occasionally. Or, steep -|oz. benzoin for eight days
in 2oz. rectified spirits of wine, then strain and put
the tincture aside. Meanwhile, pour half a pint of
white vinegar on the benzoin, let it steep for six days,
then strain and add to the tincture, bottling and
corking it well.
“ Thieves’ Vinegar .” — Put into a jar a handful
each of rosemary, lavender, rue, sage, wormwood,
and mint, and pour on to it a gallon of strong clear
vinegar, cover close and leave for four days near the
fire ; then strain and add to the liquid an ounce of
powdered camphor gum, bottle and keep it tightly
corked. Excellent for sickroom use.
This vinegar is said to derive its name from a
legend that, through the great plague in Marseilles
during the seventeenth century, robbers, protected by
it, entered and robbed sickrooms with impunity.
They are said to have bought their lives by giving up
the secret of this vinegar, hitherto unknown.
Spiced Vinegar. — Boil up well together three pints
of good vinegar (brown malt or white wine, according
to the use you intend making of it), with loz. each
of cloves, long or whole peppers, allspice, and ginger,
then let it cool, and use when cold.
This is excellent for any kind of pickles, for which
specially spiced vinegar is not given. Vinegar should
always be just boiled up, either with or without spice,
and then allowed to cool perfectly before it is added
to any pickle. Some housekeepers use raw vinegar,
but this never gives the same mellow flavour as is
obtained by the above process.
CHAPTER X.
MEAT, &c., TO CURE.
Dwellers in the country might easily add to their
larder resources and the variety of their menus, if
they were to try home curing more extensively than
is mostly done in England, while of the economy of
this plan it is hardly necessary to speak. In many
places fresh pork is actually dear at 6d. a pound, yet
a little time and trouble is all that is needed to turn
this pork into the equivalent of bacon sold generally
at 10d., or ham that it would be difficult to get for a
penny or so more than this price for the same weight.
Then again both beef and mutton lend themselves
admirably to pickling and curing, whilst few things
equal a properly home-cured ox tongue ; moreover,
salmon, herring, mackerel, &c., can all be prepared at
home in various ways.
To start with pork, which is the most generally
home-cured meat. A pig may be fattened at any
time between the ages of nine months and two years,
and the fattening process usually takes from three
to six months. The time of curing must depend on
circumstances — if the pig is home-killed, either by
the local butcher or someone on the premises, the
MEAT, &c., TO CURE.
139
Page 68
Presented as published in 1902. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
occasionally. Or, steep -|oz. benzoin for eight days in 2oz. rectified spirits of wine, then strain and put the tincture aside. Meanwhile, pour half a pint of white vinegar on the benzoin, let it steep for six days, then strain and add to the tincture, bottling and corking it well.
“ Thieves’ Vinegar .” — Put into a jar a handful each of rosemary, lavender, rue, sage, wormwood, and mint, and pour on to it a gallon of strong clear vinegar, cover close and leave for four days near the fire ; then strain and add to the liquid an ounce of powdered camphor gum, bottle and keep it tightly corked. Excellent for sickroom use.
This vinegar is said to derive its name from a legend that, through the great plague in Marseilles during the seventeenth century, robbers, protected by it, entered and robbed sickrooms with impunity. They are said to have bought their lives by giving up the secret of this vinegar, hitherto unknown.
Spiced Vinegar. — Boil up well together three pints of good vinegar (brown malt or white wine, according to the use you intend making of it), with loz. each of cloves, long or whole peppers, allspice, and ginger, then let it cool, and use when cold.
This is excellent for any kind of pickles, for which specially spiced vinegar is not given. Vinegar should always be just boiled up, either with or without spice, and then allowed to cool perfectly before it is added to any pickle. Some housekeepers use raw vinegar, but this never gives the same mellow flavour as is obtained by the above process.
Dwellers in the country might easily add to their larder resources and the variety of their menus, if they were to try home curing more extensively than is mostly done in England, while of the economy of this plan it is hardly necessary to speak. In many places fresh pork is actually dear at 6d. a pound, yet a little time and trouble is all that is needed to turn this pork into the equivalent of bacon sold generally at 10d., or ham that it would be difficult to get for a penny or so more than this price for the same weight. Then again both beef and mutton lend themselves admirably to pickling and curing, whilst few things equal a properly home-cured ox tongue ; moreover, salmon, herring, mackerel, &c., can all be prepared at home in various ways.
To start with pork, which is the most generally home-cured meat. A pig may be fattened at any time between the ages of nine months and two years, and the fattening process usually takes from three to six months. The time of curing must depend on circumstances — if the pig is home-killed, either by the local butcher or someone on the premises, the