Broil over a brisk fire, turning the slices constantly. It will require about five minutes, and should be served the last thing directly from the gridiron, placed on a warm platter, with a little b.u.t.ter and a sprinkle of pepper on the top of each slice. If ham or bacon is allowed to stand by the fire after it has been broiled or fried, it will speedily toughen, loosing all its grateful juices.

Cold boiled ham is very nice for broiling, and many prefer it to using the raw ham.

POTTED HAM.

To TWO pounds of lean ham allow one pound of fat, two teaspoonfuls of powdered mace, half a nutmeg, grated, rather more than half a teaspoonful of cayenne.

_Mode._--Mince the ham, fat and lean together, in the above proportion, and pound it well in a mortar, seasoning it with cayenne pepper, pounded mace and nutmeg; put the mixture into a deep baking-dish, and bake for half an hour; then press it well into a stone jar, fill up the jar with clarified lard, cover it closely, and paste over it a piece of thick paper. If well seasoned, it will keep a long time in winter, and will be found very convenient for sandwiches, etc.

BOLOGNA SAUSAGE. (Cooked.)

Two POUNDS of lean pork, two pounds of lean veal, two pounds of fresh lean beef, two pounds of fat salt pork, one pound of beef suet, ten tablespoonfuls of powdered sage, one ounce each of parsley, savory, marjoram and thyme mixed. Two teaspoonfuls of cayenne pepper, the same of black, one grated nutmeg, one teaspoonful of cloves, one minced onion, salt to taste. Chop or grind the meat and suet; season, and stuff into beef skins; tie these up, p.r.i.c.k each in several places to allow the escape of steam; put into hot, not boiling, water, and heat gradually to the boiling point. Cook slowly for one hour; take out the skins and lay them to dry in the sun, upon clean sweet straw or hay.

Rub the outside of the skins with oil or melted b.u.t.ter, and place in a cool, dry cellar. If you wish to keep them more than a week, rub ginger or pepper on the outside, then wash it off before using. This is eaten without further cooking. Cut in round slices and lay sliced lemons around the edge of the dish, as many like to squeeze a few drops upon the sausage before eating. These are very nice smoked like hams.

COUNTRY PORK SAUSAGES.

Six pounds lean fresh pork, three pounds of chine fat, three tablespoonfuls of salt, two of black pepper, four tablespoonfuls of pounded and sifted sage, two of summer savory. Chop the lean and fat pork finely, mix the seasoning in with your hands, taste to see that it has the right flavor, then put them into cases, either the cleaned intestines of the hog, or make long, narrow bags of stout muslin, large enough to contain each enough sausage for a family dish. Fill these with the meat, dip in melted lard, and hang them in a cool, dry, dark place. Some prefer to pack the meat in jars, pouring melted lard over it, covering the top, to be taken out as wanted and made into small round cakes with the hands, then fried brown. Many like spices added to the seasoning--cloves, mace and nutmeg. This is a matter of taste.

_Marion Harland_.

TO FRY SAUSAGES.

Put a small piece of lard or b.u.t.ter into the frying pan. p.r.i.c.k the sausages with a fork, lay them in the melted grease, keep moving them about, turning them frequently to prevent bursting; in ten or twelve minutes they will be sufficiently browned and cooked. Another sure way to prevent the cases from bursting is to cover them with cold water and let it come to the boiling point; turn off the water and fry them.

Sausages are nicely cooked by putting them in a baking-pan them in the oven, turning them once or twice. In this way you avoid all smoke and disagreeable odor. A pound will cook brown in ten minutes in a hot oven.

HEAD CHEESE.

Boil the forehead, ears and feet, and nice sc.r.a.ps trimmed from the hams of a fresh pig, until the meat will almost drop from the bones.

Then separate the meat from the bones, put in a large chopping-bowl, and season with pepper, salt, sage and summer savory. Chop it rather coa.r.s.ely; put it back in the same kettle it was boiled in, with just enough of the liquor in which it was boiled to prevent its burning; warm it through thoroughly, mixing it well together. Now pour it into a strong muslin bag, press the bag between two flat surfaces, with a heavy weight on top; when cold and solid it can be cut in slices. Good cold, or warmed up in vinegar.

TO CURE HAMS AND BACON. (A Prize Recipe.)

For each hundred pounds of hams, make a pickle of ten pounds of salt, two pounds of brown sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, one ounce of red pepper, and from four to four and a half gallons of water, or just enough to cover the hams, after being packed in a water-tight vessel, or enough salt to make a brine to float a fresh egg high enough, that is to say, out of water. First rub the hams with common salt and lay them into a tub. Take the above ingredients, put them into a vessel over the fire, and heat it hot, stirring it frequently; remove all the sc.u.m, allow it to boil ten minutes, let it cool and pour over the meat. After laying in this brine five or six weeks, take out, drain and wipe, and smoke from two to three weeks. Small pieces of bacon may remain in this pickle two weeks, which would be sufficient.

