The art and mystery of curing, preserving, and potting all kinds of meats, game, and fish; also, the art of pickling and the preservation of fruits and vegetables

by Anonymous

Fish

THE NUTRIMENT IN FISH.

“This is a subject on which I have made some experiments, the results of which go far to prove that there is much nourishment in fish—little less than in butcher’s meat, weight for weight; and in effect it may be more nourishing, considering how, from its softer fibre, fish is more easily digested. Moreover, there is I find, in fish—in sea-fish—a substance which does not exist in the flesh of land animals, viz. iodine, a substance which may have a beneficial effect on the health, and tend to prevent the production of scrofulous and tubercular disease—the latter in the form of pulmonary consumption, one of the most cruel and fatal with which civilised society, and the highly educated and refined are afflicted. Comparative trials prove that, in the majority of fish the proportion of solid matter—that is, the matter which remains after perfect desication or the expulsion of the aqueous part, is little inferior to that of the several kinds of butcher’s meat, game, or poultry. And if we give our attention to classes of people, classed as to the quality of food they principally subsist on, we find that the ichthyophagous class are especially strong, healthy, and prolific. In no other class than that of fishers do we see larger families, handsomer women, or more robust men, or a greater exemption from the maladies just alluded to.”—Dr. Davy.

WELSH DRIED SALMON.

A great deal of the Welsh salmon is “poached,” or taken surreptitiously, in the long dark nights, by means of lanterns and “spearing,” when the fish, attracted by the light, come to the water’s edge. The salmon is often lank and out of season, and consequently of inferior quality, yet some of it is tolerable and inquired for at the shops by gentlemen, who having resided some time in Wales, and, as it often happens, prejudiced in favour of home productions. However, if it possesses any admired flavour it arises, not so much from the method of curing it, as from the fuel it is smoked with, and which the poachers can easily procure, to wit, dried fern, and young gorse, besides short grass turfs which grow on commons and on the mountain sides, and which is pared off the land very thin, and dried in the sunny weather. They dry and smoke the salmon in some remote part of their cottage, or hut, and hence its dark and dirty appearance, and there it remains until traders intending it for the Chester and Bristol markets come and purchase it. I conclude it pays the curers pretty well for their trouble, since it costs them nothing. Take a fresh salmon, sixteen to twenty pounds weight, split it open at the belly, beginning at about eight inches from where the tail sets on, and cutting through to the bone up to the nose, remove the gills and all the refuse, wipe well out, and quite dry. Mix an ounce of ground white pepper with a pound of coarse sugar, and rub all the inside with it, particularly at the bone, for fifteen minutes or more; then bring the sides together, lay it on a dish, and rub the remainder of the mixture all over the outside of the fish, the back fins and thick part of the shoulders. So let it lie, the thin side uppermost, until next day in a cool room. Then rub again all over with the liquor produced, and let it lie twenty-four hours longer, the thick side uppermost. Now hang it up by the tail until dripping ceases, lay it again on a clean dish, strew fine salt well over the inside, bring the sides together, and rub the outside well with fine salt, leaving the fish covered to the thickness of half-a-crown with pounded rock salt, a thin stratum of which must be under the salmon. Each day the runnings must be thrown away—for observe it is hot weather when fresh salmon is cured—and more salt applied. In five days from the commencement it will be safely cured, provided that the thick part of the back and shoulders have been well supplied with the salt heaped under, around, and above those parts. Then take up the fish, brush off the salt, wipe dry, prop the sides open with splints of wood, and hang it up by the tail in a current of air. Next day hang it up by the head for twelve hours, and after that remove it to your chimney, where, suspended with the head downwards, you may smoke it with beech chips two parts, oak sawdust two parts, and fern or grass turfs two parts, for two weeks, keeping the sides wide open with splints of wood. As soon as the salmon is taken out of smoke, and while it may be a little warm and pliable, lay some well dried oat straw in the inside, bring the sides together and tie round with string. In two months you will have prime dried salmon for broiling in steaks, cut three quarters of an inch thick, and will keep good many months.

FINE DUTCH SALMON.

This article is in great esteem with the Jews. Prepare the fish as per our own directions for “superior kippered salmon,” having taken out the backbone, &c. &c. Now, for a fish of sixteen to twenty pounds weight, take

Bay salt in fine powder	1½	lb.
Saltpetre	1	oz.
Chillies, bruised	½	oz.
Garlic, minced fine	¼	oz.

mix them well, and rub the skin side of the fish all over, using a large handful. Lay your fish flat on a good layer of common salt—rock is far preferable—in your tub, strew bay leaves on it, cover well with your mixture, and put your boards on the fish, weighting them down with accuracy. Remove them once a day for the purpose of applying more of the seasoning, and put fresh bay leaves on the third morning. On the fifth morning take the salmon out of the pickle tub, stretch it open at the back by wooden splints, rinse it quickly through salt and water, and proceed as in the next receipt, in every respect, until the process is completed.

SUPERIOR KIPPERED SALMON.

Choose a short, thick fish with a small head, a bright eye, and of twenty pounds weight, although salmon cannot be too large for splitting, and just fresh from the ice they come packed in. Immediately it is brought home—in hot weather observe—commence your operations. Lay the fish on a table with its back towards you, and, beginning at the nose, draw a sharp knife clean down at one stroke to within two inches of where the tail begins. This must be accomplished so that the backbone is left quite bare under the knife; thus one, the under, side of the fish will be thicker than the upper side. Then take out the roe and liver, which may be beautifully preserved as by various receipts in this treatise, and removing the gills and garbage, wipe out the fish well, and having previously with a pen-knife severed a tissue that runs along the whole length of the bone, and hides much coagulated blood. Pure water must not be allowed, but salt and water may be used to assist in cleaning out the fish—that is, cloths dipped in salt and water. In the next place we must have the backbone detached, to effect which “nicely,” you will need a pen-knife with a strong blade, or one of those used by shoemakers for “paring,” and which are the smallest used by them. Commencing about eight inches from the root of the tail, the knife must be run up by the side of the bone to the head, and then beginning again at the same start, you must pass the knife on the lower side of the bone, and so meeting with the point of the instrument the incision made by the first cutting, thus the bone may be got out, and afterwards the meat so pared down as to appear as though the fish never had a backbone. The necessity for thus taking out the bone is, that handsome slices may be cut from the thick side for broiling. Now, when thus far advanced, make a layer of finely beaten rock salt, or bay salt, at the bottom of your pickling tub, and on that lay the salmon, its scaly side downwards, and with a fine bread-grater cover the whole inside of the fish with finely rendered loaf-sugar, to the thickness of a crown-piece, and put plenty of bay leaves upon that, place your flattening boards nicely on the fish, and weigh them down effectively. These must of course be displaced once a day to supply more sugar to the fish. On the third morning put fresh bay leaves, with a pound more salt, and an ounce and a half of sal prunelle, and replace the boards. Look to it every morning and evening, keeping it well supplied with fine salt and sal prunelle, but using no more sugar. On the fourth day sprinkle lightly over it finely ground white pepper, and renew the leaves. Next day dismiss the boards, bring the thin side over upon the other, and, scattering salt over it, leave it till the next day. Then rinse it quickly through salt and water, and hang it up to drip; wipe it dry, stretch out the sides by pieces of light lath placed across the back, and suspend it in a free current of dry air; examine it occasionally, and if the red side begins to feel clammy or sticky, place it before a fire until the “face” becomes somewhat dry and hardened, then expose it again to the air current, and when ready smoke it with

