



