The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1864-11-12
Hams Cured with Dry Sugar.

A correspondent sends us the following
interesting advice on this subject -
The meat must not be allowed to freeze
under any crcumstance-treezing destroy.
ing the property in the juices, which pre-.
vents any application Of sugar, molasses or
salt from uniting with them aud forming the
chemical combination which keeps them
from souring. Separate the right and left
hams; spread them on n floor, shelf or in
box, the thick part of each ham overlapping
the thick part with the butts elevated three
inches more than the shanks. Bearing in
mind, through the whole process, that the
retention OF the Juices by p lacing the hams
in proper position and free from any kind
Of pressure is essential.
"To cure a ham of fifteen lbs. weight
requires one lb. Of good brown sugar. two
Oh. refined and ground saltpetre, half a ID.
ground sea salt. First applicato
petre, and cover the face of the ham with
sugar quarter of an inch thick on the
fifth day rub the skin side with sugar
Second application saltpetre and mixture
of three parts sugar and one part salt; on
the seventh day rub as before. Third appli
cation-half sugar and half SALT in seven
days rub as before. Fourth application
same as last; in seven days rub with half
sugar and salt; clean the flesh side of the
ham. Fifth application-very good molasses
mot sorghum) as long as the meat will
absorb it. Saturate the ham with sugar as
you would in preserving fruit; the salt is
only to flavor it; for hams intended for
boiling, and which require more salt, you
may use salt according to your judgment
and give more time. The ham is now cured,
and for purposes Of broling it will be found
delicious.
CLAIMS should always be dried without
smoke, hanging them III domestic sacks,
shank down. If you prefer smoke, hang
for two months, and then commence smo.
king, observing to have your meat elevated
as many feet from your fires as practicable.
Smoke houses should be constructed so that
the smoke is admitted at the top of the
building; the meat being near dry floor,
the smoke settles on the meat after being
cooled. Hot smoke should never touch
meat. Smoke very slowly, using green
hickory smothered with green sawdust from
white or burr oak timber, if you can get it.
! have never used any thing else, and there
fore cannot speak of the merits of corn cobs
or sassafras but as a rule use timber that
smokes red, not black; during the last six
hours smoking throw red peppers on the
fire, it keeps off the skipper bug You
may want to know what are the advantages
gained by curing hams by this expensive pro-
cess. Well, they are weight and superior
qualify as to their keeping | never had
chance to ascertain it-hams cured in this
way being 'gobbled up Immediately when
placed in market-their keeping qualities
don't get chance to be tested. Compared
with sweet picked ham there is just the
same superiority IN quality as there is be-
tween the sweet picked and sailed. Try a
few
One word more about the special advan.
tage of curing with sugar; fat cured with
salt is repusive to weak stomachs, conse-
quently large portion is trimmed of hams
intended for the American market that in
England is always retained, for two reasons,
economy and preserving the juices. Stom
achs that reject fat when sailed, find it pala-
table and delicious when cured with sugar.
Scientific d9ueyjrlp