purposes, since the saltpetre usually employed will turn veal or poultry red, when braised with any portion of the lean.

HOG'S CHEEKS.

474. Cut out the snout, remove the brains, and split the head, taking off the upper bone, to make the chowl a good shape; rub it well with salt; next day take away the brine, and salt it again the following day with a quart of bay-salt, 2 quarts of common salt, and 1 lb. of brown sugar, put into 1 gallon of spring water; stir it until the whole is dissolved. This quantity will be sufficient for 3 pairs of chaps: be careful to turn them in the brine at least every other day, and to keep them well covered. Dry them in wood-ashes.

BRAWN.

475.-Split and nicely clean a hog's head, take out the brains, cut off the ears, and rub a good deal of salt into the head; let it drain 24 hours; then lay upon it 2 oz. of saltpetre, and the same of common salt, for 3 days; lay the head and salt into a pan, with just water to cover it, for 2 days more. Wash it well, and boil until the bones will come out; remove them, and chop the meat as quickly as possible in pieces of 1 inch long; but first take the skin carefully off the head and the tongue, the latter also cut in bits. Season with pepper and salt. Put the skin of one side of the head into a small

long pan, press the chopped head and tongue into it, and lay the skin of the other side of the head over, and press it down. When cold it will turn out. The head may probably be too fat, in which case prepare a few bits of lean pork with the head. Boil 2 oz. of salt, a pint of vinegar, and a quart of the liquor, and, when cold, pour it over the head. The ears are to be boiled longer than the head, cut in thin strips, and divided about it, the hair being nicely removed. pickle often.

Reboil the

Another mock Brawn.-Boil a pair of neat's feet very tender; take the meat off, and have ready the belly-piece of pork, salted with common salt and saltpetre for a week. Boil this till nearly done; take out the bones, and roll the feet and the pork together. Then roll it very tight with a strong cloth and coarse tape. Boil it till very tender, then hang it up in the cloth till cold; after which keep it in a sousing liquor. To keep Brawn, the Cambridge way.-To 2 gallons of

boil 1 hour;

In 10 or 12

water put 1 lb. of wheat-bran and 1 lb. of salt; when cold, strain it, and keep the brawn in it. days fresh pickle will be required. If, by length of carriage or neglect, the brawn be kept too long out of pickle, make as above, and when rubbed well with salt, and washed with some of the pickle, it will be quite restored to its former goodness.

476.-Take

TO PICKLE PORK.-E. R.

lb.

bushel of common salt, 1 lb. of bay-salt, of saltpetre, and 6 lbs. of coarse brown sugar; make hams of the legs. Take the sides of the pork and rub them well with common salt, lay a thin bed of salt in the tray, and place one of the sides in it; sprinkle with salt to cover it: lay the other side on the top, and sprinkle it also. Let them lie 2 or 3 days, rubbing the salt well in; then cover the whole with the other ingredients, and, as soon as the salt begins to give, rub them well in; turn the sides frequently, and let them be covered with brine: it will be fit for use in 6 or 8 weeks. These quantities are for a pig of 15 or 16 score.

A PICKLE

A

477. That will keep for years, for hams, tongues, or beef, if boiled and skimmed between each parcel of them.-To 2 gallons of spring water put 2 lbs. of coarse sugar, 2 lbs. of bay and 2 lbs. of common salt, and lb. of saltpetre, in a deep earthen glazed pan that will hold 4 gallons, and with a cover that will fit close. Keep the beef or hams as long as they will bear before you put them into the pickle; and sprinkle them with coarse sugar in a pan, from which they must drain. Rub the hams, &c., well with the pickle, and pack them in close, putting as much as the pan will hold, so that the pickle may cover them. The pickle is not to be boiled at first. small ham may lie 14 days, a large one 3 weeks; a tongue 12 days, and beef in proportion to its size. They will eat well out of the pickle without drying. When they are to be dried, let each piece be drained over the pan; and when it will drop no longer, take a clean sponge and dry it thoroughly. 6 or 8 hours will smoke them, and there should be only a little sawdust and wet straw burnt to do this; but if put into a baker's chimney, sew them in a coarse cloth, and hang them a week. Add 2 lbs. of common salt and 2 pints of water every time you boil the liquor.

POTTING AND COLLARING.

478.-To pot and collar are only different modes of preserving fish and meat for a longer time than they could be kept fresh; chiefly, in the instance of potting, by pounding the materials with seasoning, when dressed, and then putting small portions in closely covered jars or pots; while collaring is done by slicing portions of the meat or fish, and, when well seasoned, rolling it in round pieces, to be eaten cold as savoury dishes at breakfast and luncheon.

In potting, take care to wait until the meat is cold; press the meat firmly into the pots; but, before putting it there, drain the gravy thoroughly from the meat, or the gravy will turn it sour; then cover well with clarified butter, and tie over it oil-skin, or oiled paper, to exclude the air.

To clarify Butter.-Put your boat into a saucepan of cold water, and set it over a slow fire until it melts; then take it off the fire, take off the scum, and again warm it gently. After being used it will still serve for basting or for meat-pie paste, and is also excellent for fish sauce.

