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Home Curing of Bacon. 



[Oct., 



boards placed on bricks will answer the purpose, and the writer 

 has known bacon to be very well cured by simply laying it on a 

 clean stone floor. With a moderate sized pig of 9 to 10 score 

 the hams need not be cut out, but cured with the sides, using 

 about 1 stone of coarse salt (about 2 bars), 1 lb. of saltpetre, and 

 1 lb. of coarse brown sugar. Some of the saltpetre should be 

 well rubbed into the meat by hand, and especially into the rind, 

 side and edges of the meat. The salt should then be rubbed well 

 in, the remainder of the saltpetre and sugar should be mixed 

 with salt and a fairly thick layer be placed on the bacon, the 

 sugar especially on the thick part of the hams. The hand should 

 be pushed into the shoulders and the hams where the bones 

 have been removed and this mixture well rubbed in. Next day 

 moisture should be drained off, the sides must be turned every 

 two days, and a little more salt put over and under. The whole 

 m_ay be left in salt for a fortnight to three weeks according to 

 the size of the pig. The head is split and salted for two or three 

 days and will make an excellent brawn boiled with IJ lb. of 

 lean beef and pressed. When the bacon is taken out of salt, it 

 should be well scrubbed on the rind side and washed all over to 

 remove surface salt, carefully wiped as dry as possible and hung 

 up in a cool, airy place to dry. The washing prevents rust and 

 the bacoti will dry off clean. When dry the hams can be cut 

 off, and to keep from flies they should be sewn up in unbleached 

 calico and hung up in cool dry place, together with the flitches. 



B vine- curing . — 1 stone of salt, I lb. of saltpetre and about 

 10 gallons of cold water will brine-cure one pig of about 10 score. 

 The sides should be left in the brine for a fortnight to three 

 weeks, or removed from the brine in a week, wiped dry and dry- 

 salted for one week, a fortnight in all. A wooden tub or a tank 

 would be used for the brine and should be long and wide enough 

 to take the sides of bacon flat. This last method is more satis- 

 factory than complete curing by means of brine. In dry salting 

 the sides may be placed one on the other, but their position should 

 be changed daily; as in all other things it is the care and per- 

 sonal attention that is most important in curing bacon and hams. 



Hams can be pickled, if preferred to ordinary curing. A very 

 good Wiltshire recipe is as follows : — Sprinkle the ham with salt 

 after it has hung two or three days and let it drain. Make a 

 pickle with 1 quart of strong beer, -| lb. of treacle, lb. of coarse 

 sugar, 1 oz. of coriander seed. 2 oz. of juniper berries, 1 oz. of 

 pepper, 1 oz. of allspice, 1 oz. of saltpetre, J oz. of salt prunella, 

 a good handful of common salt : pound together, warm 

 and pour over the ham; rub and turn every day for a 



