The Book of Household Management Part 95

[Ill.u.s.tration: BACON FOR LARDING, AND LARDING-NEEDLE.]

LARDING.

828. INGREDIENTS.--Bacon and larding-needle.

_Mode_.--Bacon for larding should be firm and fat, and ought to be cured without any saltpetre, as this reddens white meats. Lay it on a table, the rinds downwards; trim off any rusty part, and cut it into slices of an equal thickness. Place the slices one on the top of another, and cut them evenly into narrow strips, so arranging it that every piece of bacon is of the same size. Bacon for fricandeau, poultry, and game, should be about 2 inches in length, and rather more than one-eighth of an inch in width. If for larding fillets of beef or loin of veal, the pieces of bacon must be thicker. The following recipe of Soyer is, we think, very explicit; and any cook, by following the directions here given, may be able to lard, if not well, sufficiently for general use.

"Have the fricandeau trimmed, lay it, lengthwise, upon a clean napkin across your hand, forming a kind of bridge with your thumb at the part you are about to commence at; then with the point of the larding-needle make three distinct lines across, 1/2 inch apart; run the needle into the third line, at the further side of the fricandeau, and bring it out at the first, placing one of the lardoons in it; draw the needle through, leaving out 1/4 inch of the bacon at each line; proceed thus to the end of the row; then make another line, 1/2 inch distant, stick in another row of lardoons, bringing them out at the second line, leaving the ends of the bacon out all the same length; make the next row again at the same distance, bringing the ends out between the lardoons of the first row, proceeding in this manner until the whole surface is larded in chequered rows. Everything else is larded in a similar way; and, in the case of poultry, hold the breast over a charcoal fire for one minute, or dip it into boiling water, in order to make the flesh firm."

ROAST LOIN OF PORK.

829. INGREDIENTS.--Pork; a little salt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FORE LOIN OF PORK.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HIND LOIN OF PORK.]

_Mode_.--Score the skin in strips rather more than 1/4 inch apart, and place the joint at a good distance from the fire, on account of the crackling, which would harden before the meat would be heated through, were it placed too near. If very lean, it should be rubbed over with a little salad oil, and kept well basted all the time it is at the fire.

Pork should be very thoroughly cooked, but not dry; and be careful never to send it to table the least underdone, as nothing is more unwholesome and disagreeable than underdressed white meats. Serve with apple sauce, No. 363, and a little gravy made in the dripping-pan. A stuffing of sage and onion may be made separately, and baked in a flat dish: this method is better than putting it in the meat, as many persons have so great an objection to the flavour.

_Time_.--A loin of pork weighing 5 lbs., about 2 hours: allow more time should it be very fat.

_Average cost_, 9d. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ from September to March.

FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE HOG.--In British strata, the oldest fossil remains of the hog which Professor Owen states that he has examined, were from fissures in the red crag (probably miocene) of Newbourne, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. "They were a.s.sociated with teeth of an extinct _felis_ about the size of a leopard, with those of a bear, and with remains of a large cervus. These mammalian remains were found with the ordinary fossils of the red crag: they had undergone the same process of trituration, and were impregnated with the same colouring matter as the a.s.sociated bones and teeth of fishes acknowledged to be derived from the regular strata of the red crag. These mammaliferous beds have been proved by Mr. Lyell to be older than the fluvio-marine, or Norwich crag, in which remains of the mastodon, rhinoceros, and horse have been discovered; and still older than the fresh-water pleistocene deposits, from which the remains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, &c. are obtained in such abundance. I have met," says the professor, in addition, "with some satisfactory instances of the a.s.sociation of fossil remains of a species of hog with those of the mammoth, in the newer pliocene freshwater formations of England."

TO DRY PIGS' CHEEKS.

830. INGREDIENTS.--Salt, 4 oz. of saltpetre, 2 oz. of bay-salt, 4 oz. of coa.r.s.e sugar.

_Mode_.--Cut out the snout, remove the brains, and split the head, taking off the upper bone to make the jowl a good shape; rub it well with salt; next day take away the brine, and salt it again the following day; cover the head with saltpetre, bay-salt, and coa.r.s.e sugar, in the above proportion, adding a little common salt. Let the head be often turned, and when it has been in the pickle for 10 days, smoke it for a week or rather longer.

_Time_.--To remain in the pickle 10 days; to be smoked 1 week.

_Seasonable_.--Should be made from September to March.

_Note_.--A pig's check, or Bath chap, will take about 2 hours after the water boils.

PIG'S LIVER (a Savoury and Economical Dish).

831. INGREDIENTS.--The liver and lights of a pig, 6 or 7 slices of bacon, potatoes, 1 large bunch of parsley, 2 onions, 2 sage-leaves, pepper and salt to taste, a little broth or water.

