Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1869-12-03


When thus kept in pickle with the
quantity of salt used, there would at
least be no danger of their spelling;
but I cannot believe that hams thus
cured and kept, have the tenderness
and fine flavor Of those prepared and
preserved after the most approved
method in the old days.
The following pickle which I have
Enthusiastically used for several years
past, l can confidently recommend,
when all the other conditions of cur
ing, etc., are rightly observed. For
100 pounds of hams, eight pounds of
coarse salt, two quarts Of the best
molasscs or syrup, five ounces salt
petrc, four ounces saleratus. Dissolve
the ingredients in sufficient water to
cover the hams. l sometimes boil
the pickle and skim it before it is used.
This is not essential when the materi-
ais used are the best of their kind.
Place the hams in the cask side by
side, being careful not to put the
back of one fiat on the top of anoth-
err, as when thus placed, the pickle,
does not reach all parts alFase. Pour
on the pickle, and let them remain in it
five or six weeks-depending upon the
size ofthe hams. The best pickle that
can be made, 'snot all that is needed to
make good hams. Hams that are ia
ken out of the pickle in prime condi-
ton for the smoke-house, are often
seriously injured when proper care is
not paid to their smoking. No smoke
should be applied until the hams are
thoroughly dried. Smoke with green
hickory or maple wood or corn cobs.
. a moderate and cool smoke is indis-
pensable in the proper smoking of
hams. Under no circumstances
should hot smoke be suffered to touch
them; neither should the condensed
vapor Of the smokc-house tie suffered
to settle upon and moisten the hams,
thus imparting flavor as if they had
been dipped in pyrolIgneous acid.
Hams are seriously injured in this
way when smoked under barrels or
hogsheads, or in low smoke-houses,
where the meat is brought too near
the fire, and there is no vent in the
upper part of the building for the
steam-like vapor to escape.
After the hams are sufficiently
smoked, which is generally indicated
by their light, mahogany color, give
their heshiy parts coating of molas-
ses. and sprinkle them with red pep.
per, and inclose them in cotton bags
Us a preservation Of the juices Of the
meat, and a protection against
flies. My own experience and that
of others who have tested the hams
cured with all these conditions right
ly observed, will warrant the asser-
ton that, although not properly sug-
ar-cured, they are decidedly prefera-
bic to most of the so-called hams.
". II. SCHUYLER.
Marshall, Mich.
In the town of Stratham, N. H.,
there now lives woman named Miss
Nabby Robinson, of whom the neigh
bors relate most extraordinary things.
Miss Nabby is now 81 years of age,
and is vigorous and hearty as most
women of SO. She still does house
work, milks the cows, makes butter
and cheese, and reads without spec
tacles. She is small IN stature, and
never weighed over l15 pounds, but
her neighbors say she has been the
strongest woman ever known in this
region. When she was passing a
a neighbours house where two men
were rigging up planks, &c, upon
which to roll four barrels of cider
into a wagon, Nabby laughed at
what she called their " cob houses"
and when they retorted with some
thing about woman's nonsense" she
showed them specimen of her
nonsense" by picking up the bar
rels of cider one after another and
putting them in the wagon with APP
parent ease. At another time Miss
Nabby was at store in Greenland,
where several men were lifting on a
barrel of new rum. Nabby told
them she could lift it, whereupon the
owner looked at the little woman in
astonishment, and told her if she
would he would give her the barrel
and contents At this Miss Nabby
took hold and placed it upon the
counter. The owner acknowledged
himself beaten, and told her che was
welcome to the rum. One Of her
friends saws she took it out and knock
ed in the head Of the barrel, but this
part of the story is denied.
PANIF1cAT1oN.-This is a new
French process of making bread
from grain without grinding. The
grain is first busted and cleaned III a
dry state. 1t is then well washed
with warm water, and soaked long
enough to soften the hard outer coat
of bran, when it is thrown into a
cylinder full of rough surfaces on the
inside, which rasp off the bran, some
thing like the process of making
pearl barley. The white grain is
then fermentcd with yeast, and run
through a series Of rollers, which
bring it to the consistency of dough,
ready for baking.
This is the new process. 1t is
claimed that SO pounds more bread
can be made from 100 pounds of grain
than by the present mode of grinding,
a most important saving. 1t is also
Of better quality, as the gluten is
heated and scorched in it passage
through mill stones.
If experience proves this, it will be
indeed a great improvement. Our
great mills will be changed into ba-
keries also, and will be located near
where the grain is consumed, and the
present system will be completely
revolutioned. But little bread will
be made in private dwellings.
Mich cows should be fed night and
morning regularly now, and housed
nights and in wet weather. They
should not be obliged to depend too
much on the pastures; there is no
reason why a good flow Of milk should
be stopped now, as it too often is by