THE ART AND MYSTERY
OF
CURING, PRESERVING, AND POTTING
ALL KINDS OF

MEATS, GAME, AND FISH;

ALSO
THE ART OF PICKLING AND THE PRESERVATION
OF
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
ADAPTED AS WELL FOR THE WHOLESALE DEALER AS ALL HOUSEKEEPERS.

By a WHOLESALE CURER OF COMESTIBLES.

LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY.
1864.

PREFACE.

This treatise comprises light and heavy salting, saccharine and muriatic preservative fluids, drying by gentle heat and air currents, smoking with woods, peat and turfs, marinating of fish and bucaning[A] of meats, and the whole processes of potting, preserving, and pickling.

That there exists a necessity for such a work as this, is but too evident from the disappointments experienced every summer, not only by those who purchase at the shops, but the heads of families, who, replenishing their store-rooms annually, reasonably expect that every article, when produced at table, will meet its meed of praise.

Hams, hung meats, cured tongues, &c., as well as the more expensive sorts of fish, as smoked and kippered salmon, are often so loaded with salt as to be hard, tough, and barely eatable; and, on the other hand, are often found in a state of slow decomposition, unwholesome and disgustful.

To obtain perfection in this art, much more depends upon the fuel made use of than is generally supposed, and I have herein adapted the different sorts of wood, &c., to the particular articles to be acted upon.

To render this manual available to all classes of society, from the butteries of the nobility to the more humble cupboard of the tradesman, as also to the proprietors of Italian warehouses, of hotels, refreshment-rooms, and to fishmongers, pastrycooks, &c. &c., I have laid down rules and receipts in intelligible language and arrangement, and I trust that there is not a single instance in the whole of these pages, where any noxious or deleterious ingredients are recommended to be used, and by which the stomach and system are made to suffer to please the eye and the palate.

Instructions for an exceedingly useful and cheap apparatus for curing and smoking is appended, as well as the best method of keeping, for a length of time, every description of goods so cured and preserved.

Amongst the marinated fish and bucaned meats will be found many of the most delicious specimens that a nicely discerning judgment could dictate, and which are certain of extensive patronage, after having been once partaken of.

I beg to refer my readers to the “Notes” at the conclusion of this work, as exponents of gross errors long cherished in the old common practice, and of facts so self-evident as not to be resisted.

J. R., Junior.

[A] “Bucaning” is a method of preserving meats, &c., partly by drying and partly by smoking with the embers of wood fires, and retaining all the palatable and nutritious juices. It must have had its origin with the rude hunters of the forests, who, for want of a chimney, laid sticks across, at a proper distance from the heat.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.

AN APPARATUS FOR DRYING AND SMOKING.

I recommend this apparatus, having, for many years, employed exactly such an one in my own business.

The Chimney should be three brick walls of light structure, a back and two sides, to be run up to the height of about nine feet from a paved floor. It must be open in front for a yard high from the bottom, and then a wooden door-frame must be put in, to carry a door five feet high, or, preferably, two doors, each two feet six inches, one above the other, the advantage of which will be seen when you come to make use of it. Above this door there must be brick-work again, for one foot higher, and then the top must be covered over. The inside of the chimney must be one yard wide, and two feet six inches deep, that is, from the front to the back. On each side there must be fixed a framework of wood, with strips one inch square, nailed across at the distance of six inches apart, these reaching from the bottom of the door-frame and terminating within a foot of the top of the chimney; on these strips will rest your spits or rods when laden with fish. Six inches from the top, two or three iron bars, with movable hooks running on them, must be fixed in the brickwork, which will be able to sustain the weight of sides of bacon, hams, salmon, &c. &c. A sheet of strong wire-work, or a plate of sheet-iron, perforated with many holes half an inch in diameter, must be fixed upon the bottom of the door frame. This will distribute the smoke in its ascent, and receive any small fish that may fall from the spits while being smoked. Six inches from the top of the chimney a wooden pipe six inches square must be introduced, to carry the smoke out of the room or shed, and in this must be put a valve or slide, which, when shut, will increase the volume of vapour in the chimney, and when opened will discharge the same; thus you will have the force of the fumigation completely under your command. A door of light sheet-iron should be hung at the open space at the bottom of the front, and so as to be let down or kept open at your pleasure, by means of which the heat from your fire may be reduced as necessity may require, by letting in the cold air, and this can be let down partially or totally when it is desirable to increase the draught. This iron door must not reach quite to the floor, but leaving about six inches open, to keep a small current of air always in the chimney. This construction has many advantages over the old-fashioned close-fronted chimneys.

The Spits, or Rods, must be of any tough wood, perfectly round and a little pointed at one end, half an inch diameter and three feet long. These are for bloaters, &c. For sprats and other small fish, you must have spits of iron wire, also a yard long, and pointed bluntly. For split mackerel, kippered herrings, &c., you must have deal rods of inch square wood, and with wrought-iron sprigs, two inches long, driven through them, and protruding on the other side, on which the shoulders of the various sorts of fish must be fixed.

The Horses, on which the rods must rest while drying the fish, must be plainly made by fixing two upright posts, in figure like the Roman capital letter T inverted, thus ┴ at the distance of three feet from each other, by means of two or three connecting rails. The posts may be six feet long, with strips of wood nailed across them six inches apart; on these will rest all the different sorts of rods when loaded with fish, and will correspond with the wood-work inside of your chimney.

FUEL FOR SMOKING.

Oak lops, or the extreme branches of that tree, such as charcoal is made from in the country places; it may be procured in large towns from manufacturers of rustic chairs and garden seats. Dried fern and short grass, the latter being pared off the heaths and short pastures, very thin, and well dried in the air. Beech and birch chips, or sycamore, are used with all fine goods. Peat or bog-earth must be procured on account of its preservative and deodorising quality; it imparts a wonderfully mild and truly acceptable flavour mixed along with other fuel.

Oak sawdust must be from the dry, old, heart of oak trees; the outside slabs will not do, as being full of sour sap. It is needless to say all these should be quite dry when taken into your stock, and kept so, for it will not suit your purpose to have a damp fume in your chimney.

PRESERVATIVES.

All the manufactured white edible salts impart a bitter taste to meats and fish cured by them, particularly if the same are to be kept many months. This is the reason why bay salt is so much used in part, along with the common salt, and if bay salt was less expensive, it would be universally used, and alone. I cannot recommend too strongly the use of the rock salt of the Cheshire mines; it acts similarly to the bay salt, and is by no means expensive.

Foots of Sugar can be got from the wholesale grocers, and is much preferable to the common sorts sold. It is nearly double the strength, and is not so rank and mawkish in the flavour it gives. There is a quantity of it at the bottom of every cask of the West India sugar when first opened. It is preferable to treacle in many respects. To store your goods when cured, and to keep them in the best possible state of preservation, there is nothing so well adapted, and proved by experience to be effectual, as malt cooms, which should be contained in chests and boxes, with little bags of pulverised charcoal here and there distributed throughout. Hanging up hams, tongues, smoked meats, &c., in paper or calico bags, from the ceilings of kitchens, and all habitable rooms with fires in them, is an old, but very thoughtless, custom, for all the foul air in an used room is accumulated near the ceiling.

