FIRST PRIZE WINNERS IN THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST CONTEST FOR BEST
RECIPES FOR COOKING AND SERVING PORK.
Unless you have a brick oven do not attempt this dish, as it requires a
long and even baking, which no stove oven can give. Make a good pie crust
and line a large pan, one holding about 6 quarts; in the bottom put a
layer of thin slices of onions, then a layer of lean salt pork, which has
been previously browned in the frying pan, next place a layer of peeled
apples, which sprinkle with a little brown sugar, using ½ lb. sugar to 3
lbs. apples; then begin with onions, which sprinkle with pepper, pork and
apples again, and so on until the dish is full. Wet the edges of the
crust, put on the top crust, well perforated, and bake at least four
hours, longer if possible. These pies are eaten hot or cold and are a
great favorite with the English people. Potatoes may be used in place of
apples, but they do not give the meat so fine a flavor.
Three pounds pork (if salt pork is used, freshen it well), cut into inch
cubes. Fry brown, add a large onion sliced, and a teaspoon each of chopped
sage, thyme and parsley. Cover with 5 pints of water and boil for two
hours, add a large pepper cut small or a pinch of cayenne, and a
tablespoon of salt if fresh pork has been used. Add also 3 pints
vegetables, carrots, turnips and parsnips cut small, boil half an hour
longer, when add a pint of potatoes cut into small pieces, and some
dumplings. Cover closely, boil twenty minutes, when pour out into a large
platter and serve. The dumplings are made of 1 pint of flour, 1 teaspoon
salt, and 1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted together. Add 2 eggs, well
beaten and 1 cup of milk. Mix out all the lumps and drop by spoonfuls into
the stew. Serve this potpie with a salad of dandelion leaves, dressed with
olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Cut into small dice 2 lbs. lean pork. (In these recipes where the pork is
stewed or baked in tomatoes or water, salt pork may be used, provided it
is well freshened.) Fry the pork a pale brown, add 2 sliced onions, and
when these are brown add 3 bell peppers sliced, and 2 quarts peeled
tomatoes, with 2 teaspoons salt. Let boil gently, stirring frequently, for
1½ hours. Peel and cut small 1 pint of young tender okra pods, and add.
Cover again and boil half an hour longer. Cook in a lined saucepan, as tin
will discolor the okra. With this serve a large dish of rice or hominy.
Corn may be used in place of okra if the latter is disliked. The corn
should be cut from the cobs and added half an hour before dinner time.
Boil a piece of lean pork (about 5 lbs. in weight) in 3 quarts water,
until the meat is tender. The next day take out the pork, and remove the
grease risen on the liquor from the pork during cooking. To 3 pints of the
liquor add 1 pint of milk and 1½ pints lima beans. Let them boil until
tender—about one hour—when add 1½ pints corn cut from the cob. Let
the whole cook for ten minutes, add a teaspoon of salt if necessary, half
a teaspoon of pepper, and drop in the pork to heat. When hot, pour into a
tureen and serve.
Take a piece of pork (about 4 lbs.) and 2 lbs. bacon. Wash and put to boil
in plenty of water, to which add a pepper pod, a few leaves of sage and a
few stalks of celery. One hour before dinner, dip out and strain 2 quarts
of the liquor in which the pork is boiling, add to it a pint of tomatoes
peeled, a small onion cut fine, and salt if necessary; boil half an hour,
when add 1 pint of rice well washed. When it comes to a boil draw to the
back of stove and steam until the rice is cooked and the liquor absorbed.
The pork must boil three or four hours. Have it ready to serve with the
rice. This makes a good dinner, with a little green salad, bread and
butter and a good apple pudding.
Chop fine (a meat chopper will do the work well and quickly) 3 lbs. raw
lean pork and ¼ lb. fat salt pork. Soak a pint of white bread crumbs in
cold water. When soft squeeze very dry, add to the chopped meat with a
large onion chopped fine, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon each
of chopped sage and thyme, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Mix together
thoroughly and form into a roll, pressing it closely and compactly
together. Have ready about a tablespoon of fat in a frying pan, dredge the
roll thickly with flour and brown it in the fat, turning it until nicely
browned on all sides. Then place it in a baking pan, and bake in a hot
oven for one hour. Baste it every ten minutes with water. Do not turn or
disturb the meat after it has been put into the oven. Half an hour before
dinner add 12 or 14 small carrots that have been parboiled in salted
boiling water for fifteen minutes. When done, place the roll on a platter,
surround it with plain boiled macaroni, dot with the carrots and pour over
all a nicely seasoned tomato sauce.
Cut 3 lbs. rather lean pork into 2-inch cubes, fry until brown, place in a
3-quart stone pot (a bean jar is excellent for this purpose) having a
close-fitting lid; add 2 large onions sliced, 6 large green peppers (the
bell peppers are the best, being fine in flavor and mild), a tablespoon of
salt (if fresh pork was used), and 3 large tomatoes peeled and cut small.
Fill the pot with water and place in the oven or on the back of the stove
and allow to simmer five or six hours, or even longer. The longer it is
cooked the better it will be. Persons who ordinarily cannot eat pork will
find this dish will do them no harm. The sauce will be rich and nicely
flavored, and the meat tender and toothsome. Serve with it plenty of
boiled rice or potatoes.
To 1 lb. lean pork chopped fine add 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon each of
pepper, chopped sage and thyme, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley and a large
onion also chopped. Mix well and stir in 2-3 cup (half-pint cup) of
well-washed raw rice. Wash a large cabbage, having removed all the
defective outer leaves. Plunge it whole into a large pot of boiling salted
water and boil for five minutes, remove and drain. This will render the
leaves pliable. Let cool a little, when pull the leaves apart, and wrap in
each leaf a tablespoon of the pork and rice. Wrap it up securely and
neatly as if tying up a parcel and secure with wooden toothpicks or twine.
When all are done, lay in a baking dish and cover with a quart of tomatoes
peeled and cut fine, mixed with half a pint of water, and a teaspoon of
salt. Bake one hour in a hot oven, turning the croquettes occasionally. If
the sauce becomes too thick, dilute with a little hot water. When done,
dish, pour over the sauce and serve with potatoes or hominy. These are
very good indeed. If desired the croquettes may be steamed over hot water
in a steamer for three hours, or plunged directly into a kettle of boiling
water and boiled for one hour. They are not so delicate as when baked.
