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HOW TO CURE MEATS.
Some Good  Recipes.
1st Premium.—Meat should be hung up
in a cool place as soon as killed, aud left
until the animal heat has escaped; then
cut  into    convenient    pieces.    Trim  the
hams and shoulders neatly, and cut the
sides of pork, for bacon or pickled pork,
into square or oblong pieces.       Cut the
beef for drying from tlie hind quarter,
and in such a way that it may be sliced
across the grain.       Corned beef may be
taken: from the shoulder, and should be
cut so it will slice well.        Bender the
trimmings of fat for lard or suet, aud
use the lean for sausages, mince-meat,
or meat pies.
Sprinkle the hams, shoulders, aud
sides with powdered saltpeter, using ouly a little, and put in a cool place for
.'56 hours; then pack iu a clean barrel or
a stone jar, and cover witli the following pickle: To each gallon of water
add one and one-half pounds of salt,
one-half pound of brown sugar, half au
ounce of saltpeter, and a teaspoonfu
each of baking soda aud black pepper.
Make enough to cover the meat, heat to
the boiling point, skim, and let set away
to cool. Wheu cold, pour over the
meat.
The same pickle is good for corned
beef, tongues, or beef for drying. Tne
beef need not be treated with saltpeter,
before packing. Meat that is not free
from blood should never be put into the
pickle. Large hams and shoulders
should remain in the pickle about six
weeks. Sides and beef require less
time, and good judgment must be exercised in the matter. When the meat is
salt enough, put that intended for smoking or drying in the smoke-house or
place for drying (above the kitchen
stove will do very well). Green hickory is the best wood to use for smoking, 'but other kinds will answer the purpose. Beef may be smoked or not, according to taste.
When the meat is    smoked or   dried
enough, tie up in paper bags and store
in a place that is dry, cool, and secure
from    insects, rats      and    mice.     'As
warm w*eather approaches the meat in
pickle must be carefully watched and at
the first sign of souring, removed, washed
in cold water and placed in a new pickle;
or the old may be scalded, skimmed, and
allowed   to cool,  after  which it may  be
poured over the meat again.
Beef and pork should never be packed
together in the same cask.
Pork Sausage: Cut lean pork, with
a little fat, into strips suitable for the
sausage-cutter, grind, and season with
salt, pepper and sage or summer savory to
taste. .^ little lean beef may be added to
the pork, if liked. Stuff the sausage
in skins, which must be carefully cleaned,
or in small bags made of cloth; or it may
be made into pats, and packed in a jar
till needed.
Beef Sausage: Prepare the meat as
-for pork sausage, using a very little fat,
and adding one pound of well cooked ham
or bacon to five pounds of beef, season
highly with salt and pepper and stuff in
large skins. Smoke thoroughly, and it
will  keep  well  into  summer.
Head Cheese. The head, after being
carefully cleaned, may be roasted, salted,
or made into head cheese. If yoa wish
to make a cheese, put the head in a kettle
with water enough to cover and a little
salt.        Cook till the meat will slip from
the bones, place in a wooden bowl and
chop fine. Season to taste with salt,
pepper and sage or thyme. Turn into a
deep dish, cover with a plate, and put a
weight on the plate to press out the flat,
which may be scraped off when the di^h
is cold.
Beef's Head Cheese. Prepare the beef's
head in the same way as tlint of the hog.
bucket to catch the drip, is the Host place
to keep the meat in the north; in this climate it will uot freeze in the smoke
house. Perhaps as good a way as any
to keep it over summer is to put each piece
in a llour sack, or a bag made for the
purpose, and stuff all around tiie meat
carefully with clean hay or straw, so
that the meat in no place touches the bag.
Views on the Stock Farm of Warren T. McCray, near Kentland, Ind.
but season with a little celery seed and
mustard.
Pig's Feet Souse. Clean the feet, and
cook in salted water till tender; place in
a dish and cover with two-thirds vinegar
and one-third water in which they were
boiled. Add a pinch each of pepper,
allspice and cloves. Cover and set in
a cold place. M. W.
Illinois.
Sugar Cured Ham and Bacoa.
2d Premium.—The following rules have
been used for years and are thoroughly
reliable, and pork thus cured always keeps
most satisfactory.
To sugar cure hams and shoulders.—For
every 80 pounds of ham^or shoulder use 3
ounces saltpeter, 7 ounces brown sugar, 1
pint fine salt. Mix all three thoroughly
and rub on cut side of meat same day it is
butchered. Lay meat on inclined surface for 24 hours to drain, where it cannot freeze. Then rub 2 quarts of salt
on the 80 pounds. Let it lie for 14 days
on inclined surface, so that melting brine
will not stand on meat Hang up and
dry or smoke, ' then pack for the summer.
