Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-11-24


Formerly | tried keeping hams and shoulders
in salt, and also in grain, but they would dis
solve the salt or mould in the grain. | then
tried Keeping them n pounded charcoal with
no better effect I next tried dry ashes, but
unless hams were very dry when put up they
would taste of the ashes / then tried sewieg
them up in coarse cloth and white washing
them several times over, as | had seen them
in that condition in market but they did not
keep well-would either mould or the lime
would crack aud the flies get in.
For number OF years | have adopted new
method and never failed to keep them sweet
and free from mould or flies prepare a sack
for each ham A yard square of good sheet
ing is sufficient for good sized ham. After
the hams are smoked, and before any flies
have infected them, | put them up, one in a
sack. / take sweet hay and cut it lin cut
ting box about one inch long, aad Gil in the
sack and around the ham, SO that the ham can
not touch the bag Tie cord around the
open end and hang them up in the smoke-house
or some cool, dry place, and they can be kept
any length of time the bag and hay will
keep away The flies aud allow the moisture to
escape so they will not mould.
Hams should always be well cured before
they are smoked. Ihave seen several good
following is my method, and have often been
asked how | could keep them through the
summer and have them of so fine a flavor
RECIPE FOR CURING HANs-To one gallon
of water take one aud half pounds of good
salt, one half pound of sugar, and half an ounce
ounce saltpetre-to be increased in this ratio
to any quantity required to cover the hams
AS soon as your pork is cold cut out the hams
and pack them closely in your caSk. Sprinkle
each layer lightly with fine salt-put on
weight and pour on the brine Immediately and
before the juice of the ham has escaped 1t
will require from four to six weeks for the salt
to strike through, according to the size of the
hams. 1t will be necessary, perhaps, to add
little salt on top of the hams sometimes, if
they are very large they absorb so much of
the salt as to leave the brine SO weak it may
sour. 1t would be well to take them up after
they have been in week or two, and examine
them, and if necessary add little more salt.
Great care should be taken not to salt too
much, as by doing so you lose the flavor of
the ham, and but just enough should be used
to keep them As the ham absorbs the salt
from the brine it should be fed by adding
little salt on the top, and the hams should be
well struck through When the hams are
large | take out the fat bone and cut off the
round socket bone with chised, leaving al
ways the large bone With care | never have
failed to keep hams sweet.
How TO MAKE A SuoKE-H E-HousF-Hav
given You my method for curing and keeping
b,, I, 4 H.
No farmer should be without a good smoke
house, and such Que as will be fire proof
and toleraby secure from thieves Fifty hams
can be smoked at one time in Smoke-house
seven by eight feet apart. Mine is six by seven
and is large enough for most farmers ! first
dug all the ground out below where the frost
would reach, and filled it up to the surface
with small stones On this | laid nv brick
floor, in lime mortar The walls are brick eight
inches thick and seven feet high, with a door
on Que side two feet wide The door should
be made Of wood and lined with sheet IRON
For the top put on occ two by four, set up
edgewiSe and eight and half inches from CEN
tre to centre, covered with brick, and put on
heavy coat of mortar. built a small chimney
on the top in the centre, arching it over and
covering it with a single roof in the usual way.
An arch should be built on the outside, with
small iron door to shut it up, similar to a stove
door. with hole from the arch through the
wall Of the smoke house and an iron crate over
it. The orch is much more convenient and
better to put the fire in than to build fire in
side the smoke-house, and the chimney causes
draft through into the smoke house. Good
corn 'cobs or hickory wood are the best mater
ials to make smoke for hams The cost Of
such a smoke-house as | have described is
about twenty dollars. ALEX BROOKS, Factory
Vile Tioga county, New York, October, 1859.
-RardL Nclc YORKER