Boil the pork as directed above, and do not omit the vegetables, as they
flavor the meat and the pudding. Use the yellow split peas and soak a pint
in cold water over night. Drain and tie them loosely in a pudding bag and
boil with the pork for three hours. An hour before dinner remove and press
through a colander, add a teaspoon salt, half a teaspoon pepper and 3 eggs
well beaten. Chop enough parsley to make a teaspoonful, add to the peas
with a little grated nutmeg. Beat up well, sift in half a pint of flour
and pour into a pudding bag. The same bag used before will do if well
washed. Tie it up tightly, drop into the pork water again and boil another
hour. Remove, let drain in the colander a few minutes, when turn out onto
a dish. Serve with the pork, and any preferred sauce; mint sauce is good
to serve with pork, and a tomato sauce is always good. In fact, it is a
natural hygienic instinct which ordains a tart fruit or vegetable to be
eaten with pork. The Germans, who are noted for their freedom from skin
diseases, add sour fruit sauces to inordinately fat meats.
Boil a leg of pork for three or four hours, wash 2 quarts sauerkraut, put
half of it into an iron pot, lay on it the pork drained from the water in
which it was cooking and cover with the remainder of sauerkraut, add 1
quart water in which the pork was cooking, cover closely and simmer gently
for one hour.
Have ready a quart of potatoes sliced, 2 large onions sliced, and 1 lb.
lean salt pork. Cut the pork into thin slices and fry until cooked, drain
off all but 1 tablespoon fat and fry the onions a pale brown. Then put the
ingredients in layers in a saucepan, first the pork, then onions, potatoes
and so on until used, adding to each layer a little pepper. Add a pint of
water, cover closely and simmer fifteen minutes, then add a pint of rich
milk, and cover the top with half a pound of small round crackers. Cover
again and when the crackers are soft, serve in soup plates. If you live
where clams are plentiful, add a quart of cleaved clams when the potatoes
are almost done and cook ten minutes.
Make a crust of 1 quart flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt,
mix well, rub in a tablespoon of fat—pork fat melted or lard—and mix
into a smooth paste with a pint of water. Line a deep pudding dish with
this, put in a layer of onions, then potatoes sliced, then a thin layer of
pork in slices, more onions, etc., until the dish is full. Wet the edges,
put on a top crust. Tie a floured cloth over the top and drop into a pot
of boiling water. Let the water come up two-thirds on the dish, and keep
the water boiling for four hours. Invert on a dish, remove the mold and
serve hot.
For Fresh Pork Only.
Cut about 2 lbs. young pork into neat chops and reject all fat and bone.
Fry them until well cooked and of a pale brown, dust with salt and pepper.
Cut some green corn from the cob. Take a 2-quart dish, put a layer of corn
in the bottom, then a layer of pork, and so on until the dish is full, add
1 pint of water, cover and bake for one hour. Remove the cover fifteen
minutes before serving, so the top may be nicely browned. Serve with
potatoes and a lettuce salad. Onions and pork may be cooked in the same
manner.
Take a shoulder of pork and bone it. Cut out the shoulder blade, and then
the leg bone. After the cut made to extract the shoulder blade, the flesh
has to be turned over the bone as it is cut, like a glove-finger on the
hand; if any accidental cut is made through the flesh it must be sewed up,
as it would permit the stuffing to escape. For the stuffing, the following
is extra nice: Peel 4 apples and core them, chop fine with 2 large onions,
4 leaves of sage, and 4 leaves of lemon thyme. Boil some white potatoes,
mash them and add 1 pint to the chopped ingredients with a teaspoon of
salt and a little cayenne. Stuff the shoulder with this and sew up all the
openings. Dredge with flour, salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven,
allowing twenty minutes to the pound. Baste frequently, with hot water at
first, and then with gravy from the pan. Serve with currant jelly,
potatoes and some green vegetables. Another extra good stuffing for pork
is made with sweet potatoes as a basis. Boil the potatoes, peel and mash.
To a half pint of potato add a quarter pint of finely chopped celery, 2
tablespoons chopped onions, ½ teaspoon pepper, teaspoon each of salt and
chopped parsley and a tablespoon of butter.
Take a piece for roasting and rub well with salt and pepper, dredge with
flour, and pour into the pan a pint of hot water, and place in a brisk
oven. This must be done two or three hours before dinner, according to the
size of roast; baste the meat often. An hour before dinner peel some
tomatoes (about a quart), put them into a bowl and mash with the hands
till the pulp is in fine pieces, add to them a chopped onion, a teaspoon
of chopped parsley and ½ teaspoon each of sage and thyme. Draw the pan
containing the roast to the mouth of oven and skim all the fat from the
gravy; pour the tomatoes into the pan, and bake for one hour. With this
serve a big dish of rice.
Prepare the roast as described above, either stuffed or otherwise. When
partly done, peel and cut some sweet potatoes into slices about three
inches long. Bank these all around the meat, covering it and filling the
pan. Baste often with the gravy and bake one hour. Serve with this a
Russian salad, made of vegetables. Young carrots may be used in place of
sweet potatoes.
RARE OLD FAMILY DISHES, DESCRIBED FOR THIS WORK BY THE BEST COOKS IN
AMERICA. EVERY ONE OF THESE RECIPES IS A SPECIAL FAVORITE THAT HAS
BEEN OFTEN TRIED AND NEVER FOUND WANTING. NONE OF THESE RECIPES HAS
EVER BEFORE BEEN PRINTED, AND ALL WILL BE FOUND SIMPLE, ECONOMICAL
AND HYGIENIC.
Ham.
Wash well a salted, smoked pig’s ham, put this in a large kettle of
boiling water and boil until tender, remove from the kettle, take off all
of the rind, stick in a quantity of whole cloves, place in a baking pan,
sprinkle over with a little sugar, pour over it a cup of cider, or, still
better, sherry. Place in the oven and bake brown.
Mince cold ham fine, either boiled or fried, add a couple of hard-boiled
eggs chopped fine, a tablespoon of prepared mustard, a little vinegar and
a sprinkling of salt. Put in a mold. When cold cut in thin slices or
spread on bread for sandwiches.
Having soaked a well-cured ham in tepid water over night, boil it until
perfectly tender, putting it on in warm water; take up, let cool, remove
the bone carefully, press the ham again into shape, return to the boiling
liquor, remove the pot from the fire and let the ham remain in it till
cold. Cut across and serve cold.
Mince left-over bits of boiled ham and to every 2 lbs. lean meat allow ½
lb. fat. Pound all in a mortar until it is a fine paste, gradually adding
½ teaspoon powdered mace, the same quantity of cayenne, a pinch of
allspice and nutmeg. Mix very thoroughly, press into tiny jars, filling
them to within an inch of the top; fill up with clarified butter or
drippings and keep in a cool place. This is nice for tea or to spread
picnic sandwiches.