ON THE
CURING, SMOKING, AND PRESERVATION
OF

MEATS, FISH, GAME, POULTRY, & FRUITS.

ESSENCES.

The following are made use of in the preparation of the finer sort of meats, and are thus made:

Essence of Cinnamon.—Half an ounce of the essential oil to half an ounce of spirits.

Essence of Clove, Cassia, Nutmeg, and Allspice.—One ounce of any of the oils to half a pint of spirits.

Essence of Peppermint, Rose, and Almonds.—A quarter of an ounce of otto of roses, of essential oil of peppermint, or of almonds, to half a pint of spirits.

Essence of Lemon and Orange.—Three-quarters of an ounce of the essential oils to half a pint of spirits.

Essence of Thyme, Celery, Sage, and Mint.—Half a pint of rectified spirits to an ounce of any of these substances.

Essence of Vanilla.—Half a pint of spirits to half an ounce of vanilla pods.

Essence of Ginger.—Bruised ginger, eight ounces; chillies, quarter of an ounce; digest for a month and strain.

Essence of Cayenne Pepper.—Spirits, six ounces; water, half an ounce; Cayenne pepper, two ounces; red sanders, in powder, half an ounce; digest for ten days and strain.

Concentrated Essence of Ginger.—Unbleached ginger, bruised, one ounce; rectified spirits, two ounces; digest ten days, and strain.

Dried and Smoked Meats

HUNG BEEF—A SHROPSHIRE SIRLOIN.

From the sirloin of a grass-fed young Scot, or prime heifer, the butcher should take off the superfluous suet of the under side, so as to leave the joint handsome, and when it has hung up a week in cold weather, rub it well in every part with

Turn the meat and continue the rubbing three days, when you may add

Persist in this course four days longer, when it will be sufficient to turn it only every second day, and baste it with the liquor ten minutes each time. When it has thus laid fourteen days more, it may be taken up, wiped dry, and suspended in a quick current of air, and bound round with broad tape, so that it may be turned upside down occasionally, to prevent the juices settling in one part. When dried sufficiently, rub coarse oatmeal or bran, first well heated, all over the joint, and hang it in your chimney to be smoked, three days only, with

which will impart scarcely any flavour of the smoke for observe, it is “Hung Beef.”

CHOICE BREAKFAST BACON.

Take a side or “middle” of dairy-fed pork from a pig not exceeding eight score pounds weight, and mixing well

Rub both sides of the meat well for a week, turning it every other day, then add common salt and treacle, each one pound, and rub again daily for a week; after which baste and turn only, for a week longer, then take it up, dry with coarse cloths, rub it well all over with peas meal and bran mixed, equal quantities, and hang it to be smoked with

for three weeks. Commit it to your ham and bacon chest, to be kept three months or longer, well embedded in malt coom and pulverised charcoal. It will never be rancid.

MELTON-HUNT BEEF.

Choose a round of prime ox beef, about thirty pounds weight, the butcher removing the bone; examine the flap and take out the kernels and skins, and hang it up in a dry air, where let it remain as long as the weather will permit. Then take

Mix them well, and rub all parts well, particularly the flap and the void left by the bone, every day for a week, and turning it every other day. Then add

and never omit rubbing well with the pickle every day for ten days. After this turn it daily for ten days more, then take it up, look well to the centre and fat, and setting it up in proper shape, and skewer and bind it firmly. Wipe it dry, and if not immediately wanted, coat it well over with dry bran or pollard, and smoke it a week with

Otherwise, bake it, and when it has cooled forty-eight hours, not less, it will cut firm and obtain for you high commendation.

BEEF’S HEART SMOKED.

From choice, take the heart of a prime Scot or well-fed heifer, and hang it in a current of dry air for a week, but if it should be a fine large one, and you are in doubt as to its age and probability as to tenderness, ten days or more in hard weather will not be too long to keep it. Clean it well from the coagulated blood in the cavities, ventricles, and wipe the outside with salt and water and sponge. Then take

Boil these a quarter of an hour, skimming well. Put the meat, the small end downwards, in a deep straight-sided vessel, that will just more than contain it, and add to it six large onions sliced and fried brown, with some sweet lard; also

and pour the liquor, nearly scalding hot, upon all these, covering close with brown paper tied over; thus let it remain forty-eight hours, if a moderate sized one, and sixty hours if a large one. Next take it out and wipe dry, and fill all the hollows, of which there are four, with the following stuffing:

And having pressed this into all parts accessible, make the “deaf ears” secure, that the stuffing does not come out, by sewing thin leather or bladder over the base of the heart, and hang it up, point downwards, in your chimney, and smoke it three weeks. When boiled and got cold properly, it will be a nice relishing article at a trifling expense. Beech chips, with oak dust and fern, or short grass, will be the proper fuel.

ULVERSTON RED FLANK OF BEEF.

For this purpose engage about twelve pounds of prime young meat, and let it hang the full time to become tender. Trim away the skin neatly, and cut it into pieces adapted to the family requirements. Set the trimmings, with a pound of any rough beef, and a similar weight of lean gammon of bacon, on the fire with

and boil twenty minutes, skimming well; strain the liquor and pour it hot over the meat, which must be totally immersed. In a week boil up the pickle, adding

Cover the meat again, and let it remain ten days more; then take it up, dry it well with cloths, and hang it up in a quick current of air, rub it well on both sides with warmed bran, and when it is not capable of retaining any more, coat it with the gelatine and treacle composition so effectually as to totally exclude the air. In three months, meat thus preserved will be juicy and mellow, and presenting a striking contrast with the dry and tough preparations of the general common practice. When wanted for table, plunge a piece of the meat into a pan of boiling water, and keep it so boiling for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, after which draw the utensil a little off the fire, and simmer only, until the cooking is completed.

BEEF HAMS.

Your butcher will furnish you with a joint of a prime young beef, cut handsomely, and shaped for the purpose. Hang it as long as prudent, then rub it well in all parts with coarse sugar, and turn it every second day for six days, then mix well,

These are allowed for each ten pounds of meat. Let the rubbing in of this mixture be sedulously observed for three weeks, and then only the turning every second day, two weeks longer, the pickle having been boiled up again and well skimmed, adding twenty per cent. of the ingredients to replenish the strength. Now take up and dry your meat, and give it a nice firm covering of oatmeal and bran mixed and warmed; hang it in the fresh air a week, changing its position, so that all the juices may not be at one end of it. Smoke it a month with oak lops and sawdust, fern or short grass turfs, and plenty of beech and birch chips. Store it in malt cooms and charcoal, and let it not be molested for four months.

HAMBRO’ ROUGH BEEF.

Take ten or twelve pounds of any part of the animal that has not much fat or skin, and no bone attached; rub it well over with a pound of West India molasses, made moderately hot, and let it lie so four days; make a pickle of

boiled and skimmed clear, and added to the meat, which must be quite covered, and remain so three weeks more. Now dry it well, give it a good coat of pea flour, and covering with brown paper, smoke it a month with

BRESLAU BEEF.