Oak sawdust	2	parts
Beech chips	2	parts
Fern or grass turfs	2	parts

for three days and nights, adding a little peat to your fire the last twelve hours. It should not be cut for three or four days, and then with a very sharp knife held across the fish in an oblique direction, which procures the slices much broader than if the knife were placed at right angles with the back of the salmon. The slices are usually broiled, enclosed in writing-paper.

COLLARED SALMON.

Take a short, thick fish about twelve pounds weight, scale it, remove the fins, cut off the head with two inches of the jowl, and the tail with six inches of the fish, these to be cured some other way. Lay the fish open at the back, take out the bone, wipe nicely and scatter sifted loaf-sugar over it; after lying six hours replenish the sugar and leave it till the next day. Next draw your knife down the middle, thus making two sides of it, which may by cured in different ways. Get a pint and a half of recently picked shrimps, examine them carefully, and pound them in a mortar with an anchovy, wiped and boned, and so much of this mixture as you think sufficient—viz.

Cayenne pepper	½	oz.
Mace, in fine powder	½	oz.
Cloves    „	1	oz.
Bay leaves „	½	oz.
Table salt	2	oz.

adding a little water that has been boiled. Make a nice smooth paste, and cover the red surface of the fish with it equally; begin at the head part, and roll it up into a nice firm collar, which bind tightly with a broad tape, and sew up in strong calico or light canvas. Let it remain thus two or three days, then plunge it into a pan of boiling water, with saltpetre half an ounce, and salt one pound, to each half-gallon of water; when done enough, take it out, set it on a sieve to cool, and next day put it in your chimney with a slow fire, to dry gradually, and then smoke it with

Beech chips	2	parts
Fern	2	parts
Oak lops	2	parts

for a week. When cool take off the cloth, and hang it up in a dry air to get solid. It may then be enclosed in writing paper and sent to table, and will be greatly relished. Let the thin side be treated thus: Lay it down on the skin side, and cover it with rock or bay salt in fine powder, sifted loaf sugar half a pound, and saltpetre half an ounce; so let it lie forty-eight hours under a board of tasteless wood, weighted down. Next wipe it dry, and hang it on your tenterhooks in a free current of air twenty-four hours; mix well,

Essence of cassia	½	tablespoonful
Essence of cloves	1	tablespoonful
Essence of mace	½	tablespoonful
Essence of cayenne	½	tablespoonful
Essence of bays	½	tablespoonful

lay the fish down on the scaly side, and with a soft flat brush of camel’s hair, pay it well over with the mixture, and cover with oiled silk, or its best substitute, to prevent the evaporation of the essences. Repeat this brushing over three times in twenty-four hours, and roll it up from the head, binding tightly; expose it to a current of dry air, and when ready to receive it, give it a fine firm coating with gelatine composition, and keep it three months in a dry place. It may be cut in slices for broiling, or if boiled let it be put into boiling water.

KIPPERED MACKEREL.

When in season and full of roe, is the time for this process. Take a dozen mackerel, split them down the back from the head downwards, and leaving the thin side connected for an inch with the tail; take out the roes and livers, some of which will be beautiful if otherwise cured and preserved, remove the gills and refuse, wiping clean out. Rub the insides lightly with good olive oil, and let them remain skin side downwards three hours. Boil for a quarter of an hour the following ingredients, and skim well:

Rock salt or common salt	1	lb.
Bay salt	1	lb.
Saltpetre	¼	lb.
Coarse sugar	1	lb.
Water	1	gall.

Lay your fish in an earthen pan along with

Thyme	1	handful
Allspice, bruised	1	oz.
Twelve bay leaves, shred

Pour the boiled liquor upon them at about 150 deg. Fahr., and cover close. In thirty-six hours take out the fish, wipe them dry, stretch them open by wooden splints at the backs, and hang them in a strong air current; watch the inside face of them, and if becoming clammy, place them to a fire for an hour. Smoke them of a nice chesnut brown colour with

Oak lops or sawdust	2	parts.
Fern or turfs	2	parts.
Beech chips	2	parts.

They will keep well if packed face to face with dry oiled paper between every two of them. Broil or toast them moderately.

MAY FISH—A LESS EXPENSIVE METHOD.

Take fifty mackerel, split and clean them, as for “kippered mackerel.” Mix

Rock or common salt	2	lb.
Bay salt	1	lb.
Saltpetre	½	lb.
Molasses	2	lb.

warm these, and rub the fish well on both sides; lay them in a deep pan and let them remain until next day, when they must again be rubbed and laid for another twenty-four hours. Then take one up and try if the flavour is high enough for your approbation, if not, let remain a few hours longer in pickle. When enough, wipe them dry and stick them as kippered herrings, on your tenters; dry them a day or two and smoke them well with

Oak lops	2	parts
Fern	2	parts
Beech chips	1	part
Peat	1	part

SUPERIOR PRESSED MACKEREL.

In the midst of the mackerel season take twenty fine fresh fish, split them open at the belly, only as far as to the backbone, remove the gills and entrails, clear out well, particularly the blood lying on the bone, wash them with salt and water, and hang them up to drain. Make a pickle by boiling for twenty minutes,

Rock salt or common salt	2	lb.
Coarse sugar, foots	1	lb.
Saltpetre	1	oz.
Jamaica pepper, bruised	2	oz.
Bay leaves	1	oz.
Laurel leaves	1	oz.
Water	1	gall.

