You should cut off the feet
just above the knee joint; take off the ears and nose, and lay them in a
large tub of cold water for souse. When the jowls have been in salt two
weeks, hang them up to smoke--do so with the shoulders and middlings at
the end of three weeks, and the hams at the end of four. If they remain
longer in salt they will be hard. Remember to hang the hams and
shoulders with the hocks down, to preserve the juices. Make a good smoke
every morning, and be careful not to have a blaze; the smoke-house
should stand alone, for any additional heat will spoil the meat. During
the hot weather, beginning the first of April, it should be occasionally
taken down, examined--rubbed with hickory ashes, and hung up again.
The generally received opinion that saltpetre hardens meat, is entirely
erroneous:--it tends greatly to prevent putrefaction, but will not make
it hard; neither will laying in brine five or six weeks in cold weather,
have that effect, but remaining in salt too long, will certainly draw
off the juices, and harden it. Bacon should be boiled in a large
quantity of water, and a ham is not done sufficiently, till the bone on
the under part comes off with ease. New bacon requires much longer
boiling than that which is old.
* * * * *
TO MAKE SOUSE.
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