FoodNetArchive

Cassell's dictionary of cookery

1892

Page 1699

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
from sea-water, the other from salt-springs and lakes. The former method is practised in Hampshire, France, Spain, and Portugal; the latter in the island of Cape Verd and many parts of America. 2. Marine or Newcastle salt, which is extracted from sea-water when boiled. 3. Brine or fountain salt, prepared in a similar manner from brine taken from rivers, lakes, &c. 4. White salt — one kind prepared from sea- water, after having been subjected to the sun's heat and exposed to the air; another kind, extracted from sand or stones, impreg- nated with saline particles. 5. Ketined rock salt, boiled from a solution. 6. Salt-upon- salt, procured from an amalgamation of bay and other salts, and much used by the Dutch in preserving herrings. Salt-water Fish, Wholesomeness of. — Salt-water fish are the best of any, as their fiesh is more solid, more agreeable and healthy, less exposed to putrescency, and less viscid. They possess these excellent qualities when fresh ; when salted, they have all the properties of salt flesh, and consequently its disadvantages. Those fish which have scales are in general the most easily digested and the | best : and of all these the fresh herring appears j to deserve the preference. The herring, the whiting, the sole, the cod-fish, the dory, the turbot, and the floimder, are perhaps the most digestible and best of fish. Salmon, mackerel, lobster, and most kinds of shell-fish, are very difficult of digestion and unwholesome. — Dr. Graham. Salting Meat. — Full instructions for salt- ing the various joints are given under the diii'erent headings, nevertheless it may be useful to present in a concise form general instructions for the process. The meat should always be brought in as soon as the animal is killed, the kernels, sinews, and pipes should be at once removed, and the blood and moisture wiped away. Then, if liked, it may be allowed to hang for a few days in cool weather to become tender ; in hot weather it should be im- mediately salted. Exceedingly hot and exceed- ingly cold weather are equally unfavourable for salting meat. A handful of common salt should first be sprinkled over the nieat, then it should be allowed to lie on a dish in a cool place for twenty-four hours, and afterwards the brine should be drained from it, the moisture wiped off, and the salting process continued. The great art of salting meat consists in rubbing the salt thoroughly and equally into every part, between the muscles and under the flaps, and into the places from which the kernels were taken; the holes in which the butcher's skewers Avere pushed ought also to be filled with salt. The meat ought to be turned every day, and rubbed in the brine which flows from it. It ought to be examined too, and if any mouldiness gathers on any portion of it, that part should be cut off, aiid the place rubbed with salt. The quantity of salt used must be regulated by the weight of the joint, which should be rubbed l^lentifully in every part with the salt-mixture, and afterwards well covered with it. The salt should be heated and pounded before being used. Bay-salt, though more expensive, gives a better