_Mode_.--Slice the liver and lights, and wash these perfectly clean, and parboil the potatoes; mince the parsley and sage, and chop the onion rather small. Put the meat, potatoes, and bacon into a deep tin dish, in alternate layers, with a sprinkling of the herbs, and a seasoning of pepper and salt between each; pour on a little water or broth, and bake in a moderately-heated oven for 2 hours.

_Time_.--2 hours. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_ from September to March.

PIG'S PETt.i.tOES.

832. INGREDIENTS.--A thin slice of bacon, 1 onion, 1 blade of mace, 6 peppercorns, 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme, 1 pint of gravy, pepper and salt to taste, thickening of b.u.t.ter and flour.

_Mode_.--Put the liver, heart, and pett.i.toes into a stewpan with the bacon, mace, peppercorns, thyme, onion, and gravy, and simmer these gently for 1/4 hour; then take out the heart and liver, and mince them very fine. Keep stewing the feet until quite tender, which will be in from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, reckoning from the time that they boiled up first; then put back the minced liver, thicken the gravy with a little b.u.t.ter and flour, season with pepper and salt, and simmer over a gentle fire for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring the contents. Dish the mince, split the feet, and arrange them round alternately with sippets of toasted bread, and pour the gravy in the middle.

_Time_.--Altogether 40 minutes.

_Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 persons.

_Seasonable_ from September to March.

TO PICKLE PORK.

833. INGREDIENTS.--1/4 lb. of saltpetre; salt.

_Mode_.--As pork does not keep long without being salted, cut it into pieces of a suitable size as soon as the pig is cold. Rub the pieces of pork well with salt, and put them into a pan with a sprinkling of it between each piece: as it melts on the top, strew on more. Lay a coa.r.s.e cloth over the pan, a board over that, and a weight on the board, to keep the pork down in the brine. If excluded from the air, it will continue good for nearly 2 years.

_Average cost_, 10d. per lb. for the prime parts.

_Seasonable_.--The best time for pickling meat is late in the autumn.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE HOG.--A singular circ.u.mstance in the domestic history of the hog, is the extent of its distribution over the surface of the earth; being found even in insulated places, where the inhabitants are semi-barbarous, and where the wild species is entirely unknown. The South-Sea islands, for example, were found on their discovery to be well stocked with a small black hog; and the traditionary belief of the people was that these animals were coeval with the origin of themselves.

Yet they possessed no knowledge of the wild boar, or any other animal of the hog kind, from which the domestic breed might be supposed to be derived. In these islands the hog is the princ.i.p.al quadruped, and the fruit of the bread-tree is its princ.i.p.al food, although it is also fed with yams, eddoes, and other vegetables. This nutritious diet, which it has in great abundance, is, according to Foster, the reason of its flesh being so delicious, so full of juice, and so rich in fat, which is not less delicate to the taste than the finest b.u.t.ter.

TO BOIL PICKLED PORK.

834. INGREDIENTS.--Pork; water.

_Mode_.--Should the pork be very salt, let it remain in water about 2 hours before it is dressed; put it into a saucepan with sufficient cold water to cover it, let it gradually come to a boil, then gently simmer until quite tender. Allow ample time for it to cook, as nothing is more disagreeable than underdone pork, and when boiled fast, the meat becomes hard. This is sometimes served with boiled poultry and roast veal, instead of bacon: when tender, and not over salt, it will be found equally good.

_Time_.--A piece of pickled pork weighing 2 lbs., 1-1/4 hour; 4 lbs., rather more than 2 hours.

_Average cost_, 10d. per lb. for the primest parts.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

THE ANTIQUITY OF THE HOG.--By what nation and in what period the hog was reclaimed, is involved in the deepest obscurity. So far back as we have any records of history, we find notices of this animal, and of its flesh being used as the food of man. By some nations, however, its flesh was denounced as unclean, and therefore prohibited to be used, whilst by others it was esteemed as a great delicacy. By the Mosaic law it was forbidden to be eaten by the Jews, and the Mahometans hold it in utter abhorrence. Dr. Kitto, however, says that there does not appear to be any reason in the law of Moses why the hog should be held in such peculiar abomination. There seems nothing to have prevented the Jews, if they had been so inclined, to rear pigs for sale, or for the use of the land. In the Talmud there are some indications that this was actually done; and it was, probably, for such purposes that the herds of swine mentioned in the New Testament were kept, although it is usual to consider that they were kept by the foreign settlers in the land. Indeed, the story which accounts for the peculiar aversion of the Hebrews to the hog, a.s.sumes that it did not originate until about 130 years before Christ, and that, previously, some Jews were in the habit of rearing hogs for the purposes indicated.

PORK PIES (Warwicks.h.i.+re Recipe).