aw most of
them have been here suppressed, but these samples are ventured because
Varro mentions them and the editor is advised that some enterprising
young ladies in Wisconsin have recently had the courage to put them to
the test, and vow that they ate their handiwork! As they live to tell
the tale, it is assumed that the recipes are harmless.]

[Footnote 41: Cf. the following traditional formula as practised in
Virginia:

A VIRGINIA RECIPE FOR CURING HAMS

"Rub each ham separately with 1/2 teaspoonful of saltpetre (use a small
spoon); then rub each ham with a large tablespoonfulof best black
pepper; then rub each ham with a gill of molasses (black strap is
best).

Then for 1,000 lbs. of ham take
3-1/4 pecks of coarse salt,
2-1/2 lbs. of saltpetre,
2 qts. hickory ashes,
2 qts. molasses,
2 teacupfuls of red pepper.

"Mix all together on the salting table. Then rub each ham with this
mixture, and, in packing, spread some of it on each layer of ham. Use
no more salt than has been mixed. Pack skin down and let stand for
five weeks, then hang in the smoke house for five or six weeks, and
smoke in damp weather, using hickory wood.

"As a ham, however well cured, is of no use to civilized man until it
is cooked, and as this crowning mystery is seldom revealed out of
Virginia, it may not be out of place to record here the process."

A VIRGINIA RECIPE FOR COOKING HAMS

Soak over night in cold water, having first scrubbed the ham with a
small brush to remove all the pepper, saltpetre, etc., left from the
curing process.

Put on to boil next morning in tepid water, skin downwards, letting
it simmer on back of stove, never to boil hard. This takes about four
hours (or until it is done, when the ham is supposed to turn over,
skin upwards, of its own accord, as it will if the boiler is large
enough). Set aside over another night in the water it has boiled in.

The _following_ day, skin and bake in the oven, having covered the ham
well with brown sugar, basting at intervals with cider. When it is
well baked, take it out of the oven and baste another ten to twenty
minutes in the pan on top of the stove. The sugar crust should be
quite brown and crisp when done.

To be thoroughly appreciated a ham should be carved on the table, by a
pretty woman. A thick slice of ham is a crime against good breeding.]

[Footnote 42: It is interesting that Varro has realized the hope,
here expressed, that his w