Hams

“ A fourteen to sixteen pound Ham from a young barrow with a fine, thin, white skin which is not too fat or not too lean, and possessing a nice, fine grained meat is fully up to grade and is taken for the superior quality of Hams. Therefore, a Ham of this description is superior in quality even before it goes into the brine for curing, and it is very easy to understand that when such a quality of Ham is carefully cured, for just the proper length of time, it will be far better than the ordinary run of Hams. ”

“ Whatever may have been the original breed of these animals, the present representatives of the race are neither particularly good-looking or useful. They are lank and lean, with large heads and high shoulders, narrow, spiny backs sloping downwards to the short hind legs; hams they have none. They are thickly covered with bristles, and are mostly black, brown, and grizzled in colour. ”

“ Furthermore, Hams will vary in quality even after they have been graded; some medium size Hams, which is the size usually picked for the finest cure, are of much better quality than others. This will be readily admitted when it is remembered that a Ham may be of proper weight, but it can also be too fat for its weight, it can be too lean, it can have a coarse thick skin, the meat can be coarse in grain or it may be properly graded as to size, but come from an old, worn-out sow. ”

“ In the pickling of hams they had an ingenious apparatus, by which they saved time and increased the capacity of the plant—a machine consisting of a hollow needle attached to a pump; by plunging this needle into the meat and working with his foot, a man could fill a ham with pickle in a few seconds. And yet, in spite of this, there would be hams found spoiled, some of them with an odor so bad that a man could hardly bear to be in the room with them. ”

“ I have always found that an oblong-shaped tub is best, as four or even six hams can be cured in it at once. Round tubs are never convenient for the purpose, and they should not be more than eight or nine inches deep; one ham could be cured very well in an ordinaay milk dish.
To smoke the hams hang them in the chimney, if not too hot, or in the roof of the kitchen. I have done them very well in a cask, hung round the inside, the cask turned upside down, augur holes made in the top for the smoke to escape a little ”

“ Cut up your hogs, take out the chine from the neck to the tail, cut the hams, shoulders, and middlings; 43 have some finely powdered saltpetre; rub a tablespoonful in each ham for some minutes, then rub it well with salt and brown sugar; let them lie on a board some distance apart for three days, to draw off the blood; have a molasses barrel; sprinkle the bottom with salt and put in your hams with the skins down; sprinkle with salt, and so on till you have the barrel full; make a strong pickle that will bear an egg ”

“ Light hams averaging from twelve to fourteen pounds should run from 33° to 34° F., heavy hams from 35° to 37° F. Temperatures higher than those designated are not safe, from a curing standpoint, and should be reduced to these points before the hams can be safely cured. What is meant by “safely cured” is the minimum percentage of sour, which should run less than one ham in 1,000 pieces. If previous directions as to refrigeration, handling, etc., are followed closely this condition is possible. ”

“ Regular Long Cut Hams. —These are lean, long hams with only one-half to one and one-half inches of outside fat, and are “cut from the side by separating with a knife the hip-bone from the rump, properly rounded, foot unjointed at first joint below the hock.” They are not faced; and the butt end is left full, which gives it a flat, lean appearance. (Fig. 116.) Average weights are 10 to 20 pounds but usually above 14 pounds. This cut is made from good and choice bacon hogs. ”

“ Fresh venison hams usually sell for twenty-five cents each, and when properly cured, are a delicious article. Many of the frontier people dress their skins, and make them into pantaloons and hunting shirts. ”

“ Mix sugar, salt and saltpetre together in the above proportion, rub the hams well with these, and put them into a vessel large enough to hold them, always keeping the salt over them. Let them remain for 3 days, then pour over them 1 quart of good vinegar. Turn them in the brine every day for a month, then drain them well, and rub them with bran. Have them smoked over a wood fire, and be particular that the hams are hung as high as possible from the fire; otherwise the fat will melt, and they will become dry and hard. ”

“ Various trade names are given by the different packing establishments to the hams cured by these methods. In the fancy cure the hams are pumped in the shank only, whereas in the regular cure they are pumped in both body and shank. The same pumping pickle is generally used for the two cures. It is a significant fact that the greater proportion of the “sours” are found among the fancy or mild cure hams. ”

“ This suspension was used for the injection of 40 hams, each ham being given 10 cubic centimeters, or the equivalent of 2.5 cubic centimeters of the original culture. The hams were injected with the culture suspension by means of a sterile syringe carrying a long 5-inch needle. The needle was thrust well into the body of the ham at a point near the upper end of the middle bone or femur, the latter [Pg 23] being used as a guide in inserting the needle and the injection being made into the tissues just behind and a little to one side of the upper end of the femur. ”

“ Yorkshire hams are protected by water tight and air tight cloths, and kept for a long time sweet and good. Dress patterns and dry goods must be of a certain length, no more and no less, and every pack should weigh one hundred and twenty five pounds, or half a cargo. ”

“ The advantage of Facing Hams right after the hogs are dressed, is this. The knife can be drawn through the skin and through the fat close to the meat, and the fat will peel right off the fleshy part of the Ham. Between the fat and lean meat of the Ham, between the legs, there is a fibrous membrane which is very soft and pliable. When the knife is run through the skin and fat, it will run along the side of this membrane, making a clean face for the Ham. ”

“ The well-known facts concerning our hams do not demonstrate that there are no good hams in the market.
One thing is sure. I shall send "the House" an order before the week is out, even if I have to eat the stuff myself. It really can't be worse than the food I get at some of the hotels. The hotel in the town before this was a wonder. I asked for a napkin and the table girl said they used to have them, but the boarders took so many with them that it was too expensive. I guess they ate them in preference to the food. I told the girl I'd have a piece of steak and an egg. ”