Lay the fish in a vessel, and pour the liquor, when luke warm, upon them; keep the fish down by a board, and let them lie twenty-four hours; then pour off the liquor, boil it up, skimming well, and return it on to the fish for twenty-four hours more. Then take them up and hang them to dry, exposing the insides well to the current of air by wooden splints placed inside. When sufficiently dried both inside and outside, remove them to your chimney and smoke them a dark colour with

Oak sawdust	1	part
Fern	2	parts
Beech	2	parts
Peat	1	part

When cold, take a pair of large scissors, and cut off the sides of the belly part, to extent of an inch; take off the heads, lay the fish on their backs, packed side by side, and saturate the backbones with this mixture by means of a camel’s-hair tool:

Essence of cassia	1	tablespoonful
Essence of allspice	2	tablespoonfuls
Essence of cloves	2	tablespoonfuls
Essence of nutmeg	1	tablespoonful
Essence of mace	1	tablespoonful

Repeat this twice a-day for three days, and when dry, coat the fish with gelatine composition, and keep in a dry place.

BRITISH AMERICAN SALMON.

Annually, in November, we get from St. John’s, N.B., excellent salted salmon in tierces, dexterously split at the backs, and which, if treated in the following manner, makes tolerable kipper. If it is your purpose to convert two or more fish at once, choose them nearly of the same size, and lay them in a shallow tub with plenty of soft water and salt, so that they are totally immersed for twenty-four hours; then take one up, lay it on a table, scale side downwards, and with scalding hot water and a middling soft brush clean the face of the red side, by drawing the instrument down always in the same direction with the grain of the fish; it will be quite necessary to use a small knife in paring away loose films which attach to the middle of the belly and about the vent. This done, turn over, and brush the skin side until clean, and looking well to the fins and gills. Now lay the fish in plenty of cold water, in which three-quarters of an ounce of common washing soda to each gallon has been dissolved; change the water every twelve hours for thirty-six hours, if the fish weigh about nine pounds each, and so in proportion for greater or less weight. You will now let the fish lie in pure cold water for six hours, then hang them up to drip for twelve hours, and, taking them down, brush the red side quite smooth, stretch open at the back by means of wooden splints, and hang them to dry in a free current of air, watching the inside faces to prevent their getting clammy or sticky, and presenting them to the fire should that be the case. In a day or so you may proceed to smoke them, after you have gained a well-dried face on the red side; this must be done with

Oak lops or sawdust	1	part
Beech chips	2	parts
Fern or grass turfs	2	parts
Peat	1	part

Give them a continuance of this smoke for two days and nights, and although while in the chimney the colour of the inside face may not be so deep as you might wish, yet, when drawn out and exposed to the common air, the shade will be greatly altered, and a fine bright red will succeed it.

BLOATERS.

This process is generally conducted in so negligent and rough a manner—excepting at Yarmouth and Lowestoft—that a little advice on the subject may not be out of place. As the barrels are emptied of their contents, the largest fish should be picked out from the rest, and pickled separately, for otherwise the consumer gets the finest herrings hardly tasting of salt, and most likely in a state of decay, while the small ones are so much oversalted, as to be scarcely eatable. As the fish generally come to hand far from clean, they should be washed by means of round baskets agitated in tubs of salt and water, and turned into separate pickling vats, which should have false bottoms in them, perforated here and there with holes, taps also being introduced to let off the pickle when required. The safest and best method is to make use of saturated solutions of salt, which are made by adding twenty-nine pounds of common salt to seventy-one pounds of water. The herrings will float in this pickle, but must be totally immersed by battens of wood laid on the top of them, and held down by little bags of salt, which, being gradually dissolved, will maintain the strength of the solution, which is always lessened as the fish imbibe the muriatic property thereof, and all pickles of this description are weaker at the surface than at the bottom, and may in this way be rectified. (See Note, No. 4.) As to the length of time the fish should remain in the pickle, that depends whether they came to hand with coarse salt scattered amongst them, at the sea coast, a precaution necessary in hot weather; a good criterion is when the fish begin to be stiff or rigid while being handled, but to try one or two cooked is certainly a sure proof. Pure fresh water must never be added or made use of in this process after salt has been imbibed, or the heads will all be broken when putting them on the spits. When salt enough, run off the brine, and shortly commence putting your fish on the rods, and hang them up in a current of air, then remove them to your chimney, and smoke them with

Oak lops	2	parts
Beech chips	2	parts
Fern or grass turfs	2	parts

When they have been smoked enough, return them to the air currents, as they keep much better on the rods until wanted. If a constant and full smoke has been kept up, twelve hours will be sufficient for the smaller fish, and sixteen to eighteen hours for the large ones. They are not intended to keep good more than four or five days, but in perfection should be eaten the day after being cured.

KIPPERED HERRINGS.

The herring is so favourite a fish with the majority of society, that any improvement in the modes of curing them is a valuable acquisition. The getting rid of the gut and other objectionable parts recommends itself, and claims a decided preference over the old practice of sending the fish to table whole, and, in fact, carrying to the parlour what ought to have been left in the scullery. The salting process should be conducted in a similar manner to that for bloaters, and when taken out of pickle, should be wiped dry, and then split open at the backs, leaving the bone bare as possible; yet, an inch from the tail, the thin side should remain attached to the thick side, this adds much to the appearance of the fish when at table, and saves the curer some trouble in the succeeding stages of process. Clean out all the offal and gills, and wipe with cloths dipped in salt and water, and suspend them by the shoulders upon the tenter hooks of your rods, thus avoiding the trouble caused by the old plan of keeping the fish open by splints of wood. Hang them in a free current of air, and when dried enough—one night is generally sufficient for that purpose—hang them in the chimney, and smoke them of a nice chesnut brown colour, and keep them on the rods, but not in a current, though in a dry room and cold air; when packed it should be insides faces together, with strips of dry oiled paper between each two fish.

SUPERIOR SPICED KIPPERED HERRING.

This is a more troublesome, but withal a delicious preparation of the herring, and should be practised on the best and freshest fish, as on the Isle of Man—“Manx herrings”—in July and August, and the Yarmouth later on in the season. Select two dozen from out of a lot of fish, the largest and roundest, wash them a minute in salt and water, having taken out the eyes and gills, wipe them, and lay them open at the back, wipe clean out, and put them into a pickle made by boiling water for twenty minutes, skimming, and then straining through a sieve,

Rock salt or bay salt	1½	lb.
Coarse sugar	1	lb.
Allspice, ground	2	oz.
Fifteen bay leaves, shred
Six laurel leaves, shred
Water,	5	quarts

Let the fish remain in this six hours, then hang them by their shoulders, and stretched widely open, to dry in a quick current of air. In this, and all similar cases, where the inside is to be acted upon by the atmosphere, those sides should be placed on the hooks so as to receive the full advantage of the air current. When dried as you think sufficiently, hang them in the chimney, and smoke them till of a fine bright brown; return them to the air, and next day take them off the hooks, lay them on their backs, and brush them all over the inside with essence of allspice and water, two parts of the former to one part of the latter; repeat this, and when absorbed, brush them over again liberally with this mixture:

Essence of cassia	2	tablespoonfuls
Essence of cloves	4	tablespoonfuls
Essence of mace	2	tablespoonfuls
Essence of bays	4	tablespoonfuls
Water	6	tablespoonfuls

repeating this three or four times, according to your taste. Any of the others may be used singly or in combination. The backbone must be well saturated. Stow away, wrapped in paper, in malt cooms and charcoal; they will keep a long time, and repay your trouble well.

