A simple way to salt bacon and hams in brine is to rub the meat well with salt, especially into the exposed ends of bones, and then pack into a barrel, with a layer of salt between each piece. Allow the meat to remain thus for 48 hours, then pour over all a brine strong enough to bear up an egg. Let the meat remain in pickle six weeks ; then smoke. Molasses pickle is made as follows : To four quarts of fine salt and two ounces of pulverized saltpeter add enough molasses to make a paste. Hang the hams in a cool dry place for three or four days after cutting up; then cover with the pickle mixture, thickest on the flesh side, and lay them skin down for three or four days. For 100 pounds of ham make brine in the following proportion : Seven pounds coarse salt ; two ounces saltpeter; one-half ounce pearlash; four gallons soft water. Heat grad- ually, removing all scum as it arises, then cool. Pack the hams in a barrel, pour the brine over them, and keep in pickle five to eight weeks, according to size. THE RURAL COOK BOOK. 31 Ham, Sugar Cured. — To 50 pounds of ham or "side bacon" allow three pounds of sugar and a pint of molasses, six pounds of salt, one fuH tablespoonful of saleratus and the same of saltpeter. Cover the bottom of your firkin with salt (about two pounds). Mix sugar, molasses, salt- peter, saleratus and the remaining salt into a paste. Rub each piece thoroughly with Ihis, work it in well and hard, and pack into the firkin, the rind downward. Cover all with cold water— just enough to rise above the meat. Lay a heavy board on top, weight it with a stone to keep the meat under water, and leave it thus for four weeks, turning the meat and stirring up the pickle every week. Take out, then wipe, rub into the pieces as much dry salt and an equal quantity of sugar as they will take up; pack in a dry firkin and leave for 24 hours before sending to the smokehouse, Hamburg Steak, Baked.— One and one-half pound raw chopped beef, two cupfuls of stale bread softened with half a cupful of hot milk and cooled, two eggs, small onion minced, teaspoonfol of salt, saltspoonful of pepper and pinch of ginger. Mix well and shape into a square; place in baking pan with a tablespoonful of tomato, small onion and butter the size of a walnut✪ Hamburg Steak, Baked on top of meat. Bake one hour, basting frequently. The potatoes should be boiled 15 minutes, then drained, pared and placed in pan with the Hamburg steak to cook 45 minutes, being turned and basted often. Medium-sized potatoes are best for this. Serve arranged around the meat. Hungarian Hamburg Steak, — Beat an egg into a bowl, stir in bread crumbs (about a cupful), a small onion, grated, salt and paprika (a mtld- flavored cayenne pepper). The meat is stirred into this, and after thor- ough mixing is formed into a ball. An onion is fried brown in butter, put into an earthen saucepan with a tight-litting cover, and the meat ball is added, with two tomatoes cut into quarters✪ Hungarian Hamburg Steak around it. After simmering for half an hour the meat is turned gently, so as not to break the ball, then allowed to cook quietly for nearly an hour, and served with the vegetables as a garnish.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A simple way to salt bacon and hams in brine is to rub the meat well with salt, especially into the exposed ends of bones, and then pack into a barrel, with a layer of salt between each piece. Allow the meat to remain thus for 48 hours, then pour over all a brine strong enough to bear up an egg. Let the meat remain in pickle six weeks ; then smoke. Molasses pickle is made as follows : To four quarts of fine salt and two ounces of pulverized saltpeter add enough molasses to make a paste. Hang the hams in a cool dry place for three or four days after cutting up; then cover with the pickle mixture, thickest on the flesh side, and lay them skin down for three or four days. For 100 pounds of ham make brine in the following proportion : Seven pounds coarse salt ; two ounces saltpeter; one-half ounce pearlash; four gallons soft water. Heat gradually, removing all scum as it arises, then cool. Pack the hams in a barrel, pour the brine over them, and keep in pickle five to eight weeks, according to size. Ham, Sugar Cured. — To 50 pounds of ham or "side bacon" allow three pounds of sugar and a pint of molasses, six pounds of salt, one full tablespoonful of saleratus and the same of saltpeter. Cover the bottom of your firkin with salt (about two pounds). Mix sugar, molasses, saltpeter, saleratus and the remaining salt into a paste. Rub each piece thoroughly with this, work it in well and hard, and pack into the firkin, the rind downward. Cover all with cold water— just enough to rise above the meat. Lay a heavy board on top, weight it with a stone to keep the meat under water, and leave it thus for four weeks, turning the meat and stirring up the pickle every week. Take out, then wipe, rub into the pieces as much dry salt and an equal quantity of sugar as they will take up; pack in a dry firkin and leave for 24 hours before sending to the smokehouse, Hamburg Steak, Baked.— One and one-half pound raw chopped beef, two cupfuls of stale bread softened with half a cupful of hot milk and cooled, two eggs, small onion minced, teaspoonfol of salt, saltspoonful of pepper and pinch of ginger. Mix well and shape into a square; place in baking pan with a tablespoonful of tomato, small onion and butter the size of a walnut on top of meat. Bake one hour, basting frequently. The potatoes should be boiled 15 minutes, then drained, pared and placed in pan with the Hamburg steak to cook 45 minutes, being turned and basted often. Medium-sized potatoes are best for this. Serve arranged around the meat. Hungarian Hamburg Steak, — Beat an egg into a bowl, stir in bread crumbs (about a cupful), a small onion, grated, salt and paprika (a mild flavored cayenne pepper). The meat is stirred into this, and after thorough mixing is formed into a ball. An onion is fried brown in butter, put into an earthen saucepan with a tight-litting cover, and the meat ball is added, with two tomatoes cut into quarters around it. After simmering for half an hour the meat is turned gently, so as not to break the ball, then allowed to cook quietly for nearly an hour, and served with the vegetables as a garnish.

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Hamburg Steak, BakedHungarian Hamburg Steak

The Rural cook book