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Mutton

G F H A B K C E B A E D A-Leg, for boiling piece.

B-Loin, for roast.

F C C-Rump piece, for roast.

D B D-Chops, frying or broiling.

E-Fore-shoulder for boiling.

F-Neck, for stewing or roasting.

A G E G-Brisket, for stewing.

SPICED CORNED BEEF. -To ten pounds beef, take two cups salt, two cups molasses, two table-spoons saltpeter, one table-spoon ground pepper, one table-spoon cloves; rub well into the beef, turn every day, and rub the mixture in: will be ready for use in ten days.

TO KEEP HAMS AFTER CURING. - Cut hams in slices suitable for cooking, trim off the rind, and pack as compactly as possible in a stone jar; over the over the top pour melted lard, SO as to completely exclude the air. When ham be is air. When ham is wanted for use, scrape pe off the lard, remove a layer of meat, and always be particular to melt the lard and return it immediately to the jar. It will keep through the season.

A NEW WAY TO SMOKE HAMS. -Smoke the barrel, in which the hams are to be pickled, by inverting it over a kettle containing a slow fire of hard wood, for eight days (keeping water on the head to prevent shrinking); brine in the head to prevent shrinking); in this barrel pack the hams, and pour over them, after it has cooled, a five , after it has cooled, a brine made in the proportion of four gallons of water, eight pounds of salt, five pints of molasses, and four ounces saltpetre, boiled and skimmed in the usual manner. They will be cured in eight or nine days, and they may be kept in the pickle for a year without damage.

TO KEEP LARD FROM MOLDING. - Use a tub that has had no tainted lard or meat in it; scour it out thoroughly with two quarts of wheat bran to four of boiling water, but use no lye or soap. Fry the lard until the scraps are brown, but not scorched or burned; remove from the fire, cool until it can be handled, and strain into the prepared tub; when cold, set it away in the cellar. Lard dipped off as fast as it melts will look very white, but will not keep through the summer. No salt should be added, as it induces moisture and invites mold.

TO KEEP MEAT FRESH IN HOT WEATHER. -For a five-pound piece of meat take a three-gallon stone crock; have some pans of skimmed milk that is turning sour, just getting thick; put some of the milk in the crock; then put in the meat; then put in milk till it covers the meat; now turn an earthen dish or plate bottom-up on the meat to hold it down; fill the crock with the milk; tie a cloth over the top, and set in a cool place; it will keep five or six days in the hottest weather. When wanted for use, wash thoroughly in water, and cook in any manner desired. TO KEEP HAMS. -For one hundred pounds of meat, take eight pounds of salt, two ounces saltpetre, and four gallons water; put hams in this pickle in the fall, keeping them well under the brine; in April, take out, drain three or four days, slice as for cooking, fry nearly as much as for table, pack in stone jars, pressing down the slices as fast as they are laid in the jars; when full, put on a weight, and when entirely cold cover with the fat fried out. Prepared in this way, they retain the ham flavor without being smoked. The gravy left from frying will be found very useful in cooking .

TO CURE HAMS. -In the fall, about the first of November, people in the country generally kill a good-sized pig, to last until 'butchering time." To cure the hams of such, first rub well, especially around the bone on fleshy side, with one-half of the salt, sugar, cayenne and saltpetre, well pulverized (same proportions as for corned-beef), adding a teaspoon of allspice to each ham; put a layer of salt in bottom of cask, and pack in hams as closely as possible; let stand three or four days, then make a brine of the other half of salt, etc., and pour over meat, putting a good weight on top; when it has lain three or four weeks it is ready for use.

