This ham is smoked five hours at a temperature of from 130° to 140° F. and the house should be moderately warm before the ham is hung in the smoke. A small fire should be started to dry off the casings, after which the meat should be smoked the same as Bologna. Cook at least three hours at a temperature of 160° F. After it has been cooked it is taken immediately to a cooler, where the temperature is from 38° to 40° F., and put under a press. If no press is obtainable place the ham in layers, putting a board between each layer with a weight on top. Place the hams in a pile or under the press so that they can be picked with a long, thin skewer about one-half the thickness of a ham tryer in order to permit the water which is in the ham to escape. After pressure for twelve hours, take them out and hang up so that boiling hot water can be thrown on them to wash off the grease; thoroughly washed in this manner remove to a dry cooler.
New Jersey Ham.
—New Jersey ham is made according to the following formula:
| 60 | pounds lean ham trimmings | |
| 80 | pounds lean back trimmings, | |
| 10 | pounds lean beef chucks or shank meat, | |
| 4 | pounds, salt, | |
| 3 | ¹⁄₂ | pounds cracker meal, |
| 4 | ounces formula saltpetre, | |
| 12 | ounces sugar, | |
| ³⁄₄ | ounce red pepper. |
Beef is ground through an Enterprise ⁷⁄₆₄th-inch plate and rocked about five minutes, when the pork trimmings are added with the seasoning. The seasoning should all be mixed thoroughly and added to the meat. The whole is then chopped about as coarse as summer sausage, or about twenty to twenty-five minutes. It is taken to a cooler after being rocked and spread about six or eight inches thick on a table, where it is allowed to remain about three days at a temperature of from 38° to 40° F.
It is then stuffed by hand stuffers into bags, which will weigh after being stuffed and dried about five pounds. These bags are made of heavy drilled cloth and should be stuffed as tightly as possible. They should be kept very clean during the process of stuffing, as any sausage meat which may stick to the cloth will leave a bad appearance after the sausage has been smoked.
After the ham has been stuffed, it should be taken to the dry room, where the temperature can be kept at all times between 46° and 55° F., 50° being preferable. The room must be airy and dry and it will take at least ten days under favorable circumstances to get the ham in proper condition to smoke. It should be smoked about four hours in as cold a smoke as possible, 70° to 75° F. being as hot as it is safe to smoke it, 60° F. being nearer the proper temperature. After it has been smoked, it should be again hung in a cool temperature for three days, when it will be ready for shipment. This sausage is manufactured extensively in New Jersey and the east.
Head Cheese.
—Head cheese is made as follows:
| 44 | pounds cooked pig skins, |
| 55 | pounds cooked pig snouts, |
| 33 | pounds cooked pig ears, |
| 55 | pounds cooked beef hearts, |
| 51 | pounds cooked neck fat, |
| 20 | pounds water in which the meat has been cooked, |
| 1 | pound white pepper, |
| 10 | pounds onions, |
| 4 | ounces allspice, |
| 2 | ounces cloves, |
| 3 | ounces marjoram, |
| 3 | ounces carroway seeds. |