DAilPSniEE BACO:S'.] 



PIGS, 



[scotch BACOir. 



HAMPSHIRE BACON. 



This bacon is held in very high estimation. 

 With both Hampshire and Berkshire bacon, the 

 proper time is to choose a dry day, when the 

 wind is blowing from the north ; and kill the 

 hog early in the morniug, if having fasted 

 the day before. "When dressed," says Mr. 

 Touatt, " hang him up in some airy place for 

 twenty-four hours ; then proceed to cut him 

 up. This being done, lay the flitches on the 

 ground, and sprinkle them with salt lightly ; 

 BO let them remain for six or eight hours ; then 

 turn them up edgeways, and let the brine run 

 off. In the meantime, take two or three gal- 

 lons of the best salt, and two ounces of saltpetre, 

 pounded very fine, and well mixed together ; 

 and the salting-bench being made of the best 

 seasoned oak, proceed to salt the flitches by 

 rubbing in the salt on the back side of the 

 flitch. This being done, turn the inside up- 

 wards, and lay on the salt about a quarter ol' 

 an iucla in thickness. In like manner treat 

 every flitch. On the third day afterwards 

 change the flitches — namely, take ofi'the upper- 

 most, and reverse them at the same time, 

 laying the salt a quarter of an inch in thick- 

 ness. There will be no need of rubbing as 

 before mentioned, neither should the saltpetre 

 be repeated, otherwise the lean of the bacon 

 will be hard. The changing and salting should 

 be done every third day for six successive times, 

 when the bacon will be suIScieutly salt. Then 

 proceed to rub oflf all the stale briny salt, and 

 lay on each flitch a covering of clean fresh 

 bran or sawdust, and take it to the drying-loft. 

 It should be there hung, by means of crooks 

 fastened in the neck of the flitch, and remain 

 for fourteen or sixteen days. Cleft oak or 

 ash is the best wood for drying bacon." In 

 both this county and in Berkshire, singeing is 

 adopted more generally than scalding; and 

 this process is considered superior to scalding, 

 the latter being supposed to soften the rind 

 and render the fat less firm. The Wiltshire 

 bacon is of a peculiarly delicious quality ; but 

 the cause is obvious, and is not to be referred 

 to any of the details of the curing process. 

 It is prepared from dairy-fed pork. This is 

 the true secret. The same remark applies 

 to the Cumberland bacon. In several counties 

 the hog is shinned prior to curing. Some 

 790 



amount of additional profit is, of course, de- 

 rivable from this practice; but the bacon is 

 inferior, being liable to become rusty, as well 

 as to waste in the boiling. Hams and flitches 

 should always be hung up in a dry place. 

 Indeed, it will be found useful to sew up the 

 former in pieces of canvas or sacking, as is 

 the practice with the Westphalian. 



THE SCOTCH MODE OF CURING HAMS AND 

 BACON. 



In Mr. Henderson's treatise on swine, we 

 find the following account of the method of cur- 

 ing hams and bacon in Scotland: — "In killing 

 a number of swine, what sides you may have 

 dressed the first day, lay upon some flags or 

 boards, piling them across each other, and giving 

 each flitch a powdering of saltpetre, and then 

 covering it with salt. Proceed in the same man- 

 ner with the hams themselves, and do not omit 

 giving them a little saltpetre, as it opens the 

 pores of the flesh to receive salt, and gives the 

 ham, besides, a pleasant flavour, and makes it 

 more juicy. Let them lie in this state about 

 a week ; then turn those on the top under- 

 most, giving them a fresh salting. After lying 

 two or three weeks longer, they may be hung 

 up to dry in some chimney or smoke-house ; 

 or, if the curer chooses, he may turn them 

 over again, without giving them any more 

 salt ; in which state they may lie for a month 

 or two, without taking any harm, until he haa 

 convenience for drying them. I practised, for 

 many years, the custom of carting my flitches 

 and hams through the country to farm-houses, 

 and used to hang them in their chimneys, and 

 other parts of the house to dry — some seasons 

 to the amount of 500 carcasses. This plan, 

 however, was found to be attended with a 

 number of inconveniences. About twenty 

 years ago I contrived a small smoke-house of 

 very simple construction. It is about twelve 

 feet square, and the walls about seven feet 

 high. One of these huts requires six joists 

 across — one close to each wall, the other 

 four placed at proper distances. To receive 

 five rows of flitches, they must be laid 

 on the top of the wall. A piece of wood, 

 strong enough to bear the weight of one 

 flitch of bacon, must be fixed across the belly 

 end of the flitch by two strings, as the neck 

 end must be hung downwards. The pieces of 



