Spons' Household Manual: A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management
General
Spons' Household Manual: A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management
Home economics
Char, Potted.--The following is an old family recipe: When in high
season choose a dozen fine fish; clean and scale them; wash them
twice, drying with a fresh cloth each time. Rub into them 1 oz.
Jamaica pepper, 1 oz. saltpetre, 1 oz. common salt, all in the finest
powder; lay the fish on a board, raised at one side, and let them
drain for 12 hours. Then carefully wipe off the spice and salt, and
season again with 48 cloves, 14 blades mace, 2 large nutmegs, ¼ oz.
pepper, and 1 oz. common salt, all finely powdered. As each fish is
seasoned, lay it carefully into the pan, which should be just large
enough to hold the 12 fish; lay butter over them, cover with one
white and several brown papers, tie down close, and bake 4-5 hours in
a moderately quick oven. When a little cooled, drain the liquor from
the fish, and lay them round a potting or char pan, backs upwards, as
close as they will lie without breaking, and finish packing them in
the centre. Smooth the surface with the bowl of a large spoon, that
there be no cavities to absorb the butter, which must not be put on
till the next day; then let it be ½ in. thick. The gravy, in small
proportions, is an excellent addition to soups or made dishes.
Hamburgh Beef.--Take a piece of meat from the bed, or other fleshy
part; scatter common salt under and over it, and let lie 24 hours
to void the blood; then put into a pickle made with 1 gal. water
that has been boiled, 1 lb. common salt, 1½ lb. coarse sugar, 2 oz.
saltpetre, ½ pint vinegar; simmer until all are melted, and pour the
liquor over the meat placed in a deep narrow pan, so that it may be
covered completely; it will be ready for smoking in 3 weeks; well dry
with a cloth, and rub pea meal all over it until you have got a coat
on it; if well smoked, it will come out bright yellow, and will keep
any length of time. (Robinson.)
Hams.--(1) Four days after being killed, rub them all over with
common rough salt, particularly about the hip-bone and knuckle
joints. Having brushed off the salt (which should remain on for a day
and night), and dried the hams with a coarse cloth, rub thoroughly
and equally into each, 1 oz. finely powdered saltpetre, and let it
lie for 24 hours, then take 1 oz. saltpetre, ½ lb. common salt, ¼
lb. bay salt, 1 lb. coarse sugar. Make them hot in a pan--but be
careful not to melt them--and rub them well in, while hot, all over
the fleshy and rind sides, and finish with ½ lb. more of common salt.
Let them lie thus until a brine appears, and then with plenty of bay
leaves, strewed both under and over, turn them every day, and rub
and baste them well with the brine for the space of 3 weeks; then
take them out of pickle and immerse them in cold spring water for 24
hours; let them drip; wipe them well with a cloth; rub hog’s blood,
that has coagulated, all over them, and put them to smoke for a week,
well smothered. (Robinson.)
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