The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1891-01-29
COMMUNICATION.

| have II recipe to cure hams or
meat of any kind that have frequent
applications for, and to save the
trouble Of writing it Il large number
of times every year, also that the
public generally may have the benefit
Of it, l will give it through THE Sun,
l will also make II few suggestions
about sailing pork.
RECIPE: For every 100 lbs of ham
take 6 lbs Of salt, 3 lbs brown sugar
and about 4 gallons Of water. Boil
and scum, ana then set it where ii
VII cool. After 1t is cold dissolve
, oz. Of saltpetIe, OF. baking soda
and add to the pickle. Pack the
hams in IL barrel as close rs possible;
pack hams first and shoulders on the
top. Pour on the pickle, and add
pure water enough 10 cover the meat
and weight down with q stone of
sufficient weight to prevent the meat
from rising up. Let the hams remain
in this pickle or 8 weeks and then
take out. drain, wipe clean and
smoke with cohs. or maple chips.
| They are now ready for market, hut
those that are wanted for the familys
use can be returned to The pickle and
kept any length Of time desired. A
handful of whole cloves thrown into
the pickle adds to the flavor of the
hams and prevents il scum rising on
the pickle.
Those who do not like smoked ham
can keep them in this pickle all
summer by heating and scum; cool
and pour back or make new pickle.
Never use more than 6 lbs Of salt to
100 lbs OF ham or you will have to
freshpn, and that spoils the good
taste of a ham.
Beef can be kept in the same kind
Of pickle, but it must first be kept in
water with a little salt in it, say q
small handful to or 8 gallons of
water. 1t should lay in this weak
brine at least "a hours and hams or
shoulders that have any blood on
them must be served in the same
way. y mOlasses or syrup barrel does
very we'll to. pickle hams or beef in,
a kerosene barrel will do if it is first
water barrel for a year or more.
Never use a whiskey or alcohol barrel
to put meat of any kind in. It has
the same effect on meat that 1t has on
| y persons breath, it taintS it. Never
salt hams with the side pork, it gets
SO salt and is dry and hard, unpalat.
able and almost indigestible. Hams
sailed in this way are unstable,
while the picked hams always find
a ready sale. have used the above
recipe for more than 40 years, and in
all the recipes that I have seen I
! never knew its equal.
think few suggestions about
| sailing pork may not come amiss, and
first will say that it is impossible to
have genuine good salt pork here in
the west, because we do not have
good salt. 1t requires rock salt to
make the best pork, yet we can have
very good pork with our barrel salt If
we will only take a little pains with
it. The first requisite is Il clean
sweet barrel. Place the barrel in
the celler, pack each layer OF pork as
close as possible, with salt between
each layer, weight it down and pour
in cold water sufficient to cover the
meat Pork is very apt to partake Of
any unpleasant smell or impurities in
the barrel, hence it is almost sure to
spoil in Il whisky, alcohol, vinegar or
kerosene barrel. Once get sweet
barrel and there is no trouble in
keeping it sweet if it IS always kept
in the celler. Never emty the brine
ont when the meat is used up but let
it renain until it is wanted again.
The salt that is left in the barrel can
be used again, also the brine by boil
ing aud scum. prefer to throw il
away and use water. Never salt
pork until the animal heat Is out OF
it, neither salt it when frozen; be
cause it is very sure to faint. Never
salt pork in barrel and leave il
where the cold of winter and heat o
summer will affect it. In order t.
have good pork, the place for tn,
barrel whether filled or empty is il
the ceiler.
S. B. SMITH.