A broad board or swinging shelf in the
cellar, with one end raised and a tub or
This will keep any inquisitive fly from
reaching the meat, and also supplies ventilation and prevents molding.
Sugar cured bacon can be prepared iu
the same way as hams and shoulders, by
using about 90 pounds of side meat, cut
in strips, for the same amount of saltpeter, sugar and salt. Bacon prepared in
this way is superior to the expensive sugar
cured breakfast bacon on the market.
Pickled pork.—In our family a favorite
way to keep side meat for late summer use
is to pickle it. A half barrel or stone
jar holding at least 8 or 10 gallons, should
be prorided. Cover the bottom with
salt. Cut the sides into strips, about
the outside, with the skin* of meat against
barrel or jar. Join ends of strip closely,
and continue to pack in a circle, until bot-
4 inches wide, and pack, beginnig around
torn of jar is full. With the fingers, press
in salt between the meat, and finally completely cover meat with salt. Pack in
another layer of meat as before, using all
the salt possible in between the circles of
meat, completely covering with salt, and
so on until vessel is full to within four
or five inches of the top, having the last
layer of meat completely covered with
salt.        Make  a brine strong enough  to
bear up an egg, ami  pour on enough to
completely fill the jar, adding more as it
soaks iu  to keep jar full.      Weight the
meat, cover the jar iu the cellar and let
it stand  till next summer, keeping it all
the time covered with strong brine. When
wanted for use, take out a strip, slice off
the  amount  necessary,  put  into a  frying
pan, cover with cold water let it come to
a boil; turn meat and let boil up a minute,
then  take out, drain, roll in flour and
put back into a cold frying pan and beat
slowly.    Fry till brown, and, our word
tor it,  you  will  pronounce it the best
cured side meat you ever ate.      It is
delicate in flavor, aud as good as fresh
pork, though different iu taste.     It may
lie parboiled to freshen, then baked in
the oven with vegetables, aud is delicious either hot or cold.
To keep sausage, it should be fried
in cakes and closely packed in wide
mouthed jars, and with enough lard
added to completely cover, to exclude
the air, it will keep all winter. For
summer use it should be fried and packed in quart jars and sealed; or may be
fried and packed in wide mouthed gallon jars and when aliout cold a circle of
writing paper is cut to fit over the meat
inside, aud well covered with melted
parafline, care being taken to use enough
to closely adhere to side of jar. Then
cover top of jar with a soft cloth, and
over this a good layer of ootton batting,
tightly tied on, then over all a paper
to prevent the cotton from being torn.
Keep in a cool, ury place. It will keep
well into the summer, as both parafline
and cotton serve to exclude germs or
microbes.
When preparing heads the jowls may
be   put  into   brine. They  are .very
nice boiled or baked with vegetables.
Or they may be worked up into sausage.
The upper part of the heads may be
boiled until flesh drops from the bone.
Kemove from Liquor. Letpart of the liquor cool. Remove fat from it and return to the fire with part of the cooked
meat,    and  when  it  boils  add  enough
corn meal to make a mush.       Cook
half hour and press into a mold.     This
is fine to slice and fry for breakfast or
supper, and will keep for a long time in
a dry, cold place, if well covered from
the    air.        Some    like to    use as much
well cooked liver as there is meat from
the heads.
Head cheese.—Boil liver until tender,
and chop. .\.dd it to same quantity of
cooked meat from the heads. Remove
all fat from the cold liquor, return to fire
and boil until partially reduced. Add
meat and chopped liver, season highly,
ecok a few minutes, and heap into a
mound on a clean board or large bowl, so
all grease can run off as it cools. This
will keep for 2 or 3 weeks. Is fine sliced
cold for supper or for lunches.
Pickled pigs feet—Cook the feet in salted water till tender. Drain and pack into
a jar. To each pint of vinegar add a
half cup of sugar; salt, pepper, a teaspoon
of cinnamon and half a teaspoon of
cloves. Boil all together and pour hot
over the feet. Will keep all winter if
well covered by the vinegar.
Mississippi Mrs. C. S. E.
Uses Liquid Smoke.
3d Premium—For joints and sides, for
one thousand pounds of meat, take 15
pounds coarse salt, 2 pounds brown sugar,
2 pounds best Mack pepper, 1 pound saltpeter. Melt the saltpeter with one quart
Continued on page 8.