Or protect against insects, and store without smoking. A small ham will require about 2 weeks, and a large one 3 to 4 weeks to cure by the above method. A tongue will require about 12 days. They may then be used at once without drying, or may be dried and smoked.
Or if the weather is hot, and the hams show signs of rusting, make a pickle of common salt and water strong enough to float an egg, and pour it over them.
Or to pickle pork hams, first rub them with a mixture of 1 pound of pure salt and 1 ounce of saltpeter. Sprinkle with same and let them drain on slats for 48 hours. Rub into each ham a mixture of teaspoonful of saltpeter, teaspoonful of brown sugar, and 1 salt spoon of Cayenne pepper. Scald a suitable tub or bar rel. Cover the bottom with a layer of pure salt. Pack the hams in this, rind side down, sprinkling salt freely over the fleshy side of each, and let stand for a week. Prepare a pick ling liquid by dissolving in 6 gallons of soft water 10 pounds of salt, 4 pounds of brown sugar, 4 ounces of saltpeter, and 2 ounces of soda. Bring to a boil with very gentle heat, skimming constantly. Set aside until cool, and pour into the cask through a cheese-clotb strainer. The hams should remain in this pickle from 6 weeks to 3 months, according to their size.
Or for 100 pounds of meat, dissolve in 4 gallons of soft water, 8 pounds of coarse fme salt, 1 ounce of baking soda, 2 ounces of saltpeter, and 2 pounds of brown sugar. Prepare in all respects as above.
Or for 100 pounds of meat, dissolve in 4 gallons of soft water 7 pounds of coarse fine salt, 2i pounds of brown sugar, 2 ounces of saltpeter, and 2 ounces of soda. Immerse the hams and pickle for 2 or 3 months, according to their size.
Or rub the hams with a mixture of 1 pound of salt, 1 ounce of saltpeter, and let drain 3 or 4 days. Immerse in brine strong enough to float an egg, and for each barrel or 100 pounds of meat, add 2 quarts of mo lasses, 4 ounces of saltpeter, 2 ounces of baking soda, and pickle 6 to 8 weeks.
Smoking Pork the hams from the pickling liquid and hang them up to drain and dry. When they have drained sufficiently, wipe them carefully with a sponge or clean cloth, and rub thoroughly into the fleshy side a mixture of equal parts of Cayenne and black pepper, especially about the bone and hock. This will prevent flies lighting upon them. Now sew up each ham in a bag of cheese cloth or scrim to pro tect it from soot, and hang up in the smoke house under a barrel or any suitable receptacle and smoke—the longer the better. Chips or sawdust from hickory or beech wood or corn cobs are the most suitable fuel with which to smoke hams. After being lighted they must be kept smoldering by sprinkling them lightly with water whenever they commence to blaze.
And the process may be continued for 8 or 10 hours or for several weeks, according to convenience or the qual ity desired. Some persons who burn wood exclusively as fuel, smoke hams by sewing them up in a coarse cloth and hanging them up in the chimney, but this method is not suitable if coal is used as fuel in any part of the house. When hams are smoked properly the pyroligneous acid of the smoke permeates the meat. It also dries slowly at the same time. Quick smoking merely coats the outside of the ham, but does not penetrate its fiber.
Or an imitation of smoking may be had by immersing the ham in di luted pyroligneous acid for 2 or 3 hours, or giving it 2 or 3 coatings with a brush. But this method tends to harden and toughen the meat and is therefore not to be recommended for domestic use.
To Store Smoked Ham.—After re moving hams from the smoke house, they may be rinsed in cold water, or better still, immersed for 2 or 3 min utes in boiling water, the effect of which is to cover them with a coating of grease and also to kill any germs or eggs of insects that may be pres ent. Next, coat them with flour paste prepared by rubbing up 2 teaspoon fuls of flour in a little cold water, bringing to a boil, and stirring in 1 teaspoonful or more of Cayenne pep per. Cover the hams thickly with this paste by means of a soft brush, and hang them up in the direct sun light until the paste dries. When dry, sew them up in coarse cloth, and give the cloth a coating of shdlac or other varnish.
Or suspend them in a loose bag surrounded by finely chopped straw to the thickness of 2 or 3 inches.
Or place them in ordinary paper flour sacks. Tie tightly to exclude the air and insects and hang up in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place.
Or wrap each ham in ordinary brown butcher's wrapping paper, seal with paste containing Cayenne pep per, and tie with tvvine. Pack in packing cases or barrels .in finely chopped straw. A. coating of pyro ligneous acid, if carefully applied, so as to cover the entire surface and penetrate all crevices, will effectually prevent contamination of insects.
Curing Bacon. — The process of curing bacon is similar to dry-smok ing pork hams. Rub the flitches of bacon with 1 ounce of common salt, 1 ounce of saltpeter, and 1 ounce of brown sugar. Lay them on slats or slanting boards to drain for 48 hours, turning frequently. Next lay the flitches in a deep dripping pan, and cover with the same mixture. Turn and rub the pickle into them 0 or 3 times a day for a week or 10 days.
Let stand in the pickle for about 3 weeks in all, basting them frequently with a large wooden spoon. Remove and smoke as for hams. Place in paper flour sacks and tie tightly to exclude the air and preserve from insects.