“ Westphalia is a province of Germany in which there is a large industry in breeding swine for the express purpose of making the most tender meat with the least proportion of fat. Another reason for the peculiar and excellent qualities which have made Westphalian hams so famous, is the manner of feeding and growing for the hams, and finally the preserving, curing, and last of all, smoking the hams. ”

“ Where cattle are cut in large quantities it is almost impossible to sell the rounds fresh, there being comparatively small demand for round steak. It is necessary to use this particular part of the meat in some other product, which is done by making what is known as “beef hams.” The very light rounds, or rounds out of canning cattle, are generally used for canning purposes, they being too light to suit the trade for “beef hams.” ”

“ Our cooks, on the contrary, give to all other meats, and even to some kinds of fish, a rich flavour of bacon without destroying that which makes the distinction of one from another. It does not appear to me that essence of hams was ever known to the ancients. We have a hundred ragouts, the composition of which surpasses all description. ”

“ Its reappearance in the dining or breakfast room is seldom, so that on economical grounds if on none other, a small ham is preferable to a large one. At the present time Irish hams realize the highest price in the London market, but Canadian and Danish hams are pressing the English and Irish hams very closely. A considerable number of Cumberland and Yorkshire hams are still sent to the southern counties, but the purchasers of these are old-fashioned housekeepers or others having large families to provide for. ”

“ The ham need not be soaked in water before it is used, but only washed clean. Instead of a chaffing-dish of coals to smoke the hams, make a hole in the ground, and therein put the fire; it must not be fierce: be sure to keep the mouth of the hogshead covered with a blanket to retain the smoke.
Westphalia Ham, to cure. No. 1.
Cut a leg of pork to the shape of a Westphalia ham; salt it, and set it on the fire in a skillet till dry, and put to it two ounces of saltpetre finely beaten. The salt must be put on as hot as possible. ”

“ They've a treat in store, they have. And snap your fingers at the world for many a long day. And the hams! They cure their own hams at that house. Old style! That's what I say of a hog. He's good from end to end, and beats a Christian hollow. Everybody knows it and owns it.'
Redworth was getting tired. In sympathy with current conversation, he said a word for the railways: they would certainly make the flesh of swine cheaper, bring a heap of hams into the market. But Andrew Hedger remarked with contempt that he had not much opinion of foreign hams: nobody, knew what they fed on. ”

“ A practical illustration of the same might be seen in the rows of fat hams, and rounds of hung beef that dangled from [Pg 37] the beams that crossed the low ceiling: interspersed with strings of onions and savory pot-herbs—and, as if by way of variety, separated by hanks of white and coloured yarn. ”

“ Determining to smoke the meat on the spot, we cut magnificent hams, and took off the rest of the meat in slices after the manner of the buccaneers in the West Indies, preserving the paws entire to be cooked as a delicacy, and obtaining from the two bears together a prodigious supply of lard, which my wife gladly undertook to melt and prepare for keeping.
The bones and offal we drew to some distance with the help of our cattle, and made the birds of the air most welcome to feast upon it. ”

“ A theory which is quite prevalent among packing-house employees attributes souring to overheating of the animal previous to slaughter, but tests were made by driving hogs to the point of exhaustion just prior to slaughter and curing the hams from these animals in comparison with hams taken from animals which had been rested prior to slaughter, with no difference in the cured product ”

“ Westphalia hams are generally made from such animals as have been well fed, and allowed to range at pleasure in the extensive moorlands of that province; and they have a singular flavour, not so much from any great difference that there is in the salting of them, as from their being smoked in chimneys where only wood fires are burnt. The time of fumigation is from three to six months, according to their size. Pork, though a wholesome food, requires a strong stomach to digest it properly; and ham and bacon are highly improper for persons of weak and languid habits. ”

“ I may here observe that, when hams are cured in any ordinary way, it is said that the Westphalian flavour may be given to them by rubbing over them three table-spoonfuls of a mixture of tar and spirits of wine, when they are just taken out of the pickle. ”

“ The sides when cut in square pieces, with the ribs on, are just as good as when cooked fresh in the fall of the year. Hams, whole, when well cooked and seasoned, retain all their sweetness, and that without being impaired by the excess of salt necessary to keep them. Then, there is no trouble with flies, bugs, or skippers; the meat remains sweet, wholesome, and palatable until the last piece is taken from the bottom. All the care necessary in taking the pieces from the barrel is to press the lard down closely over what is left, and thus exclude the air. ”

“ Rows of spotless plates winked from the shelves of the dresser at the far end of the room, and from the rafters overhead hung hams, bundles of dried herbs, nets of onions, and baskets of eggs. ”

“ The brine will be absorbed by the meat around the bone and joints so thoroughly as to leave no trace of it after the Ham is cured; it also gives the inside meat a fine red color, and a delicious flavor. Hams that have been pumped with Freeze-Em-Pickle and cured by the Freeze-Em-Pickle Process, will not dry up and become hard when fried or cooked; when sliced cold they will not crumble, but will slice nicely and have a delicate and pleasing flavor. ”

“ The following is a mode of making Mutton hams, which some persons are very fond of, though they are too strong for delicate stomachs. Cut a hind quarter of mutton like a ham, and rub it with one ounce of saltpetre, one pound of sugar, [Pg 126] and one pound of salt. Lay it in a pan, with the skin downwards for a fortnight, then roll it in bran, and hang it up to dry.
In some places there is no regular larder, but the uncooked meat is kept in a hanging Safe in the open air, which is drawn up and down by a pulley. ”

“ Unquestionably there is room for considerable business of this character, and if properly conducted, with a thorough understanding, farmers can profitably convert some of their hogs into cured meats, lard, hams, bacon, sausage, etc., finding a good market at home and in villages and towns. ”