Yorkshire Bacon

Ingredients

• six ounces of saltpetre
• 10 lbs. of common salt
• a pint of bay-salt
• a quarter of a pound of saltpetre
• two pounds of coarse sugar
• a quarter of a peck of common salt

Method

1. 1

   After killing the pig, hang it for 24 hours before cutting.

2. 2

   Rub in saltpetre and common salt, then place in a salting tub for 12-14 days.

3. 3

   Turn it over, apply fresh salt, and leave for 10 days.

4. 4

   Wipe well and hang in a cool, dry place in a linen or cotton bag, or wash with lime and water to prevent rancidity.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Consult me (1902) by Robert Kemp Philp, page 38. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Yorkshire Bacon is first-rate, equal to that of Wiltshire, Cumberland, &c. The peculiarity of fla vour depends upon curing, which is conducted in the fol- lowing manner : — After killing, the pig must hang for twenty-four hours, be- fore being cut up. Take saltpetre, six ounces to the cwt., and rub it well in ; and xo lbs. of common salt to the cwt ; well rub it in, and place in the salting- tub. After having been in salt twelve or fourteen days, it must be turned over, a few pounds of fresh salt applied, and left for ten days longer. Then take out, wipe well, and bang up in a cool, dry place in a linen or cotton bag, or wash over with lime and water, to pre- vent rancidity, and the attack of the bacon-fly. Hams especially should be preserved in this way. Some people make their bacon thus : Take off all the inside fat of a side of pork, and lay it on a long board or dresser, that the blood may run from it. Rub it well on both sides with good salt, and let it lie one day. Then take a pint of bay-salt, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, and beat them both fine ; two pounds of coarse sugar, and a quarter of a peck of common salt. Lay your pork in something that will hold the pickle and rub it well with the above ingredients. Lay the skinny side down- wards, and baste it every day with the pickle for a fortnight. Then hang it on a wood-smoke and afterwards hang it in a dry place, but not in a hot place. Observe that all hams and bacon should hang clear from everything, and not touch the wall. Take care to wipe off the old salt before you put it into the pickle, and never keep bacon or hams in a hot kitchen, or in a room ex- posed to the rays of the sun, as all these matters contribute to make them rusty. BACON, to cure as in Wilt- shire.— Sprinkle each flitch with salt, and let the blood draiD off for twenty-four hours ; then mix a pound and a half of coarse sugar, the same quantity of bay-salt, nearly half a pound of saltpetre, and a pound of common salt. Rub this mixture well into the bacon, turning it every day for a month, then hang it to dry, and afterwards smoke it ten days. This quantity of salts is sufficient for the whole hog. BACON, to choose. — If the rind is thin, the fat firm and of a red tinge, the lean tender, and of a good colour, and adhering to the bone, you may conclude it good and not old. If there are yellow streaks in it, it is going, if not already, rusty. BACON, Excellent. — Divide the hog, and take the chine out ; it is com- mon to remove the spareribs, but the bacon will be preserved better from being rusty if they are left in. Salt the bacon six days, then drain it from that first pickle ; mix as much salt as you judge proper with eight ounces of bay- salt, three ounces of saltpetre,

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