Settler's pickle for hams~ cheeks~ & should

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient

Directions

================== Information file ================== Fourteen pounds of good salt, half a pound of salpetre, two quarts of molasses or four pounds of coarse brown sugar, with water enough to dissolve the salt, and a pint of good beer or of vinegar, if you command either. Bring this liquor to a boil, and scum off all the impurities that may rise to the surface. When cold, pour this over your hams,which should be cold, but not frozen. The addition of pepper, allspice, and cloves is made by some who like a high flavour to the hams. The hams should remain in this pickle six or eight weeks; being turned and basted every two or three days, and then hung in the smoke house. The best woods for smoking are: sugar maple chips, hickory, birch, corn cobs, white ash, and beech. Wehn removed from the smoke house, sew each ham in any old linen or cotton cloth, and if you give this covering a coating of whitewash, with a whitewash brush, it well preserve it from the flies.

Origin: The Canadian Settler's Guide, written in 1855

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