TO CURE AND DRY BEEF TONGUES. -For one dozen tongues make a brine of a gallon and a half of water (or enough to cover them well), two pints good salt, one of molasses, or one pound brown sugar, and four red peppers ; bring to a boil, skin, and set to cool. Pack the tongues in a large jar, and when the brine is entirely cold, pour it over them, put on a weight, let remain ten or twelve days, take out, drain, and hang to smoke about two days, then dry moderately, and put away in a flour sack in a dry place. When wanted for use, boil six or eight hours in a pot filled with water, adding more when necessary SO as to keep well covered all the time until done; when done, take out and set away to cool, but do not skin till needed for the table. SAUSAGE. For ten pounds meat take five tablespoons sage, four of salt and two of pepper. Some add one tablespoon ginger, and some a little summer savory. When nicely minced, pack in jars, and treat precisely as in preceding recipe-"To Keep Hams." If kept in a cool place, and care taken to replace the lard, there is no difficulty in keeping sausage perfectly fresh almost any length of time. Some persons partially cook meat before packing, but this is not necessary. Fresh meat may be kept nicely in the same way, being first seasoned with salt and pepper. Or, one pound salt, one-half pint of sage and three and one-half ounces pepper, scattered over forty pounds of meat before grinding .

BEEF-STEAK FOR WINTER USE. -Cut the steak large, and the usual thickness; have ready a mixture made of salt, sugar and finely powdered saltpetre, mixed in the same proportion as for corning beef; sprinkle the bottom of a large jar with salt, lay in a piece of steak, and sprinkle over it some of the mixture, as much or a little more than you would use to season in cooking, then put in another slice, sprinkle, and so on till jar is filled, with a sprinkle of the mixture on top; over all, put a plate, with a weight on it, and set in a cool, airy place, where it will not freeze. This needs no brine, as it makes a brine of its own. Twenty-five or thirty pounds may be kept perfectly sweet in this way. Take out to use as wanted, and broil or fry as usual.

VIRGINIA SAUSAGE MEAT. -Pick the sausage meat to get out all the pieces of bones and strings; wash it in lukewarm water, and lay on a table to bones and strings; wash it in lukewarm water, and lay on a table to drain; let it stand all night. Take off some of the fat from the backbone to mix with the lean. If you use "leaf fat" when you fry the sausage, it will melt away to gravy and leave a little knot of lean, hard and dry, floating in a sea of melted grease. The fat must be taken off before the chines are salted, and washed, skinned and put to drain with the lean. Next day, chop it fine, picking out all the strings. When fine enough, season it with salt, sage, black and red pepper, to taste. Pack it in a close vessel. If you wish to stuff them, have some nicely-cleaned chitterlings kept in salt and water ten days or a fortnight. Stuff, hang on sticks and dry. A little smoke improves them; too much makes them bitter.

TO SALT PORK.-Allow the meat to stand until the animal heat is entirely out of it; cut the sides into strips crosswise; cover the bottom of a barrel of it; cut the sides into strips crosswise; cover the bottom of a barrel with salt, and pack in the pork closely edgewise, with rind next the barrel: cover each layer with salt, and proceed in like manner until all has been put in. Make a strong brine sufficient to cover the pork (soft water is best, and there is no danger of getting it too salt), boil, skim and pour into the barrel while boiling hot. Have a board cut out round, a little smaller than the barrel, put over the pork, and on it place a weight heavy enough to keep it always under the brine. If at any time the brine froths or looks red, it must be turned off, scalded and returned while hot. Never put cold brine on old pork, unless you wish to lose it. In salting down a new supply of pork, boil down the old brine, remove the scum, and then pour it over the pork as directed above.

TRYING LARD.-Cut the fat into small pieces, put into kettle, and pour in enough water to cover the bottom; boil gently until the "scraps" settle, or until the water has all evaporated, stirring often to prevent burning. Take off, strain into stone jars, and set in a cool place. The quality of the lard is improved by sprinkling over and slowly stirring in one tablespoon of soda to every five gallons of lard, just before removing from the fire. After adding soda, the kettle must be removed from the stove, and watched closely, and stirred constantly, as it foams rapidly, and is very likely to run over, and, if on stove, is likely to take fire. The leaf should be tried by itself for the nicest cooking.

That from the smaller intestines, and the flabby pieces, not fit for salting, should be thrown into lukewarm water and allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, and then should be tried by itself, and the lard set away where it will freeze, and, by spring, the strong taste will be gone. A tea-cup of water prevents burning while trying.