A nice way to use the meat left on a ham bone after the frying slices are
removed is to cut it off in small pieces, put into cold water to cover
and let it come to a boil. Pour off the water and add enough hot to make
sufficient stew for your family. Slice an onion and potatoes into it.
A delicious picnic dish is made of ham and veal. Chop fine equal
quantities of each and put into a baking dish in layers with slices of
hard-boiled eggs between; boil down the water in which the veal was
cooked, with the bones, till it will jelly when cold; flavor with celery,
pepper and salt and pour over the meat. Cover with a piecrust half an inch
thick and bake until the crust is done. Slice thin when cold.
Beat 6 eggs very light, add ½ teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons sweet milk,
pepper to taste, have frying pan very hot with 1 tablespoon butter in;
turn in the mixture, shake constantly until cooked, then put 1 cup finely
chopped ham over the top and roll up like jelly cake, cut in slices.
Most persons boil ham. It is much better baked, if baked right. Soak it
for an hour in clean water and wipe dry. Next spread it all over with thin
batter and then put it into a deep dish, with sticks under it to keep it
out of the gravy. When it is fully done, take off the skin and batter
crusted upon the flesh side, and set away to cool. It should bake from six
to eight hours. After removing the skin, sprinkle over with two
tablespoonfuls of sugar, some black pepper and powdered crackers. Put in
pan and return to the oven to brown; then take up and stick cloves through
the fat, and dust with powdered cinnamon.
Take bits of cold boiled ham, cut into fine pieces, put in a frying pan
with water to cover, season well. When it boils, thicken with corn meal,
stirred in carefully, like mush. Cook a short time, pour in a dish to
mold, slice off and fry.
Chop ½ pint cold boiled ham fine. Put a gill of milk in a saucepan and
set on the fire. Stir in ½ teacup stale bread crumbs, the beaten yolks
of 2 eggs and the ham. Season with salt, cayenne and a little nutmeg. Stir
over the fire until hot, add a tablespoon chopped parsley, mix well and
turn out to cool. When cold make into small balls, dip in beaten egg, then
in bread crumbs and fry in boiling fat.
Remove the fat from some slices of cold boiled ham, chop fine. Put 2
tablespoonfuls of butter into a saucepan on the stove, add the chopped ham
and half a cup of sweet cream or milk. Season with pepper and salt; when
hot, remove from the stove and stir in quickly 3 well-beaten eggs. Pour
onto toast and serve at once.
Take a small ham, as it will be finer grained than a large one, let soak
for a few hours in vinegar and water, put on in hot water, then add 2
heads of celery, 2 turnips, 3 onions and a large bunch of savory herbs. A
glass of port or sherry wine will improve the flavor of the ham. Simmer
very gently until tender, take it out and remove the skin, or if to be
eaten cold, let it remain in the liquor until nearly cold.
One pint of ham which has previously been cooked, mix with two parts of
bread crumbs, wet with milk. Put the batter in gem pans, break 1 egg over
each, sprinkle the top thickly with cracker crumbs and bake until brown. A
nice breakfast dish.
Two cups bread crumbs moistened with a little milk, and two cups cooked
ham thoroughly mixed. If one likes the flavor, add a chopped onion. Bake
in gem pans. Either break an egg over each gem or chop cold hard-boiled
egg and sprinkle over them. Scatter a few crumbs on top. Add bits of
butter and season highly with pepper and salt, and brown carefully.
One cup cold boiled ham (chopped fine), 1 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, salt
and pepper to taste, mix to the right thickness with nice meat dressing or
sweet milk, mold in small patties and fry in butter.
Mince your ham fine and add plenty of mustard, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon flour,
1 tablespoon butter and as much chopped cucumber pickles as you have ham.
Beat this thoroughly together and pour into 1 pint of boiling vinegar, but
do not let the mixture boil. When it cools, spread between your
sandwiches.
Salt Pork.
Slice the pork thinly and evenly, placing it in a large frying pan of
water, and turning it twice while freshening. This prevents it humping in
the middle, as pork, unless the slices are perfectly flat, cannot be fried
evenly. When freshened sufficiently, drain, throw the water off, and,
rolling each slice in flour, return to the frying pan. Fry a delicate
brown, place on a platter dry, add slices of lemon here and there. Drain
all the frying fat off, leaving a brown sediment in the pan. Pour 1 cup of
rich milk on this, and when it thickens (keep stirring constantly until of
the consistency of rich, thick cream), pour into a gravy boat, and dust
with pepper.—[M. G.
Cut the rind from a firm piece of fat salt pork that has a few streaks of
lean (if preferred). Slice thin, scald in hot water, have the frying pan
smoking hot, put in the slices of pork and fry (without scorching) until
crisp. Then pour off nearly all the fat, add some hot water after the
slices have been removed from the pan, and stir in some flour moistened
with cold water for a thickened gravy.—[Farmer’s Wife.
Slice thin and fry crisp in a hot frying pan, then dip in a batter made as
follows: One egg well beaten, 3 large spoons rich milk, and flour enough
to make a thin batter. Fry once more until the batter is a delicate brown,
and if any batter remains it may be fried as little cakes and served with
the pork. Instead of the batter, apples, sliced, may be fried in the fat,
with a little water and sugar added, or poor man’s cakes, made by scalding
4 spoons granulated (or other) corn meal with boiling water, to which add
a pinch of salt and 1 egg, stirred briskly in.—[F. W.
Take nice slices of pork, as many as you need, and parboil in buttermilk
for five minutes, then fry to a golden brown. Or parboil the slices in
skimmilk, and while frying sprinkle on each slice a little white sugar and
fry a nice brown. Be watchful while frying, as it burns very easily after
the sugar is on.—[I. M. W.
Prepare as for plain fried pork, fry without dipping in flour, and when
done, dip into a batter made as follows: One egg beaten light, 2
tablespoonfuls of milk and the same of sifted flour, or enough to make a
thin batter. Stir smooth, salt slightly, dip the fried pork into it and
put back into the hot drippings. Brown slightly on both sides, remove to a
hot platter and serve immediately.—[R. W.
Freshen the pork in the usual manner with water or soaking in milk, partly
fry the pork, then put three or four freshly picked sprigs of sage in the
frying pan with the pork. When done, lay the crisp fried sage leaves on
platter with the pork.—[Mrs. W. L. R.
Slice as many slices as your frying pan will hold, pour on cold water,
place upon the range to freshen; when hot, pour off the water and fry
until crispy; take out upon a platter, pour the fat in a bowl. Pour some
milk, about a pint, in the frying pan, boil, thicken and pour upon the
fried pork. Serve at once.—[Mrs. G. A. B.
