Let the meat hang a couple of days in mild weather, and four or five in winter, before it is salted or pickled. During the heat of summer it is better to immerse it entirely in brine, that it may be secured alike from the flies, and from the danger of becoming putrid. Trim it, and take out the kernels from the fat; then rub a little fine dry salt over it, and leave it until the following day; drain it well from the blood, which will be found to have flowed from it, and it will be ready for any of the following modes of curing, which are all excellent of their kind, and have been well proved.
In very cold weather, the salt may be applied quite warm to the meat: it should always be perfectly dry, and reduced to powder.
Saltpetre hardens and renders the meat indigestible; sugar, on the contrary, mellows and improves it much; and it is more tender when cured with bay salt than when common salt is used for it.
TO SALT AND BOIL A ROUND OF BEEF.
Mix an ounce of saltpetre, finely powdered, with half a pound of very coarse sugar, and rub the beef thoroughly with them; in two days add three quarters of a pound of common salt, well dried and beaten; turn and rub the meat well in every part with the pickle for three weeks, when it will be fit to dress. Just wash off the salt, and skewer the beef as round and as even as possible; bind it tightly with broad tape, cover it with cold water, place it over a rather brisk fire, and after it boils draw it to the side of the stove and let it simmer gently for at least five hours. Carrots, mashed turnips, or cabbages, are usually served with boiled beef; and horseradish stewed for ten minutes in equal parts of vinegar and water, then pressed well from them, and mixed with some rich melted butter, is a good sauce for it.
Beef, 20 lbs.; coarse sugar, 1/2 lb.; saltpetre, 1 oz.: 2 days. Salt, 3/4 lb.: 21 days. Boil 5 hours, or more.
Obs.—Beef cured by this receipt if properly boiled, is tender, of good colour and flavour, and not over salt. The rump, edgebone, and brisket may be salted, or pickled in the same way as the round.
HAMBURGH PICKLE FOR BEEF, HAMS, AND TONGUE.
Boil together, for twenty minutes, two gallons of water, three pounds of bay salt, two pounds of coarse sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, and two of black pepper, bruised, and tied in a fold of muslin; clear off the scum thoroughly, as it rises, pour the pickle into a deep earthen pan, and when it is quite cold lay in the meat, of which every part must be perfectly covered with it. A moderate-sized round of beef will be ready for table in a fortnight; it should be turned occasionally in the brine. Five pounds of common salt may be substituted for the quantity of bay salt given above; but the meat will not be so finely flavoured.
Water, 2 gallons; bay-salt, 3 lbs.; saltpetre, 2 oz.; black pepper, 2 oz.; sugar, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes.