HOG. 



have a good capping of St. Ubcs, or 

 other coarse salt. This is indispen- 

 sable. Bacon mess, pork is so called 

 when the full proportion of prime 

 pieces in prime mess is withheld : 

 there are, therefore, various classes 

 of bacon pork. Tierces contain the 

 same number, that is, fifty pieces of 

 six pounds, and the same rules as to 

 messing are to be observed as in the 

 barrel. The tierces must have not 

 less than three hundred pounds, and 

 well capped with salt. It is usual to 

 put in fifty-two pieces. In bacon 

 mess, the number of prime mess pie- 

 ces should be marked upon the head. 

 No part of the hog's head is allowed 

 in any instance." 



Bacon differs from pork in being 

 dried. The following is the Hamp- 

 shire method, which is in the highest 

 repute in England, and makes the 

 best article ; the ham only is remo- 

 ved from the side, the shoulder and 

 middling being allowed to remain to- 

 gether, and called a side or flitch of 

 bacon : 



" The hair is burned off with light- 

 ed straw, and the cuticle of the skin 

 scraped off. The carcass is hung up 

 after the entrails have been removed, 

 and the next day, when it is quite 

 cold, it is cut up into flitches. The 

 spare ribs are taken out, and the 

 bloody veins carefully removed ; the 

 whole is then covered with salt, with 

 a small quantity of saltpetre mixed 

 with it. Sometimes a little brown 

 sugar is added, which gives a pleas- 

 ant sweetness to the bacon. 



" The flitches are laid on a low 

 wooden table, which has a small 

 raised border all round it. The table 

 slants a little, so as to let the brine 

 run off into a vessel placed under it 

 by a small opening in the border at 

 the lower end. The flitches are 

 turned and resalted every day: those 

 which were uppermost are put un- 

 der, and in three weeks they are 

 ready to be hung up to dry. Smo- 

 king the bacon is no longer so com- 

 mon as it used to be, as simply dry- 

 ing it is found sufficient to make it 

 keep. Those who, from early asso- 

 ciation, like the flavour given by the 



374 



smoke of wood, burn sawdust and 

 shavings in a smothered fire for some 

 time under the flitches ; when they 

 are quite dry, they are either placed 

 on a bacon-rack for the use of the 

 family, or are packed with wheat 

 chaff into chests till they are sold. 



" The practice of cutting the hogs 

 into pieces and pickling them in a 

 vat, being attended with less trouble, 

 isvery generally preferred when there 

 is only a sufficient number of hogs 

 killed to serve the farmer's family ; 

 but flitches of bacon, well cured, are 

 more profitable for sale." 



The common method in the United 

 States is to kill in November to Jan- 

 uary, scald the carcass by immersion 

 in a hogshead of water heated by hot 

 stones, and rub off the bristles and 

 scarf-skin by knives : the chine, head, 

 and feet are also taken off 



In Virginia the side is cut into a 

 shoulder, taken off as far down as 

 the spare ribs, a middUng and ham ; 

 it is thoroughly salted, one bushel of 

 Liverpool salt serving f^or 1000 pounds 

 of pork ; this is mixed with one or 

 two pounds of pounded nitre. The 

 pieces are piled in a hogshead, the 

 hams being first put in, the shoulders 

 next, then the middlings, and on top 

 the necks, jowls, heads, &.c. There is 

 an admirable piece, called the round, 

 formed by cutting the neck close to 

 the head, and again off the side by 

 the upper spare rib. The pieces re- 

 main untouched from four to six 

 weeks ; they are then hung on laths 

 across rafters, shank downward, and 

 at least eight feet above the ground 

 in the smoke-house, and a smothered 

 fire made with corn cobs, hickory 

 and oak chips. At first they are 

 smoked three times a day, and later 

 but twice. The laths are moved ev- 

 ery week, so as to bring the different 

 pieces nearest the smoke. As the 

 weather becomes mild, a handful of 

 red pepper is thrown upon the fire 

 occasionally to annoy any insects in 

 the smoke-house. In six weeks or 

 two months the smoking is stopped, 

 the pieces are taken down, rubbed 

 with pounded red pepper, and hung 

 again, shank upward, until dry, till 