In collaring, be careful to roll the meat tightly and bind it firmly. Let it also be thoroughly done, left in a cool place, sometimes rubbed with pickle, but always wiped perfectly dry.

TO POT LAMPREY.

479.-Lamprey is a species of eel only found in a few parts of England; and, being considered as a rarity, is almost invariably potted for the convenience of being forwarded to places at a distance. The mode adopted at Worcester, which is celebrated for its superior excellence, is as follows:-Leave the skin on, but remove the cartilage and a string on each side of it down the back. Wash and clean the fish very nicely in several waters, and wipe them. To a dozen of tolerable size use 2 oz. of white pepper, salt in proportion, 6 blades of mace, a dozen of cloves, all in fine powder, but do not season until the fish shall have drained all night. Lay them in a stone pot one by one, and curled round, the spices and salt being sprinkled in and about them. Clarify 2 lbs. of butter and Ib. of the finest beef-suet, pour it on the fish, and lay thick paper over to keep in the steam. Bake 3 hours in a moderate oven. Look often at them, and

as the oil works up take it clear off. They will thus, in the storepot, keep till the spring. Put into pots for serving as wanted; observing to take off the old butter, and, having warmed the fish in the oven, cover with fresh butter only.

TO POT SHELL-FISH.

480. Boil lobsters, crayfish, and shrimps in salt and water, pick the meat out of the tails and claws, put them into a stewpan with a little butter, some chopped mushrooms or truffles, and simmer a short time over a gentle fire. When nearly done, beat the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs with a teacupful of cream and a little chopped parsley; let all stew together for a few minutes, until rendered as consistent as paste, and set it as above stated.

Or: When boiled, take them out of their shells, and season them with salt, white pepper, and a very little mace and nutmeg; but use the spice very sparingly, only just sufficient to preserve the fish for a few days in a fresh state, as they will not keep good much longer. Press them into a pot, lay a little butter over them, and bake in a slow oven for 10 minutes. When cold, cover with clarified butter.

Shrimps may also be potted whole, by putting them for a few minutes in clarified butter, seasoned as above, and gently heated; then put into pots, and cover with more butter, to totally prevent the admission of air. Cover the pots also with oil-skin.

TO POT POULTRY AND GAME.

481.-Chickens.-Take as much lean of boiled ham as you may think proper, and the quantity of fat, each cut as thin as possible; beat it very fine in a mortar with a little clarified butter, pounded mace, pepper, and salt-if the ham be not sufficiently impregnated. To this add the white part of the fowl, also pounded, but without seasoning, as it is only intended to qualify the savouriness of the ham. Then either mix the whole together, or put a layer of ham and chicken alternately; press it hard in the pots, bake in a cool oven for an hour, pour over it clarified butter to the thickness of a crown-piece, and paste over it a piece of paper, which may be oiled when the paste is dry.

Let them be quite fresh, clean them carefully, and season them with salt and pepper; lay them close in small deep pan; for, the smaller the surface, and the closer they are

packed, the less butter will be wanted. Cover them with butter, then with very thick paper, tie down and bake them. When cold, put them dry into pots that will hold 2 or 3 in each; and pour butter over them, using that which was baked as part. Observe that the butter should be pretty thick over them if they are to be kept. If pigeons were boned and then put in an oval form into the pot, they would lie closer and require less butter. They may be stuffed with a fine forcemeat made with veal, bacon, &c. If a high flavour is approved of, add mace, allspice, and a little cayenne, before baking.

Partridges and Pheasants.-Clean them nicely, and season with inace, allspice, white pepper, and salt, in fine powder, or seasoning spice. Rub every part well; then lay the breast downwards in a pan, and pack the birds as close as you possibly can. Put a good deal of butter on them; then cover the pan with a coarse flour paste, and a paper over, tie it close, and bake. When cold, put the birds into pots, and cover them with butter.

Or:-When baked and grown cold, cut them into proper pieces for helping; pack them close into a large potting-pan, and (if possible) leave no spaces to receive the butter. Cover them with butter, and part less will be wanted than when the birds are done whole.

Hare. Hang up a hare 4 or 5 days with the skin on; then case it, and cut it up as for eating; put it in a pot, and season it with mace, pepper, and salt; put 1 lb. of butter upon it, tie it down, and bake it in a bread-oven till tender. When it comes out, pick it from the bones, and pound to a smooth consistence with the fat from the butter, and pot it in the usual way.

Rabbits. Cut up 2 or 3 young but full-grown ones, and take the leg-bones off at the thigh; pack them as closely as possible in a small pan, after seasoning them with pepper, mace, cayenne, salt, allspice, all in very fine powder. Make the top as smooth as you can. Keep out the liver and the carcases, but take off the meat above the neck. Put a good deal of butter, and bake the whole gently. Keep it 2 days in the pan; then shift it into small pots, adding butter. The livers also should be added, as they eat well.

a Mrs. Raffald's Experienced English Housekeeper,' p. 297.