TO SMOKE HAMS AND FISH AT HOME.

Take an old hogshead, stop up all the crevices, and fix a place to put a cross-stick near the bottom, to hang the article to be smoked on.

Next, in the side, cut a hole near the top, to introduce an iron pan filled with hickory wood sawdust and small pieces of green wood.

Having turned the hogshead upside down, hang the articles upon the cross-stick, introduce the iron pan in the opening, and place a piece of red-hot iron in the pan, cover it with sawdust, and all will be complete. Let a large ham remain ten days, and keep up a good smoke.

The best way for keeping hams is to sew them in coa.r.s.e cloths, white-washed on the outside.

TO CURE ENGLISH BACON.

This process is called the "dry cure," and is considered far preferable to the New England or Yankee style of putting prepared brine or pickle over the meat. First the hog should not be too large or too fat, weighing not over two hundred pounds, then after it is dressed and cooled cut it up into proper pieces; allow to every hundred pounds a mixture of four quarts of common salt, one quarter of a pound of saltpetre and four pounds of sugar. Rub this preparation thoroughly over and into each piece, then place them into a tight tub or suitable cask; there will a brine form of itself from the juices of the meat, enough at least to baste it with, which should be done two or three times a week; turning each piece every time.

In smoking this bacon, the sweetest flavor is derived from black birch chips, but if these are not to be had, the next best wood is hickory; the smoking with corn-cobs imparts a rank flavor to this bacon, which is very distasteful to English people visiting this country. It requires three weeks or a month to smoke this bacon properly.

_Berkshire Recipe_.

TO TRY OUT LARD.

Skin the leaf lard carefully, cut it into small pieces, and put it into a kettle or saucepan; pour in a cupful of water to prevent burning; set it over the fire where it will melt slowly. Stir it frequently and let it simmer until nothing remains but brown sc.r.a.ps.

Remove the sc.r.a.ps with a perforated skimmer, throw in a little salt to settle the fat, and, when clear, strain through a coa.r.s.e cloth into jars. Remember to watch it constantly, stirring it from the bottom until the salt is thrown in to settle it; then set it back on the range until clear. If it scorches it gives it a very bad flavor.

SAUCES AND DRESSINGS.

DRAWN b.u.t.tER.

Melted b.u.t.ter is the foundation of most of the common sauces. Have a covered saucepan for this purpose. One lined with porcelain will be best. Take a quarter of a pound of the best fresh b.u.t.ter, cut it up, and mix with it about one tablespoonful of flour. When it is thoroughly mixed, put it into the saucepan, and add to it half a teacupful of hot water. Cover the saucepan and set it in a large tin pan of boiling water. Shake it round continually (always moving it the same way) till it is entirely melted and begins to simmer. Then let it rest till it boils up.

If you set it on too hot a fire it will be oily.

If the b.u.t.ter and flour are not well mixed, it will be lumpy.

If you put in too much water, it will be thin and poor. All these defects are to be carefully avoided.

In melting b.u.t.ter for sweet or pudding sauce, you may use milk instead of water.

TARTARE SAUCE.

The raw yolks of two eggs, half a teacupful of pure olive oil, three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one of made mustard, one teaspoonful of sugar, a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of salt, one of onion juice, one tablespoonful of chopped capers, one of chopped cuc.u.mber pickle. Put together the same as mayonnaise dressing, adding the chopped ingredients the last thing.

This sauce is good for fried or boiled fish, boiled tongue, fish salad, and may be used with fried and broiled meats.

EGG SAUCE, OR WHITE SAUCE.

Mix two tablespoonfuls of sifted flour with half a teacup of warm b.u.t.ter. Place over the fire a saucepan containing a pint of sweet milk and a saltspoon of salt, and a dash of white pepper; when it reaches the boiling point, add the b.u.t.ter and flour, stirring briskly until it thickens and becomes like cream. Have ready three cold hard-boiled eggs, sliced and chopped, add them to the sauce; let them heat through thoroughly, and serve in a boat. If you have plenty of cream, use it and omit the b.u.t.ter. By omitting the eggs, you have the same as "White Sauce."

OYSTER SAUCE.

Take a pint of oysters and heat them in their own liquor long enough to come to a boil, or until they begin to ruffle. Skim out the oysters into a warm dish, put into the liquor a teacup of milk or cream, two tablespoonfuls of cold b.u.t.ter, a pinch of cayenne and salt; thicken with a tablespoonful of flour stirred to a paste, boil up and then add the oysters.

Oyster sauce is used for fish, boiled turkey, chickens and boiled white meats of most kinds.