Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1840-11-12
Miscellaneous.
From the Agricnlturalist.
ONMAKING GOOD BACON.

concluded to give you The result of thirty
years experience upon this important sub.
iect. The first Thug necessary 10 make
good Bacon. is to have Fat hoss-slaughte!
them in the beginning Of The week, 50 that
YOU can take care Of The oiial before Satur-
day night; Otherwise, if a warm day or
two should intervene, part of it may he
lost. Il is highly important that hogs,
slaughtered for bacon. should be well bled
The more completely The vessels are
emp,ied of blood, the less disposition there
is in meat 10 faint Or purify. As soon as
the hoe is well cleaned and hung up, il
should he freely washed with warm wafer,
wiped with at"we, and carefully scraPed
with sharp knit, especially the head.
ears and feet, if you wish 10 have good
sonse or hoes-head-cheese. These paris
are generally neglected, and thrown by
"(or more convenient season." and then
taken up by the cook or some idle chap u
bout ilie establishment, and the hair sneed
off, and the skin burned until it becomes
black and. bitter; thereby inparting its
color and taste to he souse and hogs head
cheese. After cutting the hog, the Inside
should be carefully and freely washed
with cold water, with The mouth open, so
that The whole may pass through The throat
and remain in this condition until complete
y cool, which will generally take place,
even in moderate weather, iu one night
Iflhe weather should be so mild that it
will no, cool in one night, it hal better be
cut up, and spread apou brick aud stone
pavements, previously wet with cold wa
Ter; if the meat is sill soft, dash cold wa
Ter upon it, and it will SOON be ready for the
salt, buI in all cases il should be perfectly
cool ifpracticahle. In one ortwo insfan-
ces, have made as good bacon as have
ever made. out of meat frozen SO hard that
it had to be cut up cnirel y with an axe
As to The mode of sailing and the quantity
fsalt necessary to cure pork. SO as TO
make good bacon, every man thinks that
he knows better than his neiehbor. have
experimental for the purpose Of ascertain
ing the best mode of sailing down pork,
as also the proper quantity Of salt and 9th
or Ingredients, such as sugar, molHsses,
red pepper and sal,peire, al! ofwhich have
their advocates, and have settled down
and pursued the following practice for the
last twenty years. Measure bushcl of
sat-spread it upon tahle-weigh a
pound OF saltprIrc-pulverize it carefully
and mix it thoroughly with The salt. This
mixture is sufficient for thousand weigh
ofsmalI meat, or eight hundred Of large.
to he we'll rubbed upon every piece, and
more especially upon The neshy surface,
taking care 10 pack your joints at'he bol-
tom and fill up The little intersIices with
iowls, chine and rounds-thr lalIer piece
is made by cutting the neck oiTar The shoul
der and jnwls. The length of time ueces-
<ary to keep pork in salt to make bacon,
depends upon the weather and The size of
The meat. If the weather is mild and the
meat small, weeks will he long crough;
but If the weather is cold and the meal
large, it should remain in sail from six TO
eight weeks, and should be taken up at the
end of four weeks and well rubbed and
sprinklcd with salt, in case The first has dis
solved. II is then to be hung up in a dark
smoke house, and the darker the better, for
the purpose of excluding fles-you will
never find flies 10 a room where the light
is completely shut ont. The higher your
smoke house the better, so thai you may
hang your meat out of the influence of the
heaI-eyery joint and oaI should be hung
by the thick eud, and every middIins by
the thick edge, or that part OF the mid
ding which was cut from the back hone
this know to be matter of the first con-
sideraton in making good bacon--by at.
tending strictly to this rule, ynu will retain
all the juices IF The meal, as well as the
salt that has hecn absorbed--or in other
words, your meat will not drip; whereas,
il YOU reverse the position aud hang it by
the small end, it will drip, become dry aud
hard, and lose in weight; aud what con-
ccive 10 le ofsome importance. its fine IA
vor. Sune who make good bacon, think
that it simportanito smoke your meat
with some particular kind of wood, but |
imagine he oily secret about this matter,
is the bitterness impaired 10 the meat.
thereby endering the TASTE unpleasant 10
the fly, .ud by keeping up continual
smoke. you create au atmosphere that the
Hy cann,t live in-viewing The matter thus,
we haveevery day or two thrown a few
pods of ed pepper upor the smoSe-woml
this Produces an atmosphere very unfit
tor the aspiration of man, and appre.
hend equally so forthe fly. Ourmeat con-
linued suspended in The smoke-huIse du.
ring theyear, is slightly smoked every
morning and plcnlifully smoked every
damp dry. lfyour readers will observe
these rues, | will almost venture to insure
such bron as would mako any epicure
smack lis chops,
JOHN SHELBY.