Cassell's dictionary of cookery

use. Remember always to wash the hands in cold water the last thing before touching the meat. The time required for the meat to lie in salt depends upon taste. If it is wished that it should be only moderately salted, the hand and belly may remain in the pan four days, and a leg weighing six pounds five or six days. Pork, Pickled (another way).— Every part of the pig which is thin and streaky may be converted into pickled pork, but the fillet and breasts are the portions best suited for this purpose. Cut the meat into pieces, and lay these at the bottom of an earthen pan on a layer of crushed salt, packing them as closely as possible. Cover with a mixture of fifteen parts of salt and one of saltpetre. Lay on the top a cloth folded in four, and above the cloth a round board bearing several heavy stones. If the pork is wanted for immediate use, remove it at the end of five or six days ; but if it is wished to preserve it for a considerable time, let it remain, longer in salt. Pork, Pickled, Boiled.— If the pork be very salt, let it soak for an hour before it is dressed. Put it into a saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring it slowly to the boil. Skim the liquid carefully, draw the pan to the side, and let the meat simmer very gently until it is done enough. If boiled quickly it will not be good. Pickled pork is generally served as an accompaniment to fowls or other white meats. If under-dressed, pickled pork is very indigestible. Thick pieces will require longer boiling than thin ones ; as a general rule, half an hour per pound from the time the water boils. Pork, Pickled, Dressed (Dr. Kitchiner's observations on). — "Pickled pork takes more pork time than any other moat. If you buy your ready salted, ask how many days it has been in salt ; if many, it will require to be soaked in water for six hours before you dress it. When you cook it, wash and scrape it as clean as possible ; when delicately dressed, it is a favourite dish with almost everybody. . Take care it does not boil fast ; if it does, the knuckle -will break to pieces before the thick part of the meat is warm through ; a leg of seven pounds takes three hours and a half very slow simmering. Skim your pot very carefully, and when you take the meat out of the boiler, scrape it clean. Some sagacious cooks (who remember to how many more Nature has given eyes than she has given tongues and brains) , when pork is boiled, score it in diamonds, and take out every other square, and thus present a retainer to the eye to plead for them to the palate ; but this is pleasing the eye at the expense of the palate. A leg of nice pork nicely salted and nicely boiled is as nice a cold relish as cold ham, especially if, instead of cutting into the middle when hot, and so letting out its juices, you cut it at the knuckle ; slices broiled are a good luncheon or supper. Some persons who sell pork ready salted have a silly trick of cutting the knuckle in two — we suppose that this is done to save their salt— but it lets all the gravy out of the leg; and unless you boU your pork merely for the sake of the pot-liquor, which in this case receives all the goodness and strength