Ham, to cure. No. 11.
Mix one pound and a half of salt, one pound and a half of coarse sugar, and one ounce of saltpetre, in one quart of water; set it on the fire, and keep stirring the liquor till it boils. Skim it. When boiled about five minutes take it off, and pour it boiling hot on the leg of pork, which, if not quite covered, must be turned every day. Let it remain in the pickle one month; then hang it in the chimney for six weeks. These proportions will cure a ham of sixteen pounds. When the ham is taken out of the pickle, the liquor may be boiled up again and poured boiling hot upon pigs’ faces. After that boil again, and pour it cold upon a piece of beef, which will be excellent. It will then serve cold for pigs’ or sheep’s tongues, which must be well washed and rubbed in a little of the liquor and left in the remainder.
Ham, to cure. No. 12.
Take a ham of fifteen pounds, and wash it well with a quarter of a pint of vinegar, mixed with a quarter of a pound of the coarsest sugar. Next morning rub it well with three quarters of a pound of bay salt rolled, on the lean part; baste it often every day for fourteen days, and hang it up to dry.
Ham, to cure. No. 13.
Three ounces of saltpetre, bay salt and brown sugar two ounces of each, a small quantity of cochineal; mix them all together, and warm them over the fire. Rub the hams well with it, and cover them over with common salt.
Ham, to cure. No. 14.
Take a quantity of spring water sufficient to cover the meat you design to cure; make the pickle with an equal quantity of bay salt and common salt; add to a pound of each one pound of coarse brown sugar, one ounce of saltpetre, and one ounce of petre-salt; let the pickle be strong enough to bear an egg. If you design to eat the pork in a month or six weeks, it is best not to boil the pickle; if you intend it for the year, the pickle must be boiled and skimmed well until it is perfectly clear; let it be quite cold before you use it. Rub the meat that is to be preserved with some common salt, and let it lie upon a table sloping, to drain out all the blood; wipe it very dry with a coarse cloth before you put it into the pickle. The proportion of the pickle may be this: four pounds of common salt, four pounds of bay salt, three pounds of coarse sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, and two ounces of petre-salt, with a sufficient quantity of spring water to cover what you do, boiled as directed above. Let the hams lie about six weeks in the pickle, and then send them to be smoked. Beef, pork, and tongues, may be cured in the same manner: ribs of beef done in this way are excellent.