CAPE BRETON, OR DIGBY HERRINGS.

St. John’s, N.B., and Cape Breton furnish us with these highly flavoured fish, smoked with the pine branches of that region. Small herrings visit our coasts soon after Christmas, and being “shot,” or without roes, are not much esteemed, but will serve well for curing in this way. Let them lie in a saturated solution of common salt so long as just to taste of the brine, then put them on spits, dry them a week, and smoke them for a month with deal chips, having much turpentine in them, from carpenters’ shops, and with the fruit of the larch fir tree, fir cones, and top branches of any of our firs, and some oak sawdust to smother the flame. These fish are generally eaten without being cooked, and will keep a long time, packed in small boxes, or buried in malt cooms, &c. &c.

ABERDEEN REDS.

For this purpose the herrings should be large, full-roed, and fresh. Immerse them in a pickle of twenty-nine pounds of common salt to seventy-one pounds of water, and to every pound of salt add half an ounce of saltpetre. When they become rigid and moderately flavoured, run off the pickle, put them on the spits, dry them a day or two, and smoke them with

Oak lops	2	parts
Fern	2	parts
Sawdust	2	parts

until they are of a deep red.

SPELDINGS.

At present we are not aware of any superior method of curing the haddock to the “finnin haddock,” which, if procured soon after they are drawn from the smoke, are very fine eating. But some seasons produce these fish in such abundance that it induces curers to save them by various processes; the small ones may be converted as follow: Split them open at the belly, right over the backbone, clean away all the garbage, gills, &c, and lay them in a strong brine of common salt until nicely flavoured, then hang them on your tenters, dry them a day or two, taking care they do not become clammy, as these fish very soon are spoiled. Make a fire in your chimney with oak lops, sawdust, and beech chips, and when you have brought it to embers put in the rods, and first dry and then smoke them highly. Whitings are often done the same way, when the markets are glutted with the fresh fish.

SMOKED SPRATS.

This is a remunerative business when conducted on the best principles, employing children at trifling wages. I have found the following to be the best method: Provide a wooden trough eight feet long by a yard wide, and eighteen inches deep; fix strips of wood an inch square along the sides, lengthwise of the vat, and six inches above one another. On these will rest the spits, which must be of iron wire, a yard long, and so as just to go within the vat. Pick out all the small fish and rubbish, and wash the bulk in salt and water, as for bloaters, but not too many at once, as they are apt to sweat if lying long together, and then would never be bright when smoked. Use a saturated solution of common salt, or, preferably, of rock salt, and if you intend to produce “bloated sprats,” two hours will be sufficient to let them remain in pickle; run off the brine, and put the fish on the spits, which may be a little pointed at one end. Hang them in a free current of air till next day, and smoke them with

Oak lops	2	parts
Sawdust	2	parts
Beech or birch chips	2	parts.

until they are the colour of new sovereigns. These will not keep well more than four or five days, and are generally esteemed. If you want dried sprats for commerce, let them remain in the brine four hours, dry them well when on the spits, in a current of air, and when they begin to lose their plumpness, smoke them with similar fuel till of the colour of Spanish mahogany. These when packed in boxes, like cigar boxes, will suit for exportation to the European Continent, where many thousands of boxes are sent every winter.

ALDBOROUGH SMOKED SPRATS.

Many gentlemen who delight in highly smoked relishes, inquire for these articles, and as they are seldom to be procured north of the metropolis, I subjoin an easy way of getting them. In the beginning of the sprat season—November—take a bushel of fish, pick out all the largest ones, and with a dozen pounds of common coarse salt or rock salt at hand, throw a layer of it into the bottom of your salting tub, then a layer of fish, and so on in alternate layers to the end; let them lie four hours, mixing them about in the tub two or three times, this will fix the scales, which are cleared off the fish by the “washing” process. Now take the sprats up, and with a basket wash them quickly in very strong salt-and-water, using the same salt if you choose, and get them on to your spits, and dry them as soon as a strong current of air will accomplish it. Smoke them with oak alone, lops and sawdust, until they are of a very dark red colour, and when quite cold, pack them in round shallow kits, in circles, the heads lying all one way, and the fish on their backs. The appearance of them is anything but inviting, yet they are very good, and are always eaten without cooking. Vast quantities used to be exported to the Netherlands, Holland, and the German States; they are also well adapted for sea-stores.

BRITISH ANCHOVIES.

If it were worth while to favour the deception, you must select your fish from out of half a bushel of the freshest you can get, retaining only the middle-sized ones, for the real Gorgona fish are never so large as our large sprats, and never so small as our little ones, and your’s should also be all of the same size. Pull off the heads—not cutting them—in a rough manner, and draw out the gut. Wash not and wipe not the fish, but put them in straight-sided unglazed earthen jars, wood is preferable, in layers alternately with this mixture:

Bay salt	2	lb.
Sal prunelle	2	oz.
Cochineal, in fine powder	2	oz.

pressing them down as you proceed, and letting the top layer of the mixture be at least two inches thick. Get cork bungs cut to fit well, and secure them with plenty of melted resin. Bury the jars in dry sand in your cellar or store room, “out of the way,” and do not disturb them for nine months, or till the next sprat season. A fortnight before you would broach your “prize,” dissolve

Gum dragon	2	oz.
Sal prunelle	2	oz.
Red sanders	1	oz.

in a pint of boiled water, and strain it through flannel, pour it evenly over the contents of your jars or vessels; secure the bung again, and in a week or less, turn the receptacles upside-down for a day or two, and then again set them upright. This is called “feeding” them. And when all is done, without the aid of “brick-dust,” or what is as bad, “Armenian Bole,” to give them a fine red colour, the said “British anchovies” may do to make anchovy sauce of, with other ingredients, but to bring to table, with dry or buttered toast, as Gorgona fish—Oh never! See Note, No. 7.