Take the second round or fillet of beef without fat or bone, cut it into two equal parts horizontally, and rub them well with the following mixture:

Let them lie, being regularly rubbed and turned for fourteen days. Boil up your pickle, skimming it thoroughly at the expiration of each week, and add, at the end of the fortnight,

Let them lie thus a week together, then take them up and wipe dry. Smoke one of the pieces for three weeks, in brown paper, with oak and fern, and hang it in a dry air to harden a month. The other portion of the meat may be thoroughly dried in an air current, and then coated with the gelatine composition, and exposed to the air a month also.

Both these are intended for rubbing on a tin grater, and taken on bread and butter, or as sandwiches, and well adapted for gentlemen emigrating and travelling at home.

WHITEHAVEN CORNED BEEF.

For a round of beef about twenty-five pounds weight. Rub it in all parts with

and let it lie, turned and rubbed daily, for a week. Then add

boiled twenty minutes, skimmed and let go cold. Baste the meat twice a day, and turned every second day for three weeks longer. Now take up and wipe dry, sew a broad fillet of light canvas around the meat tightly, and suspend it to be dried very gradually in your chimney, with beech and birch embers. It may hang thus for three weeks, never allowing a flame, and should be turned occasionally.

NEATS’ TONGUES.

For each tongue of seven to nine pounds weight, having cut out the gullet and trimmed the root, take

Mix well, and rub the meat well for four days, then add for each tongue one ounce more salt and continue the rubbing and turning six days longer. The curing is now completed, and if wanted for table, may be boiled slowly four to five hours. If it is intended to dress them fresh out of pickle as wanted, the rubbing, except for the first day, must be omitted, and in such case, they would not be unpleasantly salt for four or five weeks; nevertheless, they should be turned daily. If they are only to be dried, wipe them well when taken out of the pickle, and rub them all over with bran or pollard warmed, but if to be smoked, it must be done with

for a week, and they may be packed along with your hams in malt cooms and pulverised charcoal.

NEATS’ TONGUES, VERY HIGH FLAVOUR.

Having cut away the useless parts at the roots, and removed the gullets, rub the tongues all over with coarse sugar or real West India molasses, and let them lie twenty-four hours; then take

mix, and rub with it three days, turning them daily; then add

rub three days, and turn the meat daily for a week, when you may dry it and smoke with beech and fern or grass turfs. The above proportions are for one fine tongue of eight or nine pounds.

A BOAR’S HEAD.

Procure the head of a large well-fed bacon hog, your butcher having had it open and taken out the tongue, gullet, eyes, and nasal cartilages, and small bones; remove the brain and clean it thoroughly, particularly at the roots of the ears and nostrils; wash it quickly in salt and water, and dry with cloths. Rub it well in all parts with rock or common salt, and hang it up to drain twenty-four hours. Next, make a pickle of

Boil fifteen minutes, and skim, and when cold pour it over the head and tongue, placed in a deep straight-sided earthen vessel, where it must remain, being turned every second day, and well covered with the pickle for a month; at the end of fourteen days take out the tongue, boil up the pickle, adding one pound more salt, and pour it again on the head cold. When taken out of pickle, wipe both the head and tongue dry, and with a sharp knife cut through the rind from the nose to the base, in lines two inches apart, but not severing the flesh. You may now remove any superfluous fat from the base, but not interfering with the lean part; rub all over with dried oatmeal; peel the tongue, and skewer it inside the head, close the sides with string, and smoke it in brown paper for three weeks, with

Store it in malt cooms, and when wanted let it be baked.

WESTPHALIA HAMS.

Get your legs of pork—each about sixteen pounds weight—cut in shape like those imported, viz. longer and more narrow than usual, inclining to a peak at the large end, and flattened between boards weighted down upon them. But since they may be cured at home far finer flavoured, and of infinitely far superior quality in the feeding, this attempt at deception is optional. The following is a good mixture, with which let the meat be rubbed well, and turned daily for three days:

Then let them lie in this way, only turning them for ten days more, when you will boil up the ingredients, adding

and when cold turn it to the meat, and baste with it a fortnight longer. You may now take them up and dry them well. They must hang in a current of fresh air for a week or more, and then be smoked a month with oak lops, fern, and grass turfs.

WESTPHALIA HAMS ECLIPSED.

Take a fine thick leg of pork, of about sixteen pounds weight, and mix

with which rub the meat in all parts once a day, and turning it for four days. Bring a pint of pickling vinegar to the boiling point, with one ounce of sliced shalot in it, and when cold add it to the meat, which must be turned daily for a month; then take it out of pickle, hang it to drip twenty-four hours, turn the ham end for end twice a week at least, smoke it a month with oak lops, fern, beech chips, and turfs.

EXCELLENT HAMS OF HIGH FLAVOUR.

Hang a leg of well-fed pork, weighing about eighteen pounds, as long as the weather will permit; take

Rub this mixture well into all parts of the meat, and let it lie, being rubbed and turned twice in three days and nights; then add rock salt, or if you cannot get it, then common salt two pounds, and let it lie a month, turning it every other day. Then wipe it dry, and put a nice clear covering of bran or pollard all over the joint, and smoke it a month, turning it now and then in the chimney while the juices are settling. The fuel must be oak lops, sawdust, and beech chips. If you have no store chest with malt, corn, &c., you must have your resource in a paper bag, as is often the case. Do not let your meats hang near a kitchen fire from the ceiling; they will inevitably be rancid if you do, and to avoid the flies in summer time, brush your meats over once a fortnight with three drops of creosote in a pint of water.

A NORFOLK CHINE.

Take the chine of a well-fed hog of ten score weight, deprived of the rind, and what fat may be considered superfluous, and rub it in all parts effectually with

and let it be rubbed and turned daily for a week. Next boil together the herbs used above, and

Skim it well, and when cold, pour it to the meat, and mix with the first pickle. Take care that the pickle completely covers the chine. Handle it attentively three weeks, and wipe it dry. It must be well coated with bran first, and pea-flour over that, and smoked with

for a fortnight or more. One half of it will be exceedingly good, if coated with the gelatine composition, and kept three months; the other half may be baked, and eaten cold.

LEICESTERSHIRE SPICED BACON.

Many persons are prejudiced against spiced bacon, generally because they may have been deceived in the quality of that purchased at the shops; too often indeed is the spicing resorted to that it may cover defects which would have been too glaring if merely salted. (See Note, No. 3.) Take a middle of well-fed large pork, and divide it into pieces that will suit your salting tub; rub them well over, both sides, with warmed treacle, and let them lie for a week, being rubbed and turned every day; then take a mixture of

and rub the meat well with this on the fleshy side only, for a week, after which turn the pieces every other day for a fortnight longer. You may then dry it with cloths, and suspend the meat in a current of air, being turned end for end every third day; and when ready, lay on a nice coat of bran or pollard, and smoke with oak and beech for a fortnight, and finish it by adding peat to your smoking fuel for a week longer. This will be superior bacon.

