The Pig.— Home Curing of Bacos.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 100, 2 October 1908, Page 4

The Pig.— Home Curing of Bacos.

Keep the pig for eighteen hours without food before killing. When it is cut up, sprinkle lightly with salt, and then rub in the mixture described below: —The hans every day for three to five weeks, and the sides every day for two or three weeks. If the hams are required to keep for six months, they should be on the curing table at least six to seven weeks. The meat should then be packed on a bench and left for another fortnight. Then after rubbing, dip in, or wash with warm water, and hang up to dry.

When dry, hang up and smoke for from 24 to 48 hours, according to taste. When finished, take cut ot the smoke house, and rub the rind side with oiive oil, to give it a polish. Those hams that are not required at once, should be sewed up tight in calico, and a thick coat of whitewash applied. The mixture is made up as follows: Brown sugar, 16 lbs.; saltpetre, |lb.; washing soda, one teaspoonful; red pepper, one tablespoonfullf, after the rubbing in of the mixture, more is required, no more saltpetre, soda or pepper, need be used for the second lot. The quantities given here will cure a pig from 160 to 2001bs. in weight. The mixture for brine curing:—Dissolve coarse Liverpool salt in water, until the liquid is strong enough to float a potato. To every gallon of this brine add: Sal prunella, Jib.; saltpetre Jib.; brown sugar, four lbs. Dissolve thoroughly, then add: Whole spice., 2Jlbs; juniper berries, one lb. ;red pepper, one dessertspoonful. Sew the spice and juniper berries in a cotton bag, to prevent it mixing with the brine. Boil the mixture for an hour, and when cold it is ready for use. This pickle can be kept in constant use for years, if boiled every few months and replenished with spice, salt and sugar. When boiling, the scum should always be skimmed oif. Sprinkle the pork with salt to draw off the blood, and see that it is quite cold before putting it into the pickle. Pump some of the pickle into the hams and shoulders —three or four injections. The time for curing a fair sized pig in pickle, is three to four weeks for the sides and fiv.e to seven weeks' forthe hams. When taken out of the pickle, hang the meat up to dry, and treat as described above.