Take a piece of salt pork as large as needed, score it neatly and soak in
milk and water half an hour, or longer if very salt; put into a baking pan
with water and a little flour sprinkled over the scoring. Bake until
done. Always make a dressing to eat with this, of bread and cracker
crumbs, a lump of butter, an egg, salt, pepper and sage to taste; mix with
hot milk, pack in a deep dish and bake about twenty minutes. Keep water in
the baking dish after the meat is taken up, pour off most of the fat and
thicken the liquor. Tomatoes go well with this dish, also cranberry sauce.
Boil 4 or 5 lbs. of pork having streaks of lean in it, in plenty of water,
for one and one-half hours. Take out, remove skin, cut gashes across the
top, sprinkle over powdered sage, pepper and rolled crackers. Brown in the
oven. Slice when cold.
Freshen 10 or 12 slices of fat pork and fry a nice brown, then take up the
pork and arrange on a deep platter. Next pour off half the fat from the
frying pan and add 1 cup of milk and 1 of boiling water, and 1 tablespoon
flour mixed with a little cold milk or water, or else sifted in when the
milk and water begin to boil, but then a constant stirring is required to
prevent it from being lumpy. Next add a pinch of salt and a dust of
pepper, let it boil up, and pour over the pork. Enough for six.
Take slices of pork and parboil in water, sprinkle a little pepper on the
pork and put into the frying pan with a small piece of butter and fry.
Take 1 egg and a little milk and beat together. When the meat is nearly
done, take each slice and dip into the egg, lay back in the pan and cook
until done.
Take 6 slices nice pork, or as many as will fry in the frying pan, and
parboil for five minutes, then take out of the water and roll one side of
each slice in flour and fry to a golden brown. When fried, turn nearly all
of the fat off and set the pan on the stove again and turn on a cup of
nice sweet cream; let it boil up, then serve on a platter.
Soups, Stews, Etc.
Put pork bones in pot of cold salted water. Add the following ingredients,
in a cheesecloth bag: A few pepper seeds, a bit of horse-radish, mace, and
1 sliced turnip. Boil as for beef soup; strain and add a teaspoon of rice
flour to each pint, and let come to a boil. Serve with crackers.
Slice and fry in a kettle from ¼ to ½ lb. salt pork, drain off the fat
and save for shortening, add 3 pints boiling water, 2 or 3 onions sliced
thin, 1 quart potatoes sliced and pared, a sprinkling of pepper, large
spoon flour mixed in 1 cup of cold water. Let the onions boil a few
moments before adding the potatoes and flour. Five minutes before serving,
add 1 dozen crackers, split and moistened with hot water, or make
dumplings as for any stew.
Place slices of pork in the frying pan and fill full with chipped
potatoes; pour over a little water and cover tightly, and cook until the
pork begins to fry, then loosen from the bottom with a wide knife and
pour over more water, and so on until done. Pepper and salt and a bit of
butter.
Place 6 large slices of pork in the kettle with nearly a quart of water,
let it boil half an hour, then add 8 sliced potatoes and 2 sliced onions,
and when nearly done add a little flour, pepper and salt, and a lump of
butter.
Cut 4 slices of salt pork in dice, place in kettle and fry, add 6
good-sized onions chopped fine, let fry while preparing 8 potatoes, then
add 1 quart boiling water and the potatoes sliced thin. Season with salt
and pepper to taste. Boil one-half hour.
Miscellaneous.
The first essential is to have the bacon with a streak of lean and a
streak of fat, and to cut or slice it as thin as possible. Then lay it in
a shallow tin and set it inside a hot stove. It will toast evenly and the
slices will curl up and be so dry that they may be taken in the fingers to
eat. The lard that exudes may be thickened with flour, a cup of sweet new
milk and a pinch of black pepper added, and nice gravy made. Or if
preferred, the bacon, thinly sliced, may be fried on a hot skillet, just
turning it twice, letting it slightly brown on both sides. Too long in the
hot skillet, the bacon gets hard and will have a burned taste.
Lay the brains in salt and water for an hour to draw out the blood. Pick
them over and take out any bits of bone and membrane. Cook for half an
hour in a small quantity of water. When cooked drain off the water, and to
each brain add a little pepper, nearly an even teaspoon of salt, a
tablespoon of butter and 1 beaten egg. Cook until the egg thickens. Or
when the brains are cooked, drain off the water, season with salt, pepper
and sage.
Pick over and let soak over night 1 quart beans; in the morning wash and
drain, and place in a kettle with cold water, with ½ teaspoon soda, boil
about twenty minutes, then drain and put in earthen bean dish with 2
tablespoons molasses, season with pepper. In the center of the beans put 1
lb. well-washed salt pork, with the rind scored in slices or squares, rind
side uppermost. Cover all with hot water and bake six hours or longer, in
a moderate oven. Keep covered so they will not burn on the top, but an
hour or so before serving remove the pork to another dish and allow it to
brown. Beans should also brown over the top.
Put a piece of salt pork to cook in cold water about 9 o’clock. At 10
o’clock add a few beets, at 11 o’clock a head of cabbage, quartered.
One-half hour later add the potatoes. Serve very hot.
Save the rinds of salt pork, boil until tender, then chop very fine, add
an equal amount of dried bread dipped in hot water and chopped. Season
with salt, pepper and summer savory; mix, spread one inch deep in baking
dish, cover with sweet milk. Bake one-half hour. Very nice.
Soak the pork in cold water over night. Wipe dry and broil over coals
until crisp. Pour over it ½ pint sweet cream. Ham cooked this way is
delicious.
Chop remnants of cold boiled ham or salt pork, add crushed crackers and
from 3 to 6 eggs, according to the amount of your meat. Bake in a round
baking powder box, and when cold it can be sliced for the table.
Take scraps of cold pork and ham, chop very fine, put in frying pan, add a
very little water, let cook a few minutes, then add twice this amount of
chopped potato. Salt and pepper to taste, fry and serve hot.
Take the trimmings saved from ribs, backbone, jowl, shanks of ham and
shoulder, and all the nice bits of meat too small for ordinary use; place
in a kettle with sufficient water to barely cover meat, and boil slowly
until quite tender. Fit a piece of stout cheesecloth in a flat-bottomed
dish and cover with alternate strips of fat and lean meat while hot;
sprinkle sparingly with white pepper, add another layer of meat and a few
very thin slices of perfectly sound tart apples. Repeat until pork is
used, then sew up the ends of the cloth compactly, place between agate
platters and subject to considerable pressure over night. Served cold this
makes a very appetizing addition to Sunday suppers or luncheon.