HOW TO CUT UP PORK. -Split through the spine, cut off each half of head behind the ear, remove the pieces in front of the shoulder, for sausage. the ear, remove the pieces in front of the shoulder, for sausage. Take out leaf which lies around kindeys, for lard; cut out the lean meat, ribs, etc., then the ham and shoulder, and remove the loose pieces directly in front of the ham , for lard. Cut off a narrow strip of the belly, for sausage; and cut up the remainder, which is clear pork, into five or six strips of about equal width, for salting down. Smoke the jowl with hams, and use the upper part of the head for boiling, or baking, or head-cheese.

Scorch the feet over the fire until the hoofs remove easily, scrape clean, place in hot water a few minutes, wash and scrape thoroughly, and they are ready for cooking.

All the flabby pieces should be tried up for lard. Remove all fat from intestines, saving that which does not easily come off the larger intestines for soap-grease. The liver, heart, sweet-breads and kidneys are all used for boiling or frying, and the smaller intestines are sometimes used for sausage cases. THE DESPARD RED ROUND.-A round of beef weighing twenty-five pounds, one ounce of cloves, three ounces of saltpetre, three ounces of coarse sugar, half an ounce of allspice, six ounces of common salt, one nutmeg. The beef should hang two or thee days; then take out the bone, rub the spices and salt thoroughly together, and rub them well into the beef on both sides; cover the beef, turn and rub it every day for from two to three weeks. When you wish to use it, dip it in cold water to remove the loose spice; bind it closely several times around the sides with a long strip of cotton cloth two inches wide; put it in a pan with half a pint of water in the bottom to prevent burning; cover the top of the meat with shred suet, and cover the pan with a crust half an inch thick, made of water and Graham or other flour, seeing that it adheres to the edge of the pan. Lay a brown paper over the crust; bake it slowly for five or six hours. The gravy, of which there will be a large quantity, may be used in soup, in beef-pie, or in hash. The place from which the bone was taken may be rubbed with fine chopped parsley, and sweet herbs may be laid between the skin and the meat. TO CLEAN BEEF TRIPE. -Empty the paunch, rinse it thoroughly in cold water, being careful not to let any of the contents get on the outside. Make strong cleansed water or white lye, let it heat a little, too warm to hold the hands in, pour it over the tripe in a tub, let it stand two or three hours, then tack it up against a board, and with a knife scrape downwards, taking off the inner skin, or rinse it clean in cold water; sprinkle lime over, put in a tub, cover with warm water, and let it stand two or three hours, then scrape it with a knife; if the dark does not all come off easily, sprinkle more lime on, and let it lie for an hour longer, then scrape again, and rinse in cold water until clean. Place it in water enough to cover with a large handful of salt, let it remain in the salt water three days and nights, changing it each day, then take it out, cut in pieces about six inches wide and twelve long, lay in buttermilk for a few hours to whiten; then rinse it clean in cold water, and boil until tender; it will take from four to ten hours, as it should be done so that it can be mashed with the fingers. After thus prepared it can be cooked as preferred. TO CURE HAMS AND BACON.--When killed and cool cut up, and begin immediately to salt them. Rub the outside of each ham with a teaspoon of powdered saltpetre, and the inside with a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Having mixed together two pounds of brown sugar and salt, mixed in the proportion of one pound and a half of sugar to a pint of salt, rub the pork well with it. This quantity of sugar and salt will be sufficient for fifty pounds of meat. Have ready some large tubs, the bottom sprinkled with salt, and lay the meat in the tubs with the skin downward. Put plenty of salt between each layer of meat. After it has lain eight days, take it out and wipe off the salt, and wash the tubs. Make a pickle of soft water, equal quantities of salt and molasses and a little saltpetre; allowing five ounces of saltpetre to two quarts of molasses and two quarts of salt, which is the proportion for fifty pounds of meat. The pickle must be strong enough to bear up an egg. Boil and skim it, and, when it is cold, pour it over the meat, which must be turned frequently and basted with the pickle. The hams should remain in the pickle at least four weeks; the bacon three weeks. They should then be taken out and smoked. Having washed off the pickle, before you smoke the meat, bury it while wet in a tub of bran. This will form a crust over it, and prevent evaporation of the juices. Let the smoke-house be ready to receive the meat immediately. Take it out of the tub after it has lain half an hour, and rub the bran evenly over it. Then hang it up to smoke with the small end downward. Tongues may be cured in the above manner. BRINE FOR BEEF, HAMS AND SHOULDERS.-To one hundred pounds beef, take eight pounds salt, five of sugar or five pints molasses (Orleans best, but any good will do), two ounces soda, one ounce saltpeter, four gallons soft water, or enough to cover the meat. Mix part of the salt and sugar together, rub each piece and place it in the barrel (oak is best), having covered the bottom with salt. When the meat is all in, put the remainder of salt and sugar in the water. Dissolve the soda and saltpeter in hot water, add it to the brine and pour over the meat; place a board on top of meat, with a weight sufficient to keep it under the brine. Let the pieces intended for dried beef remain in the brine for three weeks, take out, place in a tub, cover with water, let stand over night, string and dry. String it (smoke for a few days, if you like), hang it up to ceiling over the kitchen stove, or on a frame set behind the stove, turn round once a day so as to give all parts an equal exposure, and let remain for three or four weeks. Test by cutting a piece, which should be well dried on the outside, and free from rawness to the center. When dried, sprinkle with ground black pepper, put in paper sacks, tie up tightly, and hang in a cool, dry, dark place, or put, without sacks, in an empty flour barrel, and cover closely. Boil brine, skim well, let cool, and pour over the bony pieces left. These are good boiled and eaten either hot or cold, and they will keep good for several months. Tongue may be pickled with the beef.

