§ 41. Sugar Cured Pork
Rub each piece with salt and allow to remain over night. A wet pickle, or brine, may also be forced into the hams and shoulders close to the bone with a special pump, using from 5 to 10 ounces of the pickle or brine for each piece, the amount depending on the size of the piece. The following morning pack in a vessel with the hams and shoulders at the bottom and the bacon on the top. For each one hundred pounds of meat, weigh out eight pounds of salt, two pounds of brown sugar, two ounces of saltpeter, and one-half pound baking soda. Dissolve all in four gallons of water, and cover the meat with this wet pickle. In warm weather, the pickle should be boiled and thoroughly cooled before using. A board and stone should be used to weight down the meat. Bacon strips should remain in the pickle from three to four weeks, and the hams and shoulders five to seven weeks, depending on their size. If desired, the meat may then be smoked. Before being smoked meat should be soaked for several hours in clean water at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit to remove the excess salt on the surface of the meat and thus make the meat more palatable. In soaking the meat about one-half pint of water should be used for each pound of meat.[1] The Canton Christian College has had very good success with this cure.