Home › The Principles of Cookery › Pickle

Pickle

When meat is to be salted, it should either be put into the pickle while it is warm after killing, or be allowed to hang a day or two in summer, and five or six days in winter, to become tender. Before it is put into the brine the kernels and pipes should be removed, and the meat wiped well with a dry cloth. It is an excellent plan to rub a little dried and warmed salt into the meat, and leave it until the next day, then drain it well from the slime and blood which will have flowed from it, and put it into the brine, which ought to cover it entirely. The meat should be turned and rubbed every day. Pickle for meat may be used again and again if it is boiled and skimmed occasionally, a little fresh salt being added to it. The tub which contains it should be kept covered, either with a lid or a thick cloth, and a cool place should be chosen for it to stand in. Meat is more tender when cured with bay salt than with common salt: the former is the more expensive of the two. Sugar makes the meat mellow; saltpetre colours it, but tends to make it hard, dry, and indigestible. Two or three recipes for pickles are here given, all of which will be found excellent. They are suitable for beef, hams, and tongues.