Many people rub in only half the quantity of salt and salting material at first, and finish a day or two later. When the meat is laid in the brine see that the brine completely covers it, and turn it every day. At this period it is a capital plan to use a common garden syringe, squirting the brine all over the meat, and getting well into any holes, or chinks, or hollows. Nowadays cooks are not like the old servant in Mrs. Gaskell’s “ Ruth,” who nearly accepted an unwelcome lover because he had a pig ready for lulling and she had such a good recipe, as yet untried, for hams. Curing meat is too hard work and too cold work for a woman, and is much better done by a man. A friendly butcher can often be induced to cure home-fed meat, or his own meat, by a family recipe. When bacon and hams are cured, they should be wiped and dried, and put into bags made of coarse muslin, and then hung up in a moderately warm place. Flies are more partial to salt meat than to fresh, and will spoil it at once if unprotected. Muslin is better than paper for bags, as paper breaks in damp weather. Smoked meat should be hung up in a dark place. Meat to be smoked used to be hung for at least three weeks in a chimney over a smoky fire made of wood, peat, shavings, and sawdust. Nowadays this method is seldom possible, and a substitute has been found in Crosse and Blackwell’s “ Cambrian Essence of Smoke.” This SALTED MEAT 207 preparation, if brushed over the meat when it is dried from the pickle, really gives the flavour of the old-fashioned chimney curing. A good brine, sufficient for twenty pounds of beef, is made by mixing together three pounds of salt, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these for twenty minutes in two gallons of water, skimming off all scum. Then let it get quite cold before you pour it over the Beef. For a small piece of Beef the quantities can be easily reduced, following the same proportions. A good test of brine is to try if an egg will float in it. If the egg sinks the brine is not strong enough ; if on the contrary the egg floats, the brine is right. Of course Beef can be bought ready salted, but butchers are apt to make it too salt. A small piece of brisket for Pressed or Spiced Beef is easily salted at home. If the brine described above is used the Beef will be ready in a fortnight, having been turned every day and well basted with the brine. The salting pan or tub must be covered with a clean piece of tamis-cloth or other porous material. The same brine can be used repeatedly, provided that it is boiled up occasionally, skimmed, and a little salt and saltpetre added to revive its strength. The juices extracted from the meat weaken the brine, as well as the loss from its combination with the meat. In cooking Salted Meat two things must be recollected. First, that in order to make it tender, all Salted Meat must be put on the fire in cold water. And, secondly, that it is next to impossible to cook Salted Meat too slowly. If, as in the Family Recipe for a Round of Beef, the meat is covered with broth instead of water, the broth must be as nearly cold as it can be to be liquid. COLD MEAT.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Many people rub in only half the quantity of salt and salting material at first, and finish a day or two later. When the meat is laid in the brine see that the brine completely covers it, and turn it every day. At this period it is a capital plan to use a common garden syringe, squirting the brine all over the meat, and getting well into any holes, or chinks, or hollows. Nowadays cooks are not like the old servant in Mrs. Gaskell’s “ Ruth,” who nearly accepted an unwelcome lover because he had a pig ready for killing and she had such a good recipe, as yet untried, for hams. Curing meat is too hard work and too cold work for a woman, and is much better done by a man. A friendly butcher can often be induced to cure home-fed meat, or his own meat, by a family recipe. When bacon and hams are cured, they should be wiped and dried, and put into bags made of coarse muslin, and then hung up in a moderately warm place. Flies are more partial to salt meat than to fresh, and will spoil it at once if unprotected. Muslin is better than paper for bags, as paper breaks in damp weather. Smoked meat should be hung up in a dark place. Meat to be smoked used to be hung for at least three weeks in a chimney over a smoky fire made of wood, peat, shavings, and sawdust. Nowadays this method is seldom possible, and a substitute has been found in Crosse and Blackwell’s “ Cambrian Essence of Smoke.” This SALTED MEAT preparation, if brushed over the meat when it is dried from the pickle, really gives the flavour of the old-fashioned chimney curing. A good brine, sufficient for twenty pounds of beef, is made by mixing together three pounds of salt, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these for twenty minutes in two gallons of water, skimming off all scum. Then let it get quite cold before you pour it over the Beef. For a small piece of Beef the quantities can be easily reduced, following the same proportions. A good test of brine is to try if an egg will float in it. If the egg sinks the brine is not strong enough ; if on the contrary the egg floats, the brine is right. Of course Beef can be bought ready salted, but butchers are apt to make it too salt. A small piece of brisket for Pressed or Spiced Beef is easily salted at home. If the brine described above is used the Beef will be ready in a fortnight, having been turned every day and well basted with the brine. The salting pan or tub must be covered with a clean piece of tamis-cloth or other porous material. The same brine can be used repeatedly, provided that it is boiled up occasionally, skimmed, and a little salt and saltpetre added to revive its strength. The juices extracted from the meat weaken the brine, as well as the loss from its combination with the meat. In cooking Salted Meat two things must be recollected. First, that in order to make it tender, all Salted Meat must be put on the fire in cold water. And, secondly, that it is next to impossible to cook Salted Meat too slowly. If, as in the Family Recipe for a Round of Beef, the meat is covered with broth instead of water, the broth must be as nearly cold as it can be to be liquid. COLD MEAT.

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book