A year's cookery

Tomato Store Sauce. — This sauce should be made in October. Be sure that the tomatoes are ripe and red, and that they have been gathered on a dry day. Put as many as are to be used into an earthern jar, and bake them in a gentle oven till they are soft, then rub them through a fine sieve. With every pound of pulp put a quart of vinegar, an ounce of salt, and the same of white pepper, half an ounce of cayenne, and half an ounce of finely-minced shalot. Mix thoroughly, boil gently till the sauce is as thick as cream, and stir frequently to prevent burning, then put it into wide-mouthed and perfectly dry bottles, cork it closely, and keep it in a cool airy place. Where tomatoes are liked and used to any extent it is best to make sauce for home consumption. Hams , to Cure. — Hams, especially Canadian hams, may now be bought at a very cheap rate. These hams are excellent for ordinary purposes, and it is a good plan to keep one always in the house, “ in cut,” as it is called. Sugar-cured hams cannot, however, compare in flavour with home-cured hams, which are a real delicacy, and would prove a welcome addition to any table. The recipe given below has been proved again and again year after year with most satisfactory results. Procure three or four legs of fresh pork, or one leg of pork if liked. Take away the bone which lies on that part of the leg which has been cut from the loin. This can be very easily removed, and should certainly be cut away, as the ham will keep better without it. Weigh the hams, and for each fourteen pounds of meat allow half a pound of salt, a quarter of a pound of sugar, a quarter of a pound of treacle, one ounce of ground pepper, half an ounce of ground allspice, and half an ounce of salt prunella. First rub the salt into the meat, and be particularly careful to cover the shank bone. Do this for two days. The third and fourth days pour off the brine and carefully preserve it. The fifth day rub in the remainder of the dry ingredients. Measure the brine which was preserved, and boil it with three times the quantity of water and the proportion of treacle. Put the hams rind side downwards into a deep earthern pan, and turn and rub them in the pickle every day for five or six weeks, according to their size, but always leave them in the pan the rind side downwards. Boil the brine three or four times during this period. At the end of the time wash the hams lightly to free them from the pickle, which has a dark and rather unpleasant look, and hang them in a cool airy place to dry. They will be ready in about a month. If it is preferred that they should be smoked, there is almost sure to be a confectioner or provision dealer in the neighbourhood who would let them hang with his own hams for “a consideration ” — fourpence or sixpence each ham. In many parts they are, however, preferred unsmoked. When done wrap each ham in a cotton bag, and hang it in a cool airy situation till wanted. The same pickle may be used for tongues after the hams are finished.