300 
PORK—BACON—HAM.—NO. 7. 
sprinkling of saltpetere. Should the atmos¬ 
phere, however, be very free from humidity, it 
may be necessary to use a little common salt, 
which, from its more deliquescent property, has 
a tendency to become liquid, (brine.) by the ab¬ 
sorption of water from the air, and the fluids in 
the meat thus accelerate the operation of the 
saltpetre. This being done, it is to be rubbed, 
&c., with salt in the usual manner. 
The action of the saltpetre when applied as 
described, is to combine with the water of the 
fibres and tissues of the meat, thus causing them 
to contract, rendering the meat less vesicular, 
or porous, and consequently will not retain so 
much salt from the brine on drying. The dis¬ 
advantages are that the fibres of the meat are 
rendered somewhat hard. In a general way, 
and under ordinary circumstances of heat and 
humidity of the atmosphere, it is best to apply 
a mixture of salt and saltpetre at first. When 
well-fed hogs are to be cured, if the atmosphere 
is very dry, salt alone should be applied at first; 
then saltpetre alone sprinkled over the meat, 
the brine being afterwards well rubbed in and 
thrown over the meat; a sufficient quantity of 
salt to be applied subsequently. In very moist 
or bad-curing weather, saltpetre should be ap¬ 
plied alone at first, unless there is a fear that 
the meat will decay, in which case salt must 
be applied. From this cause, it is almost im¬ 
possible to cure pork in hot weather other than 
by using salt and saltpetre in combination. 
These are general rules, the result of experi¬ 
ence, which however may be greatly modified 
by circumstances. Notwithstanding which, they 
are valuable as rules, and if carefully attended 
to, will be found on trial worthy of notice. 
A great deal is stated by writers on the ne¬ 
cessity of well rubbing in the salt, &c.; as this 
cannot be performed by the bare hand on the 
large scale, some curers furnish their workmen 
with brushes furnished with a strap nailed 
across the top for the hand to go through ; with 
these, the outer skin of the bacon is well rubbed. 
I am not inclined to put a very high value on 
the act of rubbing, in itself; in doing so, how¬ 
ever, the operator necessarily more fairly dis¬ 
tributes the salt, &c., and the whole of the skin 
gets softened ; for nothing causes pork to take 
the salt so well as the whole of the skin being 
made soft, and in the ordinary mode of placing 
side upon side there always exist patches that 
remain hard. Rubbing, continual shifting, and 
turning the sides almost entirely remedy this 
defect. For curing pork, a dry room with a 
trough formed of slate passing along each side 
and end of the room, and not more than twelve 
inches deep, is the best; it may, however, be 
made of stone, wood, or wood lined with lead. 
Slate and wood lined with lead will be found 
the best, the former to be preferred. Wood 
alone is the worst material that can be used. 
The sides being all prepared as previously 
described, salt and saltpetre, alone or mixed? 
are to be sprinkled over each, and then laid on 
each other until eight, ten, or a dozen sides are 
heaped together, the number varying according 
to the thickness of the sides; half a dozen will, 
however, be found the most convenient number. 
In the course of 24 hours or a couple of days, 
according as the salt is converted into brine, 
the sides are removed, rubbed, and replaced in 
an inverse order, the topmost being this time 
placed at the bottom. A little fresh salt is 
sprinkled between each course, and the brine 
thrown over the whole. In very damp weather, 
the brining should be omitted; if so, the sides 
should be well washed and rubbed in the brine 
previously to repacking. In favorable weather 
for curing, once turning and replacing will be 
found sufficient, and will not occupy more than 
a week. In packing, the skin or rind side, is 
invariably placed underneath. If needed, this 
packing, rubbing, and salting are repeated. 
When completed, the sides are taken down, 
wiped dry, and laid on rough canvass cloth, 
the first side with the skin underneath. Bay 
salt is now copiously strewn over it; the next 
side is laid with the ribs lowermost, and the skin 
uppermost; another side is then laid on this, 
with the skin lowermost; another sprinkling of 
salt, on which is laid a side with the ribs low¬ 
ermost; the canvass wrapper is now drawn 
over all, and corded. This is the mode the 
green bacon is sent to the metropolitan market 
from Ireland, it being found that, if smoked and 
perfectly dried in Ireland, it does not preserve 
so well as when forwarded “ green,” and then 
stored in the vaults of the various London 
wharves, from which it is drawn in order to be 
smoked as may be required for consumption. 
The west-of-England bacon is sent to London, 
ready dried, by land carriage; it is only by sea 
carriage that bacon is obnoxious to damage 
when dried and smoked ready for consumption. 
In curing hams, a trough being provided as 
described, they should be first rubbed with a 
mixture of salt and saltpetre, then laid with the 
shank end lowest at an angle of 45 degrees, 
and so on with every row; at the second or 
third day, they should be well rubbed with the 
brine and salt, set up as before with a little 