SMOKED PORKER’S HEAD.

Take the head of a dairy-fed porker, seven score weight, lay it open, take out the tongue, gullet, eyes, &c., and wash it five minutes in salt and water. Rub it well all over with coarse sugar and sliced onions, and let it remain in a deep dish forty-eight hours, the tongue may be cured as a neat’s tongue. Make a pickle by boiling

Skim it well, and when cold, pour it over the head in a deep straight-sided earthen vessel; so let it lie three weeks, being turned and basted with the pickle every other day. Take it up now, wipe it dry, place the tongue in, and stuff all the cavities with a stuffing of onions fried in olive oil or sweet lard, and dried sage powdered; bind the cheeks close together with tape, and smoke it three weeks with beech chips two parts, fern two parts, peat one part, oak sawdust one part. It must be kept in same packing as hams, tongues, &c., and in two months it will be excellent, baked and taken cold.

BATH CHAPS, OR CHEEKS.

Chose your cheeks from pigs not more than eight score weight. Split open, carefully take out all the offal, and for every stone of fourteen pounds of meat, allow

Rub the cheeks thoroughly and daily for a week; then turn them in the pickle for a fortnight more, when you may take them up, dry and wipe, and coat them nicely with warmed coarse oatmeal, and hang them to dry for a week. Smoke them a month, or only dry them in your chimney by a gentle heat. Oak and grass turfs must be the fuel made use of.

DUTCH BEEF.

Take ten pounds of any part of prime beef that has a moderate share of fat attached, the thick flanks suit well. Displace the skin, and rub the meat all over with foots of coarse sugar one pound, and let it lie three days and nights, turned daily. Take then

with which mixture rub your meat well five days, and then turn it in the pickle every three days for a fortnight more. Bind broad tape around it as a collar, rub pea-flour over it in all parts, until it is thoroughly coated therewith, and smoke it a month with oak lops, sawdust, and beech or birch chips. It should be kept in store two months at least, and then put into boiling water over the fire, done moderately, and cut when cold.

HAUNCH OF MUTTON AS VENISON.

Get your butcher to leave the tail attached to a leg of fine fat wether mutton, which you may hang as long as ever the weather will permit. Carefully remove the outer skin, and rub half a pint of pure olive oil well into all parts of it, lying in a deep dish. Put into a jug

Pour a pint of good vinegar, nearly boiling, over these, cover the jug close, and let remain till next day. Then add this pickle to the meat, and rub it well in for half an hour, not disturbing the fat if possible; slice six large onions, and strew them equally over the meat, turn it every day twice, and keep always the onions well on the uppermost part. Continue this for five days, then take it up, wipe it dry, and rub it for half an hour with a pound of West India molasses, made hot. Next day wipe it clean, and roast it as venison. Serve with red-currant jelly liquefied.

THIGH OF MUTTON L’DIABLE.

Take a short thick leg of prime mutton, that has been well kept, and rub it well in all parts with pounded bay salt for half an hour, then immerse it in cold water for a minute, and wipe it quite dry. Mix well

Rub the joint freely with this until it has disappeared. Divide the flesh down to the bone for three inches above the knuckle, and lay in three shalots, and half a head of garlic minced very fine, and close the skin neatly over it. Set aside on a dish until the next day, when rub it again with what liquor may have arisen, and put it down to roast before a brisk clear fire. Smear six ounces of sound fat bacon with a spoonful of tar, stick it on the prongs of a long toasting fork, and when the meat is about half cooked, hold the bacon over the fire until it blazes, then transfer it over the meat, and baste it with the liquid fire until the bacon has melted all away. The mutton when cooked will have a peculiar appearance, and a flavour highly esteemed by many persons. To be served hot with a spoonful or two of tomato, or any other favourite sauce.

WELSH MUTTON HAMS.

Take a couple of legs of prime Welsh mutton, rub them well with treacle made hot, and put them away in a deep pan until the next day. Make a pickle of

boiled an hour and well skimmed, and when cold to be poured over the meat, and to be rubbed every day, and turned for three weeks. Then take them out of pickle, rub them well in all parts with strong vinegar for one hour, when wipe them dry, and hang them up in a current of air until well dry. Then give them a thorough coat of bran or of oatmeal, and smoke them with

for three weeks or more. Store them in malt cooms and pulverised charcoal, and in three months they will be very good.

DRIED MUTTON, AS IN THE ARDENNES.

Put these into a stone jar with a pint of fresh rendered goose oil, and let them digest three weeks. Take a leg or loin of prime mutton fresh from the butcher, rub it well in all parts, with the herbs and part of the oil prepared as above, and lay it in a vessel covered close; to be turned and rubbed every day for three weeks; then hang it up in a cold dry air three days more, when add to the herbs

Rub the joint then with the whole mixture, and let it lie; if a leg, for fourteen days; if a loin, nine days, turning it every day. Take it out, wipe it dry and rub all parts with warmed bran or pollard, and suspend it again in a dry air previous to enclosing it in a paper or calico bag for a month, then pack it in malt cooms and charcoal. If preferred smoked, we cannot provide you with juniper bushes for that purpose, and with which the “Ardennes” abounds, we must therefore substitute

TO PICKLE A TONGUE.

Take out the gullet and rough root of a neat’s tongue, eight pounds weight; rub it well with common or rock salt three days, then take

Rub well with this, out of the pickle, then return all to the first brine, and keep it close covered three weeks, turning it every day. It will be fit to be cooked if wanted, but if to be smoked, treat it with the drying process, and when ready, smoke it with

This is intended for tongues for general purposes. There follow some excellent pickles for higher flavours.

HAMBRO’ PICKLE FOR BEEF AND PORK.

Boil fifteen minutes, skimming well; pour into a vessel, and the next day it will be fit for use. This is appropriate for beef, hams, and tongues—for family use, hotels, and refreshment rooms, &c. &c. A moderate-sized round of beef should remain in it fourteen to sixteen days.

PICKLE FOR PORK.
EXCELLENT FOR A QUARTER OF A YEAR.

For a whole porker weighing not exceeding five score pounds. The pieces adapted for pickling being at hand, put a layer of finely beaten rock salt at the bottom of your powdering tub, which must always be particularly clean and sweet, and better if fumigated with sulphur the day before it is used, then place the thickest of the meat, then a layer of this mixture:

then again meat, and alternately to the finish, and filling all the spaces with common or rock salt. In a week, if a pickle does not rise up so as totally to cover the pork, boil as much of similar ingredients, and, when cold, pour it gradually and evenly over the meat, and leave it. You can take thin pieces out in a fortnight if wanted in haste, but it will be preferable if not disturbed for a month. The water requisite for the second brine depends upon what brine was produced by the first salting.

PRESERVATIVE PICKLE.

This is proper for cured meats in general, and is recommended for imparting a mild and excellent flavour.

SUPERIOR PICKLE FOR PORK.

Boil and skim well. Apply cold. Small delicate pork will be ready in a week.

BREAST OF MUTTON COLLAR, AS VENISON.