TURBOT FINS.

This idea will naturally suggest itself, that “a pretty expensive product this will be, by cutting off the fins of a turbot at such a cost;” but there are fish to be got at much less price that will answer the purpose, for instance, the brill or brett, and even good firm plaice, in hard frosty weather, will afford the “amateur” an opportunity of testing the value of the venture. In a private family, if such a fish came to table minus its fins it would eat quite as well, even though to the eye it might not be exactly a handsome dish. Scale the fish, and cut off the extreme edge of the fins, lay a piece of wood an inch thick on the body, just to act as a guide to the knife—which must have a very sharp point—and cut off the fins with an inch and half, or rather more, of the solid attached; place these upon their bases upright in a pie dish, a foot long, and pour in as much of this pickle as will cover to the extent of the inch and half taken out of the fish, viz.

Bay salt	½	lb.
Coarse sugar	½	lb.
Jamaica pepper, bruised	1½	oz.
Water	2	quarts

boiled twenty minutes, skimmed, strained, and got cold. Let them remain in this state twelve hours, basting the part which is not in the pickle three or four times with plenty of the liquor. Then take out the fish, wipe it dry, and place it again in the same position, in the same dish emptied and washed out. Now pour in the dish as much of the following as will cover as before, viz.

Bay leaf, shred	½	oz.
Laurel leaf	1	oz.
Cayenne pepper	¼	oz.
Table salt	1	oz.
Garlic, minced	1	dessert-spoonful
Porter	1	quart
Saltpetre	1	oz.

boiled fifteen minutes, slammed, and gone cold. Let them rest in this eight hours, and then laid flat in and covered by the pickle four hours longer. Now take them up, wipe them dry, suspend them in draft of air until they are fit, and coat them nicely with the gelatine composition. They should be kept a month at least, but three months would be better, and then broiled lightly, first being rubbed over well with pure olive oil. Observe, the same pickles and trouble would have done a dozen fins.

RIVER EELS SMOKED.

This a nice preparation of the richest fresh water fish we have, and will fully repay the amateur for the trouble and trifling expense. I have said “river eels,” because those fish of ponds or waters nearly stagnant, when they run to large sizes, are said to taste of the mud they inhabit. I have experienced the truth of this. Take fresh eels of two pounds each and upwards, cut off the heads, tails, and fins, split them open at the belly to the backbone, from the vent upwards, and clean them out, well washing them also in salt and water a minute or two. Next make a pickle of

Bay salt	1	lb.
Saltpetre	1	oz.
Allspice	2	oz.
Bay leaves	1	oz.
Green laurel	2	oz.
Water	5	pints

by boiling fifteen minutes, skimming and going cold. Cut the fish into pieces six inches long, put them into a deep earthen pan, and pour the liquor over them. Let them lie thirty hours, then take them up, wipe them dry, and with little splints of wood extend the sides well open, hang them in free current of air for twenty-four hours, watching the insides do not remain damp. Then take them down, lay them on their backs packed up one against another, and with a flat camel-hair tool brush the insides over plentifully with

Essence of allspice	4	tablespoonfuls
Essence of cayenne pepper	½	tablespoonful
Water	6	tablespoonfuls

repeat this in four hours, and when it is absorbed, mix

Essence of cassia	1	dessert-spoonful
Essence of mace	1	dessert-spoonful
Essence of bays	2	dessert-spoonfuls
Essence of cloves	2	dessert-spoonfuls

and apply it with the brush three times at least, as it becomes necessary by absorption—particularly regard the bone. The parts from the vent to the tail may be cut open at the back, and treated in the same manner four times, with each combination of the essences. Hang the pieces in your chimney, and smoke them thoroughly with beech chips, grass turfs and fern, and coat them with the gelatine composition effectually.

GORGONA FISH SMOKED.

These are inquired for by foreigners, and especially by the Israelites, who are connoisseurs in fish, as generally admitted. If many are likely to be wanted you may save forty per cent. by purchasing a barrel of anchovies “first hand,” and feeding them yourself. You have another advantage also, viz. you would insure the fine racy flavour, which is gradually lost where the shopkeeper is perhaps two months or more in selling out a barrel in small quantities. A barrel turns out, in general, about twenty-two pounds of neat fish, exclusive of the sauce, and not often more. Acting on this advice, and feeding them, you will be able to take out what you want, without breaking the rest, and be careful to keep those in the barrel well covered with the salt, and after that the slate which you always find in the barrels of genuine fish.

Run thin wire through the shoulders of the fish, and making a light temporary frame to hold the wires, smoke them with beech and oak, with some fern or grass turfs. As no wiping nor washing is required in this instance, the scales will have adhered to the fish, and a general rough appearance will be the result, this is a great recommendation to goods of this class. They must be of a coarse brown mahogany colour, and should be packed in boxes, the size and shape of cigar-boxes, and made of wood that has neither smell nor taste. Dried bay leaves must be packed with them, about forty in each box.

ITALIAN CINCERELLI.

At the beginning of every sprat season the fish are possessed of oil or liquid fat to a great extent; this diminishes as the season advances, and in about three weeks or so from their first arrival, take half a bushel of prime fresh ones, pick out the largest, and cure them as best suits your convenience at that time, then throw away the small ones and rubbish, and leaving the middle class for the present purpose. Wash them in salt and water quickly as possible, and set them in a basket to drain. Now make a mixture of

Dried bay leaves	2	oz.
Green laurel leaves	1	oz.
Mace, in powder	½	oz.
Sal prunelle, in powder	¾	oz.
Genuine cayenne	½	oz.
Gum olibanum	2	oz.
Bay salt	1½	lb.
Powdered loaf sugar	½	lb.

These must be all well dried, powdered, and sifted. Take now two perfectly clean unglazed stone jars, as wide at top as at bottom, with bungs cut to fit tightly. Put a bunch of the old-fashioned brimstone matches lighted into each jar, and fumigate them well, wipe them out, and beginning with a light layer of the mixture, proceed with alternate layers of fish and powders, until both are filled, minding to keep them very closely stowed as you proceed; fix in the bungs, and secure them water-tight with melted resin or pitch; put them away in a dry place for six months, turning the jars topsy-turvy every fortnight. They will be delightful, wiped dry and fried in olive oil boiling, or eaten with toast, as anchovies. If thought to be too high flavoured by some persons, put them in warm water at 120 deg. Fahr. for ten minutes prior to serving them.

SMOKED CONGER EELS.

