Pork, to Pickle

Ingredients

• Bone the pork, and cut it into neat pieces
• 61b. coarse brown sugar
• lib. bay salt
• 6oz. saltpetre
• about 41b. of common salt

Method

1. 1

   Rub the pork well with salt, layer it in a trough with salt, and let it lie for two to three days.

2. 2

   Sprinkle a mixture of sugar, bay salt, saltpetre, and common salt on top.

3. 3

   Keep covered with brine and turn frequently.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from The "Queen" cookery books: Pickles and Preserves (1902) by S. Beaty-Pownall, page 74. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Bone the pork, and cut it into MEAT, &c., TO CURE. 151 neat pieces, to fit tlie size of the pickling pan (the belly or thin flank is best for this purpose). Rub the pork well with salt, put. a layer of salt in the trough, then lay in the pork, sprinkling each piece well with salt as you lay it in, till you have alternate layers of pork and salt ; let them lie in this well packed in with salt all round for two or three days, and then sprinkle all over the top a mixture made with 61b. coarse brown sugar, lib. bay salt, 6oz. salt- petre, and about 41b. of common salt. As soon as the salt begins to “ give ” or melt, rub these ingredients well in, and turn the pieces frequently, keeping them all well covered with brine. As the salt melts strew more on, then throw a coarse clean cloth over the tub, and on this put a board, and weight this so that it keeps the pork well under the brine. If the trough is kept well covered with a two or three times folded flannel, a little more salt being added now and again, it will keej) to the very last. Another way of pickling pork is to make a brine of water and bay salt sufficiently strong to float an egg, and after it has been boiled, skimmed (till no more scum rises), and allowed to cool, lay the pick- ling pork in this. “ Petit Sale,” or French Larding Bacon. — Choose the fattest part of the pork (for this should have little or no lean with it), and rub this well with salt, which should have been previously pounded and sifted ; stack the layers of this fat bacon in a shallow trough or tray, and leave it in a cool but not damp cellar; add more salt all round the bacon as the first dissolves, and keep it pressed down with a cloth- 152 PICKLES AND PRESERVES. covered board, weighted rather heavily. Let it lemain thus for six weeks, then hang in a drv airv room. This is the ordinary way, but for more deli- cate use here is the French mode, which, however, only keeps a week at the most. For this boil together common salt, bay salt, brown sugar, and water in the proportions of 21b. of salt, 4oz. brown sugar, and 2oz. bay salt to each gallon of water, stirring this fre- quently together ; then when the salt, &c., is dissolved and the mixture has cooled, add an infusion of any spice or herbs to taste, as described above, and pour it over the pork, which should have been previously lightly rubbed with salt. This is ready for use in three days. Hams, to Pickle. — To each ham, if large, allow lib. bay salt, \\oz. saltpetre, and loz. black pepper, and pound and mix all these well together. Rub the ham very hard with this mixture, and let it lie in it for four days, turning and rubbing it daily ; then pour over it l|-lb. of treacle, and let it stand for a month, turning, basting, and rubbing it daily. Now lift it out, soak for twenty-four hours, then dry it carefully, sew it up in coarse cloth and hang it up to dry. This kind of ham requires no soaking before use. This is an excellent recipe, but for a hot or damp climate the following is better: lib. salt, lib. very dark sugar, 2oz. bay salt, l^oz. of saltpetre, and a gill each of ale and vinegar, with a little pepper. Keep it for a month or six weeks in pickle. These are both well-tested family recipes. (a la Ude). — Rub the hams well with salt and leave them to drain for three days. Throw MEAT, &c., TO CURE. 153 this brine away, and have ready a fresh one made by mixing together for each 141b. ham, l-^oz. saltpetre, 6oz. to 7oz. coarse salt, £lb. coarse sugar ; lay the hams in the trough skin downwards, and rub them thoroughly with this mixture, being sure every part gets its share ; after three days of this treatment, pour over each ham a pint of vinegar, and keep it turned, basted, and well rubbed daily for a month ; then smoke them for a month, hanging them rather high in the chimney lest the fat should melt, which it is apt to do when pickled in this way. (It may be observed that a flitch of bacon may be pickled by this recipe, and is particularly good, and keeps a long time, as the vinegar preserves it.) Hams pickled in this way are better baked than boiled, and at any rate must be cooked very gently and not overdone. The pork must be of first-rate quality. Hams, to Pichle ( Italian fashion). — Mix together two quarts of Barolo wine (a rough red vin du pays , of the Burgundian type), three quarts cold water, 61b. coarse salt, nearly lib. bay salt, and about 6oz. salt- petre. Dissolve this all well, and when cool add to it an aromatic infusion as described above ; then use it as in the preceding recipes. In Westphalia they boil together six quarts of water, 71b. of salt, nearly 21b. of sugar, lOoz. saltpetre,

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.