Hang the largest breast of well-fed wether mutton you can get, as long as the weather will warrant you. Take away the outer skin, all the bones, and strew coarse sugar plentifully all over the inside flesh, and put a slate or piece of board that is tasteless—as beech, or sycamore, or poplar—upon it, with heavy weights, and let it remain so forty-eight hours. Be provided with

Boil these altogether for twenty minutes. Rub both sides of the meat for at least twenty minutes, and lay it, along with its sugar or pickle, in a deep vessel, and keep up the friction for a week or nine days; then take it up, dry it with cloths, and making a layer of bay leaves and laurel in a dry tub, put the breast upon it, and cover the meat with other leaves of similar sort, and with thyme, parsley, and any sweet herbs you may have near at hand. Now take it up, wash it for five minutes in vinegar and table-beer, half-and-half, and hang it up to dry for twenty-four hours, then roll it up as a collar, and bind it tight; hang it in your chimney, but do not let much smoke enter into it, as it must be dried rather than smoked. The embers of beech chips, grass turfs, and sawdust, will effect this in a week. The half of it may be roasted, and the other part kept with your hams, tongues, &c., for six months; it will then be mellow and beautifully flavoured.

A PERPETUAL GOOSE.

Procure the heart of a prime ox—the larger the better—hang it up in a current of dry air as long as it is safe, and at the same time get a pint of newly-drawn goose oil, which put into a jar along with

Tie brown paper over, and let it remain in a gentle heat until your meat is ready. First cut out from the heart, the pipe—blood vessel—as low down as you can, pare away the “deaf ears,” and open as wide as you consistently can, without piercing the bark or outside skin, a communication between the two upper cavities—auricles, and the two lower ones—ventricles, and take out the coagulated blood. Next rub all parts, the inside and outside, thoroughly twice a day with the oily mixture for a week, having put the meat, point downwards, in a straight-sided deep earthen vessel, and keeping the cavities all the while filled with the liquor. Now boil for fifteen minutes.

Skim it well and add it when half-cold to the meat in the jar, mixing all well together. Mind that the meat is completely covered with the pickle, and tie paper over all, so let it be for a week, when boil up all the pickle, skimming it well, and taking care to renew what may have been lost or imbibed, and the cavities kept well filled all the time; let it be in pickle a fortnight longer, then take up, wipe dry inside and out, make a stuffing of fried sliced onions and sage leaves powdered, adding black pepper to make it pleasantly hot, and with this fill the inside of the heart as full as possible, and pressing it in from the top, make the holes secure with wetted bladder sewed over them. Let it hang up for a day or two to dry, then wrap it in brown paper and smoke it, point downwards, for a week; then take it down, rub it for half-an-hour with olive oil, and smoke it again for a week. This done, rub it again with the oil and hang it in a quick current of air for twenty-four hours, and as soon as it is dry enough to retain it, coat it securely with the gelatine composition, and keep it three months, and longer the better. Ultimately, it must be roasted, and slices cut out when cold to be broiled. It is an exceedingly beautiful treat.

Fish

THE NUTRIMENT IN FISH.

“This is a subject on which I have made some experiments, the results of which go far to prove that there is much nourishment in fish—little less than in butcher’s meat, weight for weight; and in effect it may be more nourishing, considering how, from its softer fibre, fish is more easily digested. Moreover, there is I find, in fish—in sea-fish—a substance which does not exist in the flesh of land animals, viz. iodine, a substance which may have a beneficial effect on the health, and tend to prevent the production of scrofulous and tubercular disease—the latter in the form of pulmonary consumption, one of the most cruel and fatal with which civilised society, and the highly educated and refined are afflicted. Comparative trials prove that, in the majority of fish the proportion of solid matter—that is, the matter which remains after perfect desication or the expulsion of the aqueous part, is little inferior to that of the several kinds of butcher’s meat, game, or poultry. And if we give our attention to classes of people, classed as to the quality of food they principally subsist on, we find that the ichthyophagous class are especially strong, healthy, and prolific. In no other class than that of fishers do we see larger families, handsomer women, or more robust men, or a greater exemption from the maladies just alluded to.”—Dr. Davy.

WELSH DRIED SALMON.

A great deal of the Welsh salmon is “poached,” or taken surreptitiously, in the long dark nights, by means of lanterns and “spearing,” when the fish, attracted by the light, come to the water’s edge. The salmon is often lank and out of season, and consequently of inferior quality, yet some of it is tolerable and inquired for at the shops by gentlemen, who having resided some time in Wales, and, as it often happens, prejudiced in favour of home productions. However, if it possesses any admired flavour it arises, not so much from the method of curing it, as from the fuel it is smoked with, and which the poachers can easily procure, to wit, dried fern, and young gorse, besides short grass turfs which grow on commons and on the mountain sides, and which is pared off the land very thin, and dried in the sunny weather. They dry and smoke the salmon in some remote part of their cottage, or hut, and hence its dark and dirty appearance, and there it remains until traders intending it for the Chester and Bristol markets come and purchase it. I conclude it pays the curers pretty well for their trouble, since it costs them nothing. Take a fresh salmon, sixteen to twenty pounds weight, split it open at the belly, beginning at about eight inches from where the tail sets on, and cutting through to the bone up to the nose, remove the gills and all the refuse, wipe well out, and quite dry. Mix an ounce of ground white pepper with a pound of coarse sugar, and rub all the inside with it, particularly at the bone, for fifteen minutes or more; then bring the sides together, lay it on a dish, and rub the remainder of the mixture all over the outside of the fish, the back fins and thick part of the shoulders. So let it lie, the thin side uppermost, until next day in a cool room. Then rub again all over with the liquor produced, and let it lie twenty-four hours longer, the thick side uppermost. Now hang it up by the tail until dripping ceases, lay it again on a clean dish, strew fine salt well over the inside, bring the sides together, and rub the outside well with fine salt, leaving the fish covered to the thickness of half-a-crown with pounded rock salt, a thin stratum of which must be under the salmon. Each day the runnings must be thrown away—for observe it is hot weather when fresh salmon is cured—and more salt applied. In five days from the commencement it will be safely cured, provided that the thick part of the back and shoulders have been well supplied with the salt heaped under, around, and above those parts. Then take up the fish, brush off the salt, wipe dry, prop the sides open with splints of wood, and hang it up by the tail in a current of air. Next day hang it up by the head for twelve hours, and after that remove it to your chimney, where, suspended with the head downwards, you may smoke it with beech chips two parts, oak sawdust two parts, and fern or grass turfs two parts, for two weeks, keeping the sides wide open with splints of wood. As soon as the salmon is taken out of smoke, and while it may be a little warm and pliable, lay some well dried oat straw in the inside, bring the sides together and tie round with string. In two months you will have prime dried salmon for broiling in steaks, cut three quarters of an inch thick, and will keep good many months.

FINE DUTCH SALMON.