Cut 2 lbs. cold roast pork into small pieces, allowing ¼ lb. fat to each
pound of lean; salt and pepper to taste. Pound in a mortar a dessert
spoon minced parsley, 4 leaves of sage, a very small bunch of savory
herbs, 2 blades of mace, a little nutmeg, half a teaspoon of minced lemon
peel. Mix thoroughly with the meat, put into a mold and pour over it
enough well-flavored strong stock to make it very moist. Bake an hour and
a half and let it cool in the mold. Serve cold, cut in thin slices and
garnished with parsley or cress. This is a cooking school recipe. For
ordinary use the powdered spices, which may be obtained at almost any
country store, answer every purpose. Use ¼ teaspoon sage, ½ teaspoon
each of summer savory and thyme, and a pinch of mace.
Take the frying pan after pork has been fried in it, put in a piece of
butter half as large as an egg, let it get very hot, then put in a
spoonful of flour sprinkled over the bottom of the pan. Let this get
thoroughly browned, then turn boiling water on it, say about a pint. Now
take a tablespoon of flour, heaping, wet it up with a cup of sweet milk
and stir into the boiling water, add salt and pepper to taste, and a small
piece more butter, cook well and serve.
Cut the slices of pork quite thin, discarding the rind, fry on both sides
to a light brown, remove from the spider, have ready a batter made of from
2 or 3 eggs (as the amount of pork may require), beaten up with a little
flour and a little sweet milk, pouring half of this batter into the
spider. Then lay in the pork again, and pour the remaining part of the
batter over the pork. When cooked on the one side, cut in squares and
turn. Serve hot. Sometimes the pork is cut in small squares before adding
the batter.
Put 1 cup cold fried salt pork (cut in dice) and 3 tablespoons sweet milk
on back of stove to simmer, then beat 6 eggs and 1 teaspoon salt until
just blended. Put 2 tablespoons butter in frying pan. When hot add eggs
and shake vigorously until set, then add the hot creamed pork, spread over
top, fold, and serve immediately.
Cut off the feet at the first joint, then cut the legs into as many pieces
as there are joints, wash and scrape them well and put to soak over night
in cold, slightly salted water; in the morning scrape again and change the
water; repeat at night. The next morning put them on to boil in cold water
to cover, skim carefully, boil till very tender, and serve either hot or
cold, with a brown sauce made of part of the water in which they were
boiled, and flavored with tomato or chopped cucumber pickles. If the pig’s
feet are cooled and then browned in the oven, they will be much nicer than
if served directly from the kettle in which they were boiled. Save all the
liquor not used for the sauce, for pig’s feet are very rich in jelly; when
cold, remove the fat, which should be clarified, and boil the liquor down
to a glaze; this may be potted, when it will keep a long time and is
useful for glazing, or it may be used for soups either before or after
boiling, down.—[R. W.
Clean them well, boil until very tender, remove all the bones. Chop the
meat, add it to the water they were boiled in, salt to taste. Add enough
vinegar to give a pleasing acid taste, pour into a dish to cool. When
firm, cut in slices. Or leave out the vinegar and serve catsup of any
kind with the meat. Or before cooking the feet, wrap each one in cloth and
boil seven hours. When cold take off the cloth and cut each foot in two
pieces. Serve cold with catsup or pepper sauce or horse-radish. Or the
feet may be put into a jar and covered with cold vinegar, to which is
added a handful of whole cloves.—[A. L. N.
Cut a kidney in large pieces and soak in cold water an hour. Drain and
chop fine, removing all string and fiber; also chop separately one onion.
Put a tablespoonful of butter in a frying pan, and when melted add the
chopped kidney and stir till the mixture turns a whitish color, then add
the onion. Cook five minutes, turn into a small stewpan, season and add a
cupful of boiling water. Simmer an hour and thicken with a teaspoonful of
cornstarch wet with cold water. Cook five minutes longer, pour over slices
of nicely browned toast and serve.
Pork Fritters.
Make a thick batter of corn meal and flour, cut a few slices of pork and
fry until the fat is fried out; cut a few more slices, dip them in the
batter, and drop them in the bubbling fat, seasoning with salt and pepper;
cook until light brown, and eat while hot.
Fry slices of freshened fat pork, browning both sides, then make a batter
of 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon baking powder sifted through enough flour
to make a rather stiff batter, and a pinch of salt. Now remove the pork
from the frying pan and drop in large spoonfuls of the batter, and in the
center of each place a piece of the fried pork, then cover the pork with
batter, and when nicely brown, turn and let the other side brown. Currant
jelly is nice with them.
Chop raw fresh pork very fine, add a little salt and plenty of pepper, 2
small onions chopped fine, half as much bread as there is meat, soaked
until soft, 2 eggs. Mix well together, make into oblong patties and fry
like oysters. These are nice for breakfast. If used for supper, serve with
sliced lemon.
Raw pork chopped fine, 2 cups, 1 small onion chopped very fine, 1 teaspoon
powdered sage, 1 cup bread crumbs rubbed fine, salt and pepper to taste, 2
eggs beaten light. Mix thoroughly, make small flat cakes, roll lightly in
flour and fry in hot lard.
Pork Pies, Cakes and Puddings.
Cut fresh pork in small inch and half-inch pieces, allowing both fat and
lean. Boil until done in slightly salted water. Lay away in an earthen
dish over night. In the morning it will be found to be surrounded with a
firm meat jelly. Will not soak pie crust. Make a rich baking powder
biscuit paste. Roll out thin, make top and bottom crust, fill with the
prepared pork. Bake.—[H. M. G.
Every housekeeper knows how to make pork pie, but not every one knows that
if the bottom crust is first baked with a handful of rice to prevent
bubbling—the rice may be used many times for the same purpose—and the
pork partially cooked before the upper crust is added, the pie will be
twice as palatable as if baked in the old way. The crust will not be soggy
and the meat juices will not lose flavor by evaporation.—[Mrs. O. P.
Line a deep pudding dish with pie crust. Place a layer of tart apples in
the dish, sprinkle with sugar and a little nutmeg, then place a layer of
thin slices of fat salt pork (not cooked), sprinkle lightly with black
pepper. Continue to add apples and pork until the dish is full. Cover with
a crust and bake until the apples are cooked, when the pork should be
melted. Serve as any pie.—[M. C.
Chop the small mussy pieces of meat, put in a pudding or bread tin, add
some of the gravy and a little water. Make a biscuit crust, roll half an
inch thick and put over the top and bake. A tasty way is to cut the crust
into biscuits, place close together on top of the meat and bake. More
dainty to serve than the single crust. A cream gravy or some left from the
rib is nice with this pie. Any of the lean meat makes a nice pie, made the
same as the above.
Over 1 lb. fat salt pork, chopped very fine, pour a pint of boiling water.