Brine made the same way, with the addition of two pounds more of salt, is good for hams and shoulders. Take part of the mixture of salt and sugar, rub each piece thoroughly on fleshy side, lay in barrel (having first covered the bottom with salt) skin side down. When all are in, make a pickle of the remainder of the mixture, as directed in "Brine for Beef," pour over the meat; have a round board, a little smaller than the barrel, place on the meat with a weight (a large stone is good, which may be washed clean and laid away to be used year after year), sufficient to keep it under the brine; let remain from four to eight weeks, according to size; take out, drain, sprinkle with cayenne pepper, particularly around the bone. Hang them ready to smoke, let them drain for two days, and then smoke with corn cobs or green hickory or maple wood, taking care to have smoke, but not fire enough to make heat. Hang up to smoke with hock downwards, as the skin then retains the juices of the meat. After smoking four weeks take down, sprinkle with ground black pepper, tie tightly, in whole paper sacks, hang in a dry, dark, cool place, watching closely for fear of mold. Or, wrap in paper, sew in a coarse, cotton bag, whitewash on the outside and hang near the roof in the garret; or, wrap in brown paper, and cover with dry ashes (dry leached ashes are best); or, pack without sacks, hock end uppermost, in oats or shelled corn, or in clean, sweet hay, before flies come. Cover box or barrel closely, and keep in a dry, cool place. If there is any danger from flies, take direct from smoke-house and pack immediately. Brine for pickled pork should have all the salt it will dissolve, and a peck or half bushel in bottom of barrel. If pork is salted in this manner it will never spoil, but the strength of the brine makes it necessary to salt the hams and side meats separately. Pork when killed should be thoroughly cooled before salting, but should not remain longer than one or two days. It should never be frozen before salting, as this is as injurious as salting before it is cooled. Large quantities of pork are lost by failing to observe these rules. If pickled pork begins to sour, take it out of the brine, rinse well in clear, cold water, place a layer in a barrel, on this place charcoal in lumps the size of a hen's egg or smaller, add a layer of meat and so on, until all is in the barrel, cover with a weak brine, let stand twenty-four hours; take meat out, rinse off the charcoal, put it into a new strong brine, remembering always to have plenty of salt in the barrel (more than the water will dissolve). If the same barrel is used, cleanse it by placing a small quantity of quicklime in it, slack with hot water, add as much salt as the water will dissolve, and cover tightly to keep the steam in; let stand for a few hours or over night, rinse well, and it is ready for use. This is an excellent way to cleanse any barrel that has become impure. The pork must not be salted in whisky barrels; molasses barrels are the best. The whisky is said to injure the bacon.-D. Buxton.