This article is in great esteem with the Jews. Prepare the fish as per our own directions for “superior kippered salmon,” having taken out the backbone, &c. &c. Now, for a fish of sixteen to twenty pounds weight, take

mix them well, and rub the skin side of the fish all over, using a large handful. Lay your fish flat on a good layer of common salt—rock is far preferable—in your tub, strew bay leaves on it, cover well with your mixture, and put your boards on the fish, weighting them down with accuracy. Remove them once a day for the purpose of applying more of the seasoning, and put fresh bay leaves on the third morning. On the fifth morning take the salmon out of the pickle tub, stretch it open at the back by wooden splints, rinse it quickly through salt and water, and proceed as in the next receipt, in every respect, until the process is completed.

SUPERIOR KIPPERED SALMON.

Choose a short, thick fish with a small head, a bright eye, and of twenty pounds weight, although salmon cannot be too large for splitting, and just fresh from the ice they come packed in. Immediately it is brought home—in hot weather observe—commence your operations. Lay the fish on a table with its back towards you, and, beginning at the nose, draw a sharp knife clean down at one stroke to within two inches of where the tail begins. This must be accomplished so that the backbone is left quite bare under the knife; thus one, the under, side of the fish will be thicker than the upper side. Then take out the roe and liver, which may be beautifully preserved as by various receipts in this treatise, and removing the gills and garbage, wipe out the fish well, and having previously with a pen-knife severed a tissue that runs along the whole length of the bone, and hides much coagulated blood. Pure water must not be allowed, but salt and water may be used to assist in cleaning out the fish—that is, cloths dipped in salt and water. In the next place we must have the backbone detached, to effect which “nicely,” you will need a pen-knife with a strong blade, or one of those used by shoemakers for “paring,” and which are the smallest used by them. Commencing about eight inches from the root of the tail, the knife must be run up by the side of the bone to the head, and then beginning again at the same start, you must pass the knife on the lower side of the bone, and so meeting with the point of the instrument the incision made by the first cutting, thus the bone may be got out, and afterwards the meat so pared down as to appear as though the fish never had a backbone. The necessity for thus taking out the bone is, that handsome slices may be cut from the thick side for broiling. Now, when thus far advanced, make a layer of finely beaten rock salt, or bay salt, at the bottom of your pickling tub, and on that lay the salmon, its scaly side downwards, and with a fine bread-grater cover the whole inside of the fish with finely rendered loaf-sugar, to the thickness of a crown-piece, and put plenty of bay leaves upon that, place your flattening boards nicely on the fish, and weigh them down effectively. These must of course be displaced once a day to supply more sugar to the fish. On the third morning put fresh bay leaves, with a pound more salt, and an ounce and a half of sal prunelle, and replace the boards. Look to it every morning and evening, keeping it well supplied with fine salt and sal prunelle, but using no more sugar. On the fourth day sprinkle lightly over it finely ground white pepper, and renew the leaves. Next day dismiss the boards, bring the thin side over upon the other, and, scattering salt over it, leave it till the next day. Then rinse it quickly through salt and water, and hang it up to drip; wipe it dry, stretch out the sides by pieces of light lath placed across the back, and suspend it in a free current of dry air; examine it occasionally, and if the red side begins to feel clammy or sticky, place it before a fire until the “face” becomes somewhat dry and hardened, then expose it again to the air current, and when ready smoke it with

for three days and nights, adding a little peat to your fire the last twelve hours. It should not be cut for three or four days, and then with a very sharp knife held across the fish in an oblique direction, which procures the slices much broader than if the knife were placed at right angles with the back of the salmon. The slices are usually broiled, enclosed in writing-paper.

COLLARED SALMON.

Take a short, thick fish about twelve pounds weight, scale it, remove the fins, cut off the head with two inches of the jowl, and the tail with six inches of the fish, these to be cured some other way. Lay the fish open at the back, take out the bone, wipe nicely and scatter sifted loaf-sugar over it; after lying six hours replenish the sugar and leave it till the next day. Next draw your knife down the middle, thus making two sides of it, which may by cured in different ways. Get a pint and a half of recently picked shrimps, examine them carefully, and pound them in a mortar with an anchovy, wiped and boned, and so much of this mixture as you think sufficient—viz.

adding a little water that has been boiled. Make a nice smooth paste, and cover the red surface of the fish with it equally; begin at the head part, and roll it up into a nice firm collar, which bind tightly with a broad tape, and sew up in strong calico or light canvas. Let it remain thus two or three days, then plunge it into a pan of boiling water, with saltpetre half an ounce, and salt one pound, to each half-gallon of water; when done enough, take it out, set it on a sieve to cool, and next day put it in your chimney with a slow fire, to dry gradually, and then smoke it with

for a week. When cool take off the cloth, and hang it up in a dry air to get solid. It may then be enclosed in writing paper and sent to table, and will be greatly relished. Let the thin side be treated thus: Lay it down on the skin side, and cover it with rock or bay salt in fine powder, sifted loaf sugar half a pound, and saltpetre half an ounce; so let it lie forty-eight hours under a board of tasteless wood, weighted down. Next wipe it dry, and hang it on your tenterhooks in a free current of air twenty-four hours; mix well,

lay the fish down on the scaly side, and with a soft flat brush of camel’s hair, pay it well over with the mixture, and cover with oiled silk, or its best substitute, to prevent the evaporation of the essences. Repeat this brushing over three times in twenty-four hours, and roll it up from the head, binding tightly; expose it to a current of dry air, and when ready to receive it, give it a fine firm coating with gelatine composition, and keep it three months in a dry place. It may be cut in slices for broiling, or if boiled let it be put into boiling water.

KIPPERED MACKEREL.

When in season and full of roe, is the time for this process. Take a dozen mackerel, split them down the back from the head downwards, and leaving the thin side connected for an inch with the tail; take out the roes and livers, some of which will be beautiful if otherwise cured and preserved, remove the gills and refuse, wiping clean out. Rub the insides lightly with good olive oil, and let them remain skin side downwards three hours. Boil for a quarter of an hour the following ingredients, and skim well:

Lay your fish in an earthen pan along with

Pour the boiled liquor upon them at about 150 deg. Fahr., and cover close. In thirty-six hours take out the fish, wipe them dry, stretch them open by wooden splints at the backs, and hang them in a strong air current; watch the inside face of them, and if becoming clammy, place them to a fire for an hour. Smoke them of a nice chesnut brown colour with

They will keep well if packed face to face with dry oiled paper between every two of them. Broil or toast them moderately.

MAY FISH—A LESS EXPENSIVE METHOD.

Take fifty mackerel, split and clean them, as for “kippered mackerel.” Mix

warm these, and rub the fish well on both sides; lay them in a deep pan and let them remain until next day, when they must again be rubbed and laid for another twenty-four hours. Then take one up and try if the flavour is high enough for your approbation, if not, let remain a few hours longer in pickle. When enough, wipe them dry and stick them as kippered herrings, on your tenters; dry them a day or two and smoke them well with

SUPERIOR PRESSED MACKEREL.