While it is cooling, sift 9 cups flour with 1 heaping teaspoon soda and 2
of cream tartar, stir in 2 cups sugar and 1 of molasses, 4 eggs, teaspoon
of all kinds spice, 2 lbs. raisins, 1 lb. currants and ½ lb. citron.
Lastly, thoroughly beat in the pork and water and bake slowly. This will
keep a long time.
Take ½ cup sugar, ½ cup strong coffee, ½ cup molasses, ½ cup
chopped salt pork, ¼ cup lard, 1 cup raisins, stoned and chopped, 2 cups
flour, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon soda, dissolved in coffee, 1 teaspoon cloves,
cinnamon and nutmeg.
This is made somewhat after the style of the famous English beefsteak
pudding—differs only in two points. Cut up the pieces of fresh pork and
stew in the skillet, in slightly salted water, till soft. Make a rich
biscuit dough or plain pie paste. Line a quart basin and fill with the
stewed pork. Add pepper, a few chopped potatoes if desired, cover all with
the paste pinched tightly over, tie a small cloth tightly over the basin,
then place basin in a larger cloth, gather the corners together and tie
snugly over top, boil in a kettle for half an hour. Be sure the water is
boiling hot before placing the basin in, and keep it boiling, with a tight
lid.
Roasts.
Score the leg with sharp knife in half-inch gashes, fill with a filling
made of chopped onion, sage, bread crumbs and mixed with the beaten yolks
and whites of 2 eggs, salt; stuff knuckle and gashes also. Pepper freely
and roast it well. A leg weighing 8 lbs. requires three hours of a steady
fire. Drain off fat from roasting tin and make a brown gravy. Serve with
tart apple sauce.
Take a piece of pork that is quite lean, soak over night in buttermilk and
boil until about half done, then put it in the baking pan, cut through the
rind in slices, sprinkle with pepper and sugar and bake to a golden brown.
Braise the roast, and between each slit insert a bit of sage—which may be
removed before serving; place in a deep stewpan and fill the corners and
crevices with prunes that have been previously soaked in water long enough
to regain their natural size. Roast in moderate oven, basting as usual,
taking care not to break the prunes. When half done, take up the prunes,
remove pits, crush and add to a dressing made as follows: Moisten 2 cups
bread crumbs—one-third corn bread is preferable to all wheat—season with
salt, pepper and a mere hint of onions. Put into a cheesecloth
bag—saltbag if at hand—and bake beside the roast for half an hour,
taking care to prevent scorching. Serve in slices with the roast.
Season well with salt, pepper and a little sage. Put in roasting pan with
a little water, bake a nice brown. By cracking the ribs twice, you can
roll up and fasten with skewers, or tie up with coarse twine. Put the
stuffing inside, same as turkey. After it is done, take meat from pan. If
the water is not all cooked out, set on top of stove until none remains.
Pour out the grease, leaving about half a cup. Set back to cool so as not
to cook the gravy too fast at first. Stir 2 spoons or more of flour into
the grease and let brown. Add boiling water to make the required amount of
gravy. Before removing from fire, add ½ cup sweet cream. Baked or
mashed potatoes with cold slaw are in order with sparerib, with currant,
cranberry or apple sauce. Very nice cold with fried potatoes or chips for
supper.
Liver.
Pour salted boiling water over the liver and let it stand a few minutes,
drain and slice. Crisp thin slices of bacon in a hot frying pan, lay them
neatly around the edge of a platter or deep dish, and set the dish where
it will keep hot. Fry the liver in the drippings from the bacon and put it
in the middle of the dish. Pour a little boiling water into the frying
pan, season to taste with pepper and salt, thicken with browned flour and
pour over the liver or serve separately.—[R. F.
Use two frying pans. In both have a generous supply of fryings or salted
lard. Cut the liver in thin, even slices, and wash in cold water. Wipe
each slice dry before placing it in the hot grease; fill the frying pan
full, pepper and salt all, cover with lid and set over a brisk fire. Slice
the onions and place them in the second frying pan of hot grease, pepper,
salt and stir frequently. Turn the liver once, each slice. When done,
place on a platter, with the onions heaped over and around.—[H. M. G.
Parboil the liver, chop it fine and put it into a hot frying pan with just
enough of the liquor it was boiled in to moisten it so it won’t be hard
and dry. When hot, season with salt, pepper and butter, and serve with
mashed potato. Or you can chop cold boiled potatoes with the liver and
make a regular hash of it if preferred.—[R. L.
Heart.
Take three hearts, remove the ventricles and dividing wall, wash and wipe
out dry. Fill with 3 tablespoons chopped ham, 4 tablespoons bread crumbs,
a little melted butter, some pepper and salt; beat up an egg and mix the
meat, etc., with as much of the egg as is needed to bind it together. Tie
each heart in a piece of cloth and boil three hours, or till tender, in
salt and water. Remove the cloths carefully, so as to keep the dressing in
place, rub them over with butter and sprinkle with a little flour, and
brown in a brisk oven. Reduce the liquor and thicken it. Serve with mashed
potatoes and apple jelly.
Make a biscuit dough rather stiff, sprinkle a well-cleaned heart over with
a little pepper and salt, roll the heart securely in the biscuit dough,
wrap all in a clean white cloth and sew or baste together loosely, then
put in a kettle of hot water and boil about four hours. Serve hot by
removing cloth and slicing.
Sausage.
To 10 lbs. meat allow 5 tablespoons salt, 4 of black pepper, 3 of sage,
and ½ tablespoon cayenne. Some persons prefer to add a little ginger,
thinking that it keeps the sausage from rising on the stomach. Mix the
spices thoroughly through the meat, which may be put into skins or muslin
bags and hung in a cold, dry place, or partly cooked and packed in jars
with a covering of lard. Every housekeeper uses fried and baked sausages,
but sausage and dried beef is a more uncommon dish. Cut the sausage into
small pieces, put it into a stewpan with water to cover, and put on to
cook. Slice the dried beef and tear it into small pieces, removing fat and
gristle, and put into the stew pan. When done, thicken slightly with
flour, season and stir an egg quickly into it. Don’t get the gravy too
thick and don’t beat the egg—it wants to show in little flakes of white
and yellow.—[Rosalie Williams.
Make a rich pie paste, roll out thin and cut, with a large cooky cutter or
a canister lid, large discs of the paste. Take a small cooked sausage, and
placing it on the edge of the circle of paste, roll it up and pinch the
ends together. Bake in a quick oven and serve hot or cold.
Put some pieces of fat and lean pork through the sausage mill; add a
finely chopped onion, pepper, salt and a dash of mace. Cut a large, sound
head of cabbage in two, scoop out the heart of both halves and fill with
sausage meat; tie up the head securely with stout twine, put into salted
water sufficient to cover the cabbage, and boil one hour and a half. Drain
thoroughly and save the liquid, which should not exceed one cupful in all.