Request your fishmonger to send in these without their skins, heads, and tails. Take a fish of from five to six pounds weight, and with a large pair of scissors or shears, cut off all the fins close to the body. Open it at the belly, from three inches below the vent up to the head part, and clean away all the garbage, and opening a membrane that covers the backbone, and hid clotted blood, which must be set free. Cut the fish into pieces eight or nine inches long, and wash well and very quickly in strong salt and water, and dry with cloths. Rub all the pieces well inside and outside with this mixture:

Common salt or rock, pounded finely	1	lb.
Bay salt, powdered	1	lb.
Coarse sugar	1	lb.
White pepper, ground	2	oz.

and lay them in a deep pan, rubbing and turning them daily for four days; then take them up, wipe them dry, stretch out the sides by splints of wood, so that the wind may get easy access to the inside surface, and hang them up in a free current of air for twenty-four hours. Next lay them on their backs, and pay them inside plentifully with

Essence of allspice	2	tablespoonfuls
Essence of cloves	1	tablespoonful
Essence of bays	2	tablespoonfuls
Essence of cayenne	½	tablespoonful

Particularly attend to the bone and the solid pieces below the vent, towards the tail, which must be cut open to the bone, and specially well paid over with the essences; repeating it three or four times. Let the pieces lie thus on their backs forty-eight hours, attended to at least twice a day, and the brushing part continued. Now wipe each piece dry, rub warmed oatmeal over every part and hang them up to dry, which fully accomplished, they must be smoked and dried three weeks, then the ragged edges pared off, and either coated with gelatine or wrapped in paper, and hidden well in malt cooms. Rich broiling steaks may be cut in two months. The fuel for smoking them should be

Oak lops	2	parts
Peat	1	part
Beech	2	parts
Fern or turfs	1	part

If boiled in the pieces as they were cured they must be put into water that boils, and when brought again to the boiling point, to be only simmered afterwards till done enough. To be eaten cold.

COLLARED CONGER EELS.

Fish of four to six pounds and upwards may be treated as follows: Head, tail, and fins being removed, the skin must be taken off, but reserved. Lay the fish open at the backs, take out the large bone the whole length, scatter bay salt in fine powder generally over the inside face, and coarse sugar over that again, and load boards down upon both sides, same as for kippered salmon. Next day remove the boards, renew the salt and sugar, and dust ground white pepper over all; leave pressed down till the morrow. Now add to the pickle, which is now getting moist,

Allspice, in powder	1	oz.
Juniper berries, in powder	1	oz.
Bay leaves, in powder	1	oz.
Laurel leaves, shred	1½	oz.

For convenience, it must be cut in pieces, whenever it suits you best, and according to your vats. When it has laid two days more, and has been well rubbed inside and out with this second mixture, take up the pieces, wipe them fair with cloths, and roll up each piece, making a nice collar, which may be now dried gradually, then smoked as the former, and finally coated with gelatine, &c., or buried in malt cooms with paper round it. Tape is better for binding than string.

DRIED CONGER EELS, HIGH FLAVOURED.

Take two eels, not exceeding four pounds each, skin them, cut off the heads, tails, and fins, split them open at the belly, clean well out, cut them across a little below the vent, and again into pieces four inches long. Lay open the solid pieces from below the vent, and rub them in every part well with

Cloves, powdered finely	1	oz.
Mace, powdered finely	½	oz.
Nutmeg, powdered finely	1	oz.
Bay leaves, shred finely	1	oz.
Coarse sugar	1	lb.

Let them lie, being rubbed and turned in the pickle twenty-four hours, then add bay salt one pound, and continue the rubbing a day longer. Take them up now, and rub them with

Juniper berries, bruised	½	oz.
Shalots, shred finely	1	oz.
Table salt	¼	lb.
Black pepper, finely ground	1	oz.

Repeat this twice a day for two days; then wipe them dry, and suspend them in a free current of air until the insides, which must be exposed by sticks of wood, are no longer moist. Sew up each piece separately in calico that has been steeped in whisky or rum, and with which the backbone inside has been well saturated. Tie round with narrow tape, hang to dry one night, and coat with the gelatine composition. In two months they will be splendid, being broiled in the wrappers and served hot.

BROWN CAVIARE.

This excellent relish may be prepared with advantage in January and February, when the codfish come to our markets full of roes. Having procured some roes and livers as soon after they are taken out of the fish as possible, tie them up separately in cloths, and put them into a pan of boiling water, in which common salt one pound, and saltpetre one ounce to the gallon, have been dissolved, and let them simmer by the fireside, the roes for four hours and the livers for two hours, and let them get cold in the water they were boiled in. When taken up, carefully remove all the skins and dark specks—coagulated blood—and pound them separately in a mortar, until of a perfectly smooth paste. Then mix them in the proportion of two and a half ounces of the liver to one and a half ounce of the roes, and work them well together on a dish—a clean board is better—with a broad knife, until not a bit of film or one dark speck can be seen. Make a mixture of

Cinnamon, in finest powder	¼	oz.
Cloves, in finest powder	1	oz.
Mace, in finest powder	½	oz.
Cayenne pepper, in finest powder	½	oz.
Bay leaves	1	oz.

Sift these, and add table salt to your taste. Lay paper shavings in the bottom of a stone jar, and upon them a piece of new calico, and then proceed to make alternate layers of leaves of bay and your fish, with one laurel leaf on each layer of the roes. Tie paper over the jar, and subject it to the heat of a water-bath in a large saucepan for three hours; then let it cool a night, and take out the contents of the jar, observing, when near the bottom to let none of the oil below the calico, mix with your fish. Now take out the leaves, mix all the fish well together, and salt, if you think it requisite, and fill clean little jars and potting pots with it; dry them a little in a slow oven, and when cold pour clarified butter over, and finish with wetted bladder, &c. &c.

WHITE CAVIARE

Is prepared from the milts of the male fish alone, and must be procured fresh as possible. Tie them up in cloths, and boil them in salt and water with saltpetre, as for brown caviare. When cold, remove the skins—which will involve much trouble—and work the mass well with the best fresh butter clarified. Subject to the water-bath with bay leaves and green laurel, and season with

Mace	½	oz.
Cloves	1	oz.
Table salt	4	oz.
White pepper	1	oz.
Nutmeg	½	oz.

which must be all in the finest powder, and sifted. When all are well incorporated, add to the mass as much of the lemon zest as will be just perceptible, and fill pots of small sizes, in which the fish must be well pressed down; put a short time in a cool oven, and when cold be covered with clarified butter or olive oil, and next day, seeing that the air is excluded, tie over with bladder; and keep in a dry, cool room. This preparation will require two or three months to get well flavoured and mellow, and has been highly extolled by a first rate authority.