In the midst of the mackerel season take twenty fine fresh fish, split them open at the belly, only as far as to the backbone, remove the gills and entrails, clear out well, particularly the blood lying on the bone, wash them with salt and water, and hang them up to drain. Make a pickle by boiling for twenty minutes,

Lay the fish in a vessel, and pour the liquor, when luke warm, upon them; keep the fish down by a board, and let them lie twenty-four hours; then pour off the liquor, boil it up, skimming well, and return it on to the fish for twenty-four hours more. Then take them up and hang them to dry, exposing the insides well to the current of air by wooden splints placed inside. When sufficiently dried both inside and outside, remove them to your chimney and smoke them a dark colour with

When cold, take a pair of large scissors, and cut off the sides of the belly part, to extent of an inch; take off the heads, lay the fish on their backs, packed side by side, and saturate the backbones with this mixture by means of a camel’s-hair tool:

Repeat this twice a-day for three days, and when dry, coat the fish with gelatine composition, and keep in a dry place.

BRITISH AMERICAN SALMON.

Annually, in November, we get from St. John’s, N.B., excellent salted salmon in tierces, dexterously split at the backs, and which, if treated in the following manner, makes tolerable kipper. If it is your purpose to convert two or more fish at once, choose them nearly of the same size, and lay them in a shallow tub with plenty of soft water and salt, so that they are totally immersed for twenty-four hours; then take one up, lay it on a table, scale side downwards, and with scalding hot water and a middling soft brush clean the face of the red side, by drawing the instrument down always in the same direction with the grain of the fish; it will be quite necessary to use a small knife in paring away loose films which attach to the middle of the belly and about the vent. This done, turn over, and brush the skin side until clean, and looking well to the fins and gills. Now lay the fish in plenty of cold water, in which three-quarters of an ounce of common washing soda to each gallon has been dissolved; change the water every twelve hours for thirty-six hours, if the fish weigh about nine pounds each, and so in proportion for greater or less weight. You will now let the fish lie in pure cold water for six hours, then hang them up to drip for twelve hours, and, taking them down, brush the red side quite smooth, stretch open at the back by means of wooden splints, and hang them to dry in a free current of air, watching the inside faces to prevent their getting clammy or sticky, and presenting them to the fire should that be the case. In a day or so you may proceed to smoke them, after you have gained a well-dried face on the red side; this must be done with

Give them a continuance of this smoke for two days and nights, and although while in the chimney the colour of the inside face may not be so deep as you might wish, yet, when drawn out and exposed to the common air, the shade will be greatly altered, and a fine bright red will succeed it.

BLOATERS.

This process is generally conducted in so negligent and rough a manner—excepting at Yarmouth and Lowestoft—that a little advice on the subject may not be out of place. As the barrels are emptied of their contents, the largest fish should be picked out from the rest, and pickled separately, for otherwise the consumer gets the finest herrings hardly tasting of salt, and most likely in a state of decay, while the small ones are so much oversalted, as to be scarcely eatable. As the fish generally come to hand far from clean, they should be washed by means of round baskets agitated in tubs of salt and water, and turned into separate pickling vats, which should have false bottoms in them, perforated here and there with holes, taps also being introduced to let off the pickle when required. The safest and best method is to make use of saturated solutions of salt, which are made by adding twenty-nine pounds of common salt to seventy-one pounds of water. The herrings will float in this pickle, but must be totally immersed by battens of wood laid on the top of them, and held down by little bags of salt, which, being gradually dissolved, will maintain the strength of the solution, which is always lessened as the fish imbibe the muriatic property thereof, and all pickles of this description are weaker at the surface than at the bottom, and may in this way be rectified. (See Note, No. 4.) As to the length of time the fish should remain in the pickle, that depends whether they came to hand with coarse salt scattered amongst them, at the sea coast, a precaution necessary in hot weather; a good criterion is when the fish begin to be stiff or rigid while being handled, but to try one or two cooked is certainly a sure proof. Pure fresh water must never be added or made use of in this process after salt has been imbibed, or the heads will all be broken when putting them on the spits. When salt enough, run off the brine, and shortly commence putting your fish on the rods, and hang them up in a current of air, then remove them to your chimney, and smoke them with

When they have been smoked enough, return them to the air currents, as they keep much better on the rods until wanted. If a constant and full smoke has been kept up, twelve hours will be sufficient for the smaller fish, and sixteen to eighteen hours for the large ones. They are not intended to keep good more than four or five days, but in perfection should be eaten the day after being cured.

KIPPERED HERRINGS.

The herring is so favourite a fish with the majority of society, that any improvement in the modes of curing them is a valuable acquisition. The getting rid of the gut and other objectionable parts recommends itself, and claims a decided preference over the old practice of sending the fish to table whole, and, in fact, carrying to the parlour what ought to have been left in the scullery. The salting process should be conducted in a similar manner to that for bloaters, and when taken out of pickle, should be wiped dry, and then split open at the backs, leaving the bone bare as possible; yet, an inch from the tail, the thin side should remain attached to the thick side, this adds much to the appearance of the fish when at table, and saves the curer some trouble in the succeeding stages of process. Clean out all the offal and gills, and wipe with cloths dipped in salt and water, and suspend them by the shoulders upon the tenter hooks of your rods, thus avoiding the trouble caused by the old plan of keeping the fish open by splints of wood. Hang them in a free current of air, and when dried enough—one night is generally sufficient for that purpose—hang them in the chimney, and smoke them of a nice chesnut brown colour, and keep them on the rods, but not in a current, though in a dry room and cold air; when packed it should be insides faces together, with strips of dry oiled paper between each two fish.

SUPERIOR SPICED KIPPERED HERRING.

This is a more troublesome, but withal a delicious preparation of the herring, and should be practised on the best and freshest fish, as on the Isle of Man—“Manx herrings”—in July and August, and the Yarmouth later on in the season. Select two dozen from out of a lot of fish, the largest and roundest, wash them a minute in salt and water, having taken out the eyes and gills, wipe them, and lay them open at the back, wipe clean out, and put them into a pickle made by boiling water for twenty minutes, skimming, and then straining through a sieve,

Let the fish remain in this six hours, then hang them by their shoulders, and stretched widely open, to dry in a quick current of air. In this, and all similar cases, where the inside is to be acted upon by the atmosphere, those sides should be placed on the hooks so as to receive the full advantage of the air current. When dried as you think sufficiently, hang them in the chimney, and smoke them till of a fine bright brown; return them to the air, and next day take them off the hooks, lay them on their backs, and brush them all over the inside with essence of allspice and water, two parts of the former to one part of the latter; repeat this, and when absorbed, brush them over again liberally with this mixture:

repeating this three or four times, according to your taste. Any of the others may be used singly or in combination. The backbone must be well saturated. Stow away, wrapped in paper, in malt cooms and charcoal; they will keep a long time, and repay your trouble well.

CAPE BRETON, OR DIGBY HERRINGS.

St. John’s, N.B., and Cape Breton furnish us with these highly flavoured fish, smoked with the pine branches of that region. Small herrings visit our coasts soon after Christmas, and being “shot,” or without roes, are not much esteemed, but will serve well for curing in this way. Let them lie in a saturated solution of common salt so long as just to taste of the brine, then put them on spits, dry them a week, and smoke them for a month with deal chips, having much turpentine in them, from carpenters’ shops, and with the fruit of the larch fir tree, fir cones, and top branches of any of our firs, and some oak sawdust to smother the flame. These fish are generally eaten without being cooked, and will keep a long time, packed in small boxes, or buried in malt cooms, &c. &c.