Brown a tablespoonful of butter over a hot fire, stir in a teaspoon of
browned flour and add the liquid; pour over cabbage and serve hot.
This sausage recipe has been proved good. Take 30 lbs. pork and 12 oz.
salt, 2 oz. pepper, 2 oz. sage. Put sage in a pan and dry in oven, then
sift. You can add two ounces of ground mustard if you wish. Add 2 or 3
lbs. sugar, mix all together, salt, pepper, etc., and mix with meat before
it is chopped. After it is well mixed, cut to your liking.
Fresh Pork.
Cut them from a loin of pork, bone and trim neatly and cut away most of
the fat. Broil fifteen minutes on a hot gridiron, turning them three or
four times, until they are thoroughly done but not dry. Dish, season with
pepper and salt and serve with tomato sauce or with small pickled
cucumbers as a garnish.
A more elaborate dish is made by dipping the cutlets into beaten egg
seasoned to taste with salt, pepper and sage, then into rolled cracker or
bread crumbs. Fry slowly till thoroughly done, and serve with mashed
potatoes.
Melt an ounce of butter in a saucepan, lay in the cutlets and an onion
chopped fine, and fry a light brown; then add a dessertspoon of flour,
half a pint of gravy, pepper and salt to taste, and a teaspoon each of
vinegar and made mustard. Simmer gently a few minutes and serve.
The white meat along the backbone (between the ribs and ham) is not always
sufficiently appreciated, and is often peeled from the fat, cut from the
bones and put into sausage, which should never be done, as it is the
choicest piece in the hog to fry. Leave fat and lean together, saw through
the bone, fry or broil. The meat gravy should be served in a gravy boat.
Cut chops about an inch thick, beat them flat with a rolling pin, put them
in a pan, pour boiling water over them, and set them over the fire for
five minutes; then take them up and wipe them dry. Mix a tablespoon of
salt and a teaspoon of pepper for each pound of meat; rub each chop over
with this, then dip, first into beaten egg, then into crackers, rolled, as
much as they will take up. Fry in hot lard.
Put a loin of pork in a hot oven without water, sprinkle with flour,
pepper and salt, baste with butter, cook two or three hours, or until very
brown. Pour in the gravy half a teacup of walnut catsup. Serve with fried
apples.
Roast Pig.
Scald carefully and scrape clean, wipe dry, chop off the toes above first
joint, remove entrails, and although some cook head entire, it is not
advisable. Remove brains, eyes, upper and lower jaws, leaving skin
semblance of head, with ears thoroughly scraped and cleaned. Make a
dressing composed of one large boiled onion chopped, powdered sage, salt,
pepper, 4 cups stale bread crumbs, a bit of butter, and all mixed with
well-beaten eggs. Stuff the body part with this. Stitch it up. Previously
boil the heart in salted water and stuff this into the boneless head skin
to preserve its shape and semblance. Place it down on its feet, head
resting on front feet, hind legs drawn out, just as you want it to lie on
the platter when served or sent to table. Roast three hours, constantly
basting.
A pig ought not to be under four nor over six weeks old, and ought to be
plump and fat. In the city, the butcher will sell you a shoat already
prepared, but in the country, we must prepare our own pig for roasting. As
soon as the pig is killed, throw it into a tub of cold water to make it
tender; as soon as it is perfectly, cold, take it by the hind leg and
plunge into scalding water, and shake it about until the hair can all be
removed, by the handful at a time. When the hair has all been removed, rub
from the tail up to the end of the nose with a coarse cloth. Take off the
hoofs and wash out the inside of the ears and nose until perfectly clean.
Hang the pig up, by the hind legs, stretched open so as to take out the
entrails; wash well with water with some bicarbonate of soda dissolved in
it; rinse again and again and let it hang an hour or more to drip. Wrap it
in a coarse, dry cloth, when taken down, and lay in a cold cellar, or on
ice, as it is better not to cook the pig the same day it is killed. Say
kill and clean it late in the evening and roast it the next morning.
Prepare the stuffing of the liver, heart and haslets, stewed, seasoned and
chopped fine. Mix with these an equal quantity of boiled Irish potatoes,
mashed, or bread crumbs, and season with hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine,
parsley and sage, or thyme, chopped fine, pepper and salt. Scald the pig
on the inside, dry it and rub with pepper and salt, fill with the stuffing
and sew up. Bend the forelegs under the body, the hind legs forward, and
skewer to keep in position. Place in a large baking pan and pour over it
one quart of boiling water. Rub fresh butter all over the pig and sprinkle
pepper and salt over it, and put a bunch of parsley and thyme, or sage, in
the water. Turn a pan down over it and let it simmer in a hot oven till
perfectly tender. Then take off the pan that covers the pig, rub it with
more butter and let brown, basting it frequently with the hot gravy. If
the hot water and gravy cook down too much, add more hot water and baste.
When of a fine brown, and tender and done all through, cover the edges of
a large, flat china dish with fresh green parsley and place the pig,
kneeling, in the center of the dish. Place in its mouth a red apple, or an
ear of green corn, and serve hot with the gravy; or serve cold with grated
horse-radish and pickle. Roast pig ought to be evenly cooked, through and
through, as underdone pork of any kind, size or age is exceedingly
unwholesome. It ought also to be evenly and nicely browned on the outside,
as the tender skin when cooked is crisp and palatable. It is easily
scorched, therefore keep a pig, while roasting, covered till tender and
almost done.
Tongue.
The tongues should be put into the pickle with the hams; boil after three
or four weeks, pickle in vinegar which has been sweetened. Add a
tablespoon ground mustard to a pint of vinegar. Will keep months. They
should be pickled whole. Also nice when first cooked without pickling.
Slice cold, to be eaten with or without mayonnaise dressing. Sliced thin,
and placed between thin slices of bread, make delicious sandwiches.
Chopped fine, with hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise, make nice sandwiches.
Many boil pork and beef tongues fresh. An old brown tongue is an
abomination. The saltpeter gives the pink look canned tongues have; the
salt and sugar flavor nicely.
When fresh, tongues are nice for mince pies. They may be corned with the
hams and boiled and skinned and hot vinegar seasoned with salt and pepper
poured over them; or are nice sliced with cold potatoes, garnished with
cress or lettuce and a cream salad dressing poured over them. Cream salad
dressing: Stir thoroughly together 1 teaspoon sugar, six tablespoons thick
sweet cream and 2 tablespoons vinegar, salt and pepper or mustard to
taste. The cream and vinegar should be very cold, and the vinegar added to
the cream a little at a time, or it will curdle. Stir till smooth and
creamy.