CAVIS OF MACKAREL.

Take twelve nice fresh fish, open them at the belly, take out the roes, which set apart, the eyes, gills, &c., and wipe quite clean. Mix

White pepper, in powder	1	oz.
Mace, in powder	½	oz.
Cloves, in powder	1	oz.
Table salt	4	oz.

Season the insides of the fish plentifully with this mixture, and close the sides upon it, tie the fish round with packthread, and place them on their backs on a layer of table salt, and let them lie till next day. Take off the threads, and lay the fish in a deep dish or earthen pan, and pour over them best vinegar and water in equal parts. Pare off the thin yellow rind of one large or two smaller lemons, lay this on the top, cover with paper and bake in slow oven. If not all consumed in a week, boil up the pickle, skim it, and pour again to the fish, when cold.

HERRINGS PICKLED.

When the herrings come fine and fresh, embrace the opportunity to preserve some by this process. Scale twenty fish, cut off the heads, fins, and tails, open them at the belly, clean them well out, and, if required, wash them in salt and water, and dry them quickly; season the insides with

Mace, powdered	½	oz.
Cloves, powdered	1	oz.
Nutmeg, powdered	1	oz.
Bay leaf, powdered	1	oz.
Cayenne pepper	½	oz.

and fry them a nice brown colour in boiling olive oil, and do the same to the roes, which must have been washed and well dried previous to the frying; set all by to get cold, on sieves or cloths, and keep covered up. Make a pickle of

Allspice	1	oz.
Black pepper	1	oz.
Few bay leaves Salt	6	oz.
Vinegar	1	pint

by boiling twenty minutes, and straining quite clear. Lay your fish, cut in proper pieces, in oblong earthenware pots, and pour the pickle over them when it is scalding hot, not boiling. Next day fill up the pots with more liquor, and tie bladder over them. These will be fit for table in a week, but will be improved by keeping. If any water is put to the vinegar it will certainly spoil them for keeping long.

HERRINGS CAVEACH.

Scale two dozen of fresh herrings, take off the heads and tails, split them open at the belly, clean them out nicely, and lay them with their roes in strong pickle of salt and water for three hours, then wipe them well and season with

White pepper	1	oz.
Mace, in fine powder	½	oz.
Cloves, in fine powder	1	oz.
Nutmeg, in fine powder	1	oz.

well mixed and sifted; replace the roes in the fish, which lay along in a deep dish, covered with what spice remains, and twenty bay leaves; tie paper over, and bake them in a slow oven. Boil vinegar and water equal parts, and when cold, pour it over the herrings so as to cover them well. In two days they will be very good, and are intended only for present use.

YORKSHIRE PRESSED PORK.

Take two pounds of lean pork and four pounds of the fat, freed from all skin and gristle; chop the meat coarsely, and mix with it intimately,

Table salt	2	tablespoonfuls
White pepper	2	tablespoonfuls
Thyme, powdered	1	teaspoonful
Parsley, minced	1	teaspoonful
Sage, powdered	1	teaspoonful
Garlic, minced	1	teaspoonful

press the meat well into a dish, tie brown paper over it, and bake in a slow oven two hours. It is generally eaten cold.

BIRMINGHAM TRIPE.

It is not less strange than true, that this excellent preparation cannot be procured in perfection except in London, Oxford, Birmingham, and Coventry, the first of which is supplied principally from Birmingham. The more independent and established of the preparers of this delicacy refuse to communicate the secret of the process to strangers, and my own curiosity cost me a guinea some few years ago, besides my expenses from Lancashire and back again. As will be seen, however, plenty of cold and of boiling water, with an adequate amount of diligence, are the main requisites, which I liked the better, since in the whole of my practice I have eschewed the use of drugs and chemicals, as tending to rob what is estimable by nature of its purity and flavour. The butchers in this case leave nearly all the fat attached, and which is absolutely necessary to the richness of the tripe when cooked. It is forbidden to interfere with the bellies, as they are termed, until the day they are wanted, and they are therefore hung up in an outer-house. The cleansing commences with scraping off the rough dirt with a dull edged knife, and, proceeding in this way, scraping until you come to the most troublesome and tedious part, viz. the “honeycomb,” and every one of those little cells of which it is composed is to be attacked with a dull pointed knife, until, by assiduity and great patience, the work is completed. The process is forwarded by occasionally dipping the flesh into the boiling water, which is always close at hand. And beautifully sweet are these parts of the beast made by these means, without a grain of lime or salt, or any chemicals. The part when cleaned is washed in two or three fresh waters, then cut into large pieces, and put into a tin jar made on purpose, nearly covering the meat with soft water, and sent off to the common bakehouse to be left in—after the bread is withdrawn—for five or six hours. When it is brought home, a teacupful of new milk is put into the liquor or gravy, in the tin, stirred about for a minute or so, and the business is completed.

CALF’S HEAD BRAWN.

A fine large calf’s head is best adapted for this purpose with the skin on. Take out the brains, and bone it entirely, or let the butcher do this. Rub a little fine salt over it, and let it drain for ten or twelve hours; next wipe it dry, and rub each half well in every part with

Brown sugar	2	oz.
Saltpetre	¾	oz.
Common salt	4	oz.
Bay salt	3	oz.

all in very fine powder. Turn the head in this pickle for four or five days, rubbing it a little each time; pour over it four ounces of West India molasses (eight ounces for the whole head), and continue to turn it every day, and baste it with the brine very frequently for a month, then hang it for a night to drain, fold each part separately in brown paper, and send it to be smoked for three or four weeks. When wanted for table, wash and scrape one half of it very clean, but do not soak it. Lay it with the rind downwards into a saucepan or stewpan, which will hold it easily, and cover it well with cold water, as it will swell considerably in the cooking. Let it heat rather slowly, skim it thoroughly when it first begins to simmer, and boil it as gently as possible from an hour and three quarters to a couple of hours or more, should it not then be perfectly tender quite through, for unless sufficiently boiled, the skin, which greatly resembles bacon, will be unpleasantly tough when cold; when the fleshy side of the head is done, which will be twenty minutes or half an hour sooner than the outside, pour the water from it, leaving so much only in the saucepan as will just cover the gelatinous part, and simmer it until this is thoroughly tender. The head thus cured is very highly flavoured, and most excellent eating. The receipt for it is new. It will be seen that the foregoing proportion of ingredients, with the exception of the treacle, is for one half of the head only, and must be doubled for a whole one.

PORTABLE SOUP.

