Curing Ham and Bacon.—To have good ham and bacon the meat must first be properly cured so that the lean part is pink, tender and soft to the touch, while the fat is clear and white. In many country homes the lean meat is about as tough, hard, and indigestible as sole leather. A good recipe for curing is as follows: For every gallon of water take two pounds of coarse salt and one-half ounce of soda. Boil all together and skim well, and, while hot, pour over the meat. Put in a cold dry place with a stone to keep the meat well below the water. After three weeks, hang the meat and let it dry for two or three days before smoking.
Broiled Ham.—Nothing is more appetizing for supper than broiled ham, served with mashed potatoes, milk toast, or a poached egg on dry toast. Cut the ham as thin as possible, and broil quickly over hot coals, turning constantly until the fat begins to shrivel. Have everything else ready so that it can be eaten immediately. Cold cabbage salad is nice with this.
Boiled Ham.—If quite salty, soak the ham twenty-four hours. Put it in a large kettle with a generous supply of water, and allow twenty-five minutes to the pound for boiling. Take the pot from the fire and let the meat remain in the water until nearly cold. Sprinkle with pepper and rub thoroughly with brown sugar; put the ham and the fat from the liquor into a baking-pan and brown for about an hour in the oven. Cut as thin as possible when serving.
Frying Ham.—Cut the ham in the thinnest possible slices, with a large, sharp knife. Have the frying-pan hot, and cook the meat just enough to give the fat a delicate brown, turning frequently. To cook ham too much is to make it tough, hard, dry, and indigestible. Put the ham on a hot platter in the warming oven. Add a cupful, or more, of fresh milk to the grease and thicken with flour. Serve with boiled potatoes. Instead of making a gravy, eggs may be fried in the fat. To do this nicely the fat must not be burned. The eggs should be dropped in one by one, allowing them plenty of room to spread out. Cook slowly and with a spoon baste the yolks with the hot fat until they sear, being careful not to cook the egg too hard. These eggs are very nice served on thin, dry toast, or one may be placed on each slice of ham.
Fried Bacon.—Cut the bacon into very thin slices, and cook in a hot frying-pan just long enough to turn the fat to a delicate brown. If cooked too long it is hard and indigestible, besides losing its delicacy of flavor. A very nice way to cook bacon, instead of frying it, is to roll the slices up into curls, skewer them with toothpicks, and place them in a baking-pan on the grate of a hot oven until they are slightly brown. Serve on dry toast. They should be eaten at once.
Broiled Bacon.—Bacon can be broiled like ham. A very nice way to serve it, especially for an invalid, is to toast it before the fire; split a hot biscuit and make a sandwich with the bacon. Bacon toasted this way and eaten when very hot has a peculiarly appetizing flavor.
Unsmoked Bacon.—Cut in thin slices; roll in flour or meal; dust lightly with pepper; fry over a moderately hot fire until delicately brown and crisp, and put on a warm platter in the warming closet. Add sufficient fresh milk to the fat to make the requisite amount of gravy. Season with a little salt and pepper, and thicken with flour. Do not pour over the meat. Serve in separate dish.
Boiled Mutton.—Mutton should be cooked very much like beef,—just enough to leave a faint pink, but not enough to make it hard and develop a strong taste. For boiled mutton allow ten minutes to the pound. Add a little rice to make the meat whiter and tenderer. Cover with boiling water and cook rapidly for fifteen minutes; then place on the back of the stove where it will simmer nicely for two hours. Young turnips, boiled with the mutton are a very nice addition.
Mutton Cutlets.—The chops should be thick. Grease the bottom of a hot frying-pan just enough to keep the chops from sticking; place over a hot fire, and turn the meat constantly to keep it from burning until the center is a faint pink. Season with salt, pepper, and melted butter to which a little lemon juice and parsley may be added.
Roast Mutton.—The French roast mutton in a slow oven in order that the heat may penetrate to the center without injuring the outside. Allow twenty minutes to the pound, or, if a very large roast, twenty-five minutes may not be too much, providing the oven is not too hot. Season with salt and pepper, and put a generous supply of boiling water in the pan. Baste frequently, and turn the meat every half hour. Place two or three peeled raw potatoes in the pan, and watch them; if they begin to brown, the oven is too hot. The potatoes should keep pace with the mutton, and when the latter is half done the former should be cooked to the same degree.