Souse.
Take off the horny parts of feet by dipping in hot water and pressing
against them with a knife. Singe off hair, let soak in cold water for 24
hours, then pour on boiling water, scrape thoroughly, let stand in salt
and water a few hours; before boiling wrap each foot in a clean white
bandage, cord securely to keep skin from bursting, which causes the
gelatine to escape in the water. Boil four hours. Leave in bandage until
cold. If you wish to pickle them, put in a jar, add some of the boiling
liquor, add enough vinegar to make a pleasant sour, add a few whole
peppers. Very nice cold. If you want it hot, put some of the pickle and
feet in frying pan. When boiling, thicken with flour and serve hot.—[Nina
Gorton.
See that the feet are perfectly clean, the toes chopped off and every
particle cleanly scraped, washed and wiped. Boil for three hours
continually, or until every particle falls apart, drain from liquid, pick
out all the bones, chop slightly, return to the liquid, add ½ cup
vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, pepper, salt and a dash of nutmeg. (Do not
have too much liquid.) Boil up once more and turn all out into a mold,
press lightly, and cut cold.—[H. M. Gee.
Thoroughly clean the pig’s feet and knock off the horny part with a
hatchet. Pour boiling water over them twice and pour it off, then put them
on to cook in plenty of water. Do not salt the water. Boil until very
tender, then take out the feet, pack in a jar, sprinkle each layer with
salt, whole pepper and whole cloves, and cover with equal portions of
vinegar and
the broth in which the feet were boiled. Put a plate over the
top with a weight to keep the souse under the vinegar. If there remains
any portion of the broth, strain it and let stand until cold, remove the
fat and clarify the broth with a beaten white of egg. It will be then
ready for blancmange or lemon jelly and is very delicate.
Scrapple.
Take hog’s tongue, heart, liver, all bones and refuse trimmings (some use
ears, snout and lights, I do not), soak all bloody pieces and wash them
carefully, use also all clean skins, trimmed from lard. Put into a kettle
and cover with water, boil until tender and bones drop loose, then cut in
sausage cutter while hot, strain liquor in which it was boiled, and
thicken with good corn mush meal, boil it well, stirring carefully to
prevent scorching. This mush must be well cooked and quite stiff, so that
a stick will stand in it. When no raw taste is left, stir in the chopped
meat and season to taste with salt, pepper and herb, sage or sweet
marjoram, or anything preferred. When the meat is thoroughly mixed all
through the mush, and seasoning is satisfactory, dip out into pans of
convenient size, to cool. Better lift off fire and stir carefully lest it
scorch. When cold, serve in slices like cheese, or fry like mush (crisp
both sides) for breakfast, serving it with nice tomato catsup. It tastes
very much like fried oysters. Some prefer half buckwheat meal and half
corn. To keep it, do not let it freeze, and if not covered with grease
melt some lard and pour over, or it will mold. This ought to be sweet and
good for a month or more in winter, but will crumble and fry soft if it
freezes.—[Mrs. R. E. Griffith.
Head Cheese.
Have the head split down the face, remove the skin, ears, eyes and brains,
and cut off the snout; wash thoroughly and soak all day in cold salted
water; change the water and soak over night, then put on to cook in cold
water to cover. Skim carefully and when done so the bones will slip out,
remove to a hot pan, take out every bone and bit of gristle, and chop the
meat with a sharp knife as quickly as possible, to keep the fat from
settling in it. For 6 lbs. meat allow 2 tablespoons salt, 1 teaspoon black
pepper, a little cayenne, ¼ teaspoon clove and 2 tablespoons sage. Stir
the meat and seasoning well together and put into a perforated mold or tie
in a coarse cloth, put a heavy weight on it and let it stand till cold and
firm. The broth in which the meat was cooked may be used for pea soup, and
the fat, if clarified, may be used for lard.—[R. W.
Cut the head up in suitable pieces to fit the receptacle you wish to boil
it in, first cutting off all pieces that are not to be used. If too fat,
cut off that, too, and put with the lard to be rendered. Take out the
brains and lay them in a dish of cold water, then put the head on to boil
till tender. Be sure to skim well. When it begins to boil, cook till the
meat is ready to drop off the bones, then take up, remove all bones or
gristle and grind or chop, not too fine; put in salt, pepper and cloves to
taste, also sage if liked, mix all well together, heat it all together,
and pour in a cloth, which is laid in a crock, tie it up tight and put on
a weight, to press it. Next day remove the cloth and the head cheese is
ready for the table. Skim the fat off the liquor the head was boiled in
and set aside for future use. Heat the liquor to a boil and stir in nicely
sifted corn meal. After salting, take up in crock and let it get cold,
then cut off in slices and fry a nice brown. Nice for breakfast.—[Mrs. A.
Joseph.
Pig’s Head.
English Brawn: Cut off the hearty cheek or jowl, and try it out for
shortening. Saw the pig’s head up in small pieces, carefully removing the
brains, snoot, eyes, jawbones or portions of teeth sockets. (It is
surprising with saw and a keen, sharp-pointed knife how much of the
unpleasant pieces of a pig’s head can be removed before it is consigned to
the salt bath.) Soak all night in salt and water, drain in the morning and
set over the fire to boil in slightly salted water. Place the tongue in
whole also. When the flesh leaves the bone, take out and strip all into a
wooden chopping bowl, reserving the tongue whole. Skin the tongue while
warm. Chop the head pieces fine, add pepper, salt, powdered sage to suit
taste. Pack all in a deep, narrow mold and press the tongue whole into the
middle of the mass. Weight down and set away all night to cool. Keep this
always in a cold place until all is used, and, as usual, use a sharp knife
to slice.—[Aunt Ban.
To Keep Hams and Shoulders.
We pack them for a few days with a sprinkle of dry salt, then lift and
wipe dry (both barrel and meat), repack and cover with brine, which may be
prepared thus: To 16 gals. brine (enough to carry an egg) placed in a
kettle to boil add ¼ lb. saltpeter, 3 pts. syrup molasses and a large
shovel of hickory ashes tied in a clean saltbag or cloth; boil, skim and
cool.—[Mrs. R. E. Griffith.
To prepare smoked ham for summer use: Slice the ham and cut off the rind.
Fill a spider nearly full, putting the fat pieces on top. Place in the
oven and bake. When partly cooked, pack the slices of hot ham closely in a
stone jar and pour the meat juice and fat over the top. Every time that
any of the meat is taken out, a little of the lard should be heated and
poured back into the jar to keep the meat fresh and good. Be very careful
each time to completely cover the meat with lard.—[Marion Chandler.