Take	Calves feet	2	lb.
	Mutton	5	lb.
	Pork	1	lb.
	One onion, minced fine
	Two heads celery, minced fine
	Two carrots, minced fine
	Salt	1	tablespoonful

Put these into a saucepan with just sufficient water to cover them, and set it on to boil. When nearly done, suspend a clove bag in the liquor. Remove the meats, and press them through a sieve; evaporate the fluid freed from water in a water-bath to the consistency of honey, and pour it upon a clean smooth stone or slate. When cold, cut it into pieces and dry it. Beef and veal, as an addition, or alone, may be treated in the same manner.

ANOTHER, AND MUCH RICHER.

Take the lean part of a good ham, ten pounds weight, a leg of beef and a leg of veal, after the round and fillet have been cut off, slice off all the meat, and chop up the bones small; put half a pound of the best butter you can get into a pan with six or seven heads of celery sliced, and from which the tops have been cut off, seven or eight anchovies, two ounces of mace, four eschalots, minced, and four large carrots cut into small pieces; set these on the fire and shake them often to prevent their burning until the butter and juices have attained a brown colour, then pour in as much water as will cover them, and let it simmer four or five hours; then strain it through a hair sieve into another saucepan; darken the colour if you think proper, and let it simmer by the fire till it becomes glutinous. Great care must be taken that it does not adhere to the pan and become burnt. You may now add cayenne pepper and salt to your taste, and pour it out on to dishes a quarter of an inch thick, and when nearly cold cut it into cakes, which may be packed in tin cases between writing paper, and kept in a cool dry place. A pint of boiling water poured into a basin on one or two of these cakes, will immediately produce soup of very superior flavour, which will be found a great convenience, especially in travelling. It will keep well for many months, unimpaired in taste and quality.

SMOKED GEESE.

After the Christmas festivals, geese may be had somewhat cheaper than usual. Take eight fresh fine geese, clean picked and drawn, wash them in strong salt and water, then take

Coarse sugar	1	lb.
Bay salt	¾	lb.
Saltpetre	2	oz.
Sage	1	handful
Three eschalots, sliced
Bay leaves	2	handfuls
Water	2	quarts

Boil these fifteen minutes, and skim well, and when cold, rub the birds well inside and outside, and let them lie, being turned and rubbed with the pickle three days; then wipe them dry, and with two ounces of ground black pepper, rub the insides until the spice adheres firmly. Hang them up in a free current of air for two days, and then smoke them a fortnight with

Oak sawdust	2	parts
Fern	2	parts
Beech chips	2	parts

Keep them in paper bags well defended from the fly.

BUCANED BEEF KIDNEYS.

Take half a dozen beef kidneys, cut them open lengthwise, take out the pipes and skins, lay them in a deep dish and pour boiling water over them; in two hours take them up and dry with cloths, then rub well in all parts with

Parsley, chopped coarsely	4	tablespoonfuls
Eight eschalots, minced
Coarse sugar	½	lb.
Bay salt, in fine powder	1	lb.

Let them be rubbed and turned twice a day for two days, then hang in a brisk air current for twenty-four hours, and rub them well with best olive oil three or four times in twenty-four hours. They must again be hung to dry, and when ready must be subjected to a gentle heat in your chimney for forty-eight hours, or until the surfaces on both sides are a little shrivelled, the proper embers being of

Beech chips	2	parts
Fern or grass turfs	2	parts
Oak dust	1	part
Peat	1	part

When cold you can coat them with gelatine composition, or, cutting into appropriate pieces, put them in oblong pots and cover them with olive oil; wait two days, fill up again with oil and tie wetted bladder over them. Pigs and sheep’s kidneys may be done in a similar manner.—The above have been much praised.

BUCANED BEEF UDDER.

Get seven pounds of the udder of a prime five years old beast—when much older it is worthless for this purpose—and one that has been quickly fed up on grass; cut it in slices two inches thick and lay it in the pickle made as follows:

Coarse sugar	½	lb.
Bay or rock salt	1½	lb.
Saltpetre	1	oz.
White pepper	1	oz.
Water	2	quarts

boiled and well skimmed. Let the meat lie in this thirty-six hours, being well rubbed and turned occasionally, then wipe dry, and hang in a quick draught of air for two days, after which it must be plentifully rubbed all over with olive oil, and put into your chimney to be dried, rather than smoked, forty-eight hours with

Oak sawdust	1	part
Beech chips	3	parts
Fern	2	parts

cut it now in pieces, and coat them nicely with the gelatine composition. In two months it will be mellow and beautiful.

BUCANED CALF’S LIVER.

This is a beautiful preparation, and in my opinion not in any degree inferior to the buzzards and storks’ livers of the Pampas of South America. Take a couple of healthy fine livers, cut away all the pipes—blood-vessels—and skins, and rub them well with

Juniper berries, bruised	1	oz.
Jamaica pepper, bruised	1	oz.
Parsley, chopped roughly	1½	oz.
Bay salt	1½	lb.
Treacle	1	lb.

and let them lie, turned and rubbed twice daily, for two days and nights, or rather more if thick livers. Now wipe them dry, and cut them into pieces (some for being coated and others to be put in pots), hang them on wires until the surfaces warrant your proceedings, then with embers, not too powerfully hot, dry, and towards the end of the third day smoke them with

Oak lops	1	part
Beech chips	3	parts
Fern or turfs	1	part
Peat	1	part

In two months these rashers will be splendid, rubbed well with olive oil and broiled on a clear fire. A lemon squeezed over, or served with good lemon pickle, is highly recommended.

BUCANED BEEF SKIRTS.

Take six pounds of skirts of prime beasts, beat them with a cleaver or rolling pin, but not so heavily as to start the gravy, and rub them thoroughly with

Black pepper, finely ground	1	oz.
Allspice, finely ground	1	oz.
Shalots, minced	1½	oz.
Bay salt, finely beaten	2	oz.
Coarse sugar	3	oz.
Sal prunelle, finely beaten	1	oz.

Let them lie so, turned and rubbed, four days and nights, then wipe dry, take away the skins, but not piercing the meat, and hang them to dry twenty-four hours. Now rub the best olive oil all over them, and dry with gentle heat (mind, be careful not to start the gravy), of the embers of

Oak lops	1	part
Beech or birch	2	parts
Fern or turfs	2	parts
Peat	1	part

and coat them with gelatine composition, or cut in fitting pieces and pot them with olive oil, and tie bladder over. The fire must be backened, if too hot, by sawdust a little damped, or remove the meat into a corner of your chimney for a while.