490 STANDARD RECEIPTS. 



Then place them in a deep pan, and add a wine-glassful of good vinegar. 

 Turn the hams every day; for the first three or four days rub them well 

 with the brine; after that time it will suffice to ladle it over the meat 

 with a wooden or iron spoon. They should remain three weeks in the 

 pickle. When taken from it wipe them well, put them in bags of brown 

 paper and then smoke them with wood smoke for three weeks. Most 

 grocers, dealers in hams, and others, who are particular with their meat, 

 usually take the precaution to case each one, after it is smoked, in can- 

 vass, for the purpose of defending it from the attacks of the little fly, 

 (dermestes lardarius) , which by laying its eggs in it, soon fills it with its 

 maggots. This troublesome and expensive process may be altogether 

 superseded by the use of pyroligneous acid. With a painter's brush, 

 dipped in the liquid, one man, in the course of a day, may effectually 

 secure two hundred hams from all danger. Care should be taken to in- 

 sinuate the liquid into all the cracks, etc., of the under surface. This 

 method is especially adapted to the preservation of hams in hot climates. 



2. Make the following pickle and let the meat lay in it six weeks: 



2-1 pounds Sugar, 

 7 pounds Coarse Salt, 

 2 ounces Saltpetre, 

 4 gallons Water. 



Boil together and put to cool. The above is sufficient for one hundred 

 pounds of meat. 



3. To a cask holding, say from twenty-five to thirty hams, after pack- 

 ing them closely and sprinking them slightly with salt, let them lie thus 

 for three days; then make a brine sufficient to cover them, by putting 

 salt in clear water, making it strong enough to bear up a sound egg or 

 potato. Then add one-half pound of saltpetre, and a gallon of molasses; 

 let them lie in brine for five weeks. Then take them up and let them 

 drain; then while damp, rub the flesh side and the end of the leg with 

 finely pulverized black, red, or cayenne pepper; let it be as fine as dust, 

 and dust every part of the flesh side, then hang them up and smoke. 

 You may leave them hanging in the smoke house or other cool place 

 where the rats cannot reach them as they are perfectly safe from all 

 insects. 



To Keep Smoked Hams. Make sacks of coarse cotton cloth, 

 large enough to hold one ham, and fill with chopped hay all around 

 about two inches thick. The hay prevents the grease from coming in 

 contact with the cloth and keeps all insects from the meat. Hang in 



