| 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 |