ABERDEEN REDS.

For this purpose the herrings should be large, full-roed, and fresh. Immerse them in a pickle of twenty-nine pounds of common salt to seventy-one pounds of water, and to every pound of salt add half an ounce of saltpetre. When they become rigid and moderately flavoured, run off the pickle, put them on the spits, dry them a day or two, and smoke them with

until they are of a deep red.

SPELDINGS.

At present we are not aware of any superior method of curing the haddock to the “finnin haddock,” which, if procured soon after they are drawn from the smoke, are very fine eating. But some seasons produce these fish in such abundance that it induces curers to save them by various processes; the small ones may be converted as follow: Split them open at the belly, right over the backbone, clean away all the garbage, gills, &c, and lay them in a strong brine of common salt until nicely flavoured, then hang them on your tenters, dry them a day or two, taking care they do not become clammy, as these fish very soon are spoiled. Make a fire in your chimney with oak lops, sawdust, and beech chips, and when you have brought it to embers put in the rods, and first dry and then smoke them highly. Whitings are often done the same way, when the markets are glutted with the fresh fish.

SMOKED SPRATS.

This is a remunerative business when conducted on the best principles, employing children at trifling wages. I have found the following to be the best method: Provide a wooden trough eight feet long by a yard wide, and eighteen inches deep; fix strips of wood an inch square along the sides, lengthwise of the vat, and six inches above one another. On these will rest the spits, which must be of iron wire, a yard long, and so as just to go within the vat. Pick out all the small fish and rubbish, and wash the bulk in salt and water, as for bloaters, but not too many at once, as they are apt to sweat if lying long together, and then would never be bright when smoked. Use a saturated solution of common salt, or, preferably, of rock salt, and if you intend to produce “bloated sprats,” two hours will be sufficient to let them remain in pickle; run off the brine, and put the fish on the spits, which may be a little pointed at one end. Hang them in a free current of air till next day, and smoke them with

until they are the colour of new sovereigns. These will not keep well more than four or five days, and are generally esteemed. If you want dried sprats for commerce, let them remain in the brine four hours, dry them well when on the spits, in a current of air, and when they begin to lose their plumpness, smoke them with similar fuel till of the colour of Spanish mahogany. These when packed in boxes, like cigar boxes, will suit for exportation to the European Continent, where many thousands of boxes are sent every winter.

ALDBOROUGH SMOKED SPRATS.

Many gentlemen who delight in highly smoked relishes, inquire for these articles, and as they are seldom to be procured north of the metropolis, I subjoin an easy way of getting them. In the beginning of the sprat season—November—take a bushel of fish, pick out all the largest ones, and with a dozen pounds of common coarse salt or rock salt at hand, throw a layer of it into the bottom of your salting tub, then a layer of fish, and so on in alternate layers to the end; let them lie four hours, mixing them about in the tub two or three times, this will fix the scales, which are cleared off the fish by the “washing” process. Now take the sprats up, and with a basket wash them quickly in very strong salt-and-water, using the same salt if you choose, and get them on to your spits, and dry them as soon as a strong current of air will accomplish it. Smoke them with oak alone, lops and sawdust, until they are of a very dark red colour, and when quite cold, pack them in round shallow kits, in circles, the heads lying all one way, and the fish on their backs. The appearance of them is anything but inviting, yet they are very good, and are always eaten without cooking. Vast quantities used to be exported to the Netherlands, Holland, and the German States; they are also well adapted for sea-stores.

BRITISH ANCHOVIES.

If it were worth while to favour the deception, you must select your fish from out of half a bushel of the freshest you can get, retaining only the middle-sized ones, for the real Gorgona fish are never so large as our large sprats, and never so small as our little ones, and your’s should also be all of the same size. Pull off the heads—not cutting them—in a rough manner, and draw out the gut. Wash not and wipe not the fish, but put them in straight-sided unglazed earthen jars, wood is preferable, in layers alternately with this mixture:

pressing them down as you proceed, and letting the top layer of the mixture be at least two inches thick. Get cork bungs cut to fit well, and secure them with plenty of melted resin. Bury the jars in dry sand in your cellar or store room, “out of the way,” and do not disturb them for nine months, or till the next sprat season. A fortnight before you would broach your “prize,” dissolve

in a pint of boiled water, and strain it through flannel, pour it evenly over the contents of your jars or vessels; secure the bung again, and in a week or less, turn the receptacles upside-down for a day or two, and then again set them upright. This is called “feeding” them. And when all is done, without the aid of “brick-dust,” or what is as bad, “Armenian Bole,” to give them a fine red colour, the said “British anchovies” may do to make anchovy sauce of, with other ingredients, but to bring to table, with dry or buttered toast, as Gorgona fish—Oh never! See Note, No. 7.

TURBOT FINS.

This idea will naturally suggest itself, that “a pretty expensive product this will be, by cutting off the fins of a turbot at such a cost;” but there are fish to be got at much less price that will answer the purpose, for instance, the brill or brett, and even good firm plaice, in hard frosty weather, will afford the “amateur” an opportunity of testing the value of the venture. In a private family, if such a fish came to table minus its fins it would eat quite as well, even though to the eye it might not be exactly a handsome dish. Scale the fish, and cut off the extreme edge of the fins, lay a piece of wood an inch thick on the body, just to act as a guide to the knife—which must have a very sharp point—and cut off the fins with an inch and half, or rather more, of the solid attached; place these upon their bases upright in a pie dish, a foot long, and pour in as much of this pickle as will cover to the extent of the inch and half taken out of the fish, viz.

boiled twenty minutes, skimmed, strained, and got cold. Let them remain in this state twelve hours, basting the part which is not in the pickle three or four times with plenty of the liquor. Then take out the fish, wipe it dry, and place it again in the same position, in the same dish emptied and washed out. Now pour in the dish as much of the following as will cover as before, viz.

boiled fifteen minutes, slammed, and gone cold. Let them rest in this eight hours, and then laid flat in and covered by the pickle four hours longer. Now take them up, wipe them dry, suspend them in draft of air until they are fit, and coat them nicely with the gelatine composition. They should be kept a month at least, but three months would be better, and then broiled lightly, first being rubbed over well with pure olive oil. Observe, the same pickles and trouble would have done a dozen fins.

RIVER EELS SMOKED.

This a nice preparation of the richest fresh water fish we have, and will fully repay the amateur for the trouble and trifling expense. I have said “river eels,” because those fish of ponds or waters nearly stagnant, when they run to large sizes, are said to taste of the mud they inhabit. I have experienced the truth of this. Take fresh eels of two pounds each and upwards, cut off the heads, tails, and fins, split them open at the belly to the backbone, from the vent upwards, and clean them out, well washing them also in salt and water a minute or two. Next make a pickle of