ll have a far greater amount of the finest
quality of bacon and hams generally available. We imagine that the
reader of the earlier portion of this book will experience little
difficulty in producing fine quality pork at a minimum cost--it will
then remain to cure and dry it properly.

The fattened pig should not be fed for some twenty-four hours before it
is killed; after slaughter the carcase should remain hanging until it
is thoroughly cooled. The manner of cutting up will depend on the
custom in the particular district. In some parts of the country the pig
is split down, the head, feet, and tail taken off, the leaf and kidneys
and the skirt taken out, the loin and the crop with a certain proportion
of the lean cut off, and in some cases the shoulder blade is drawn;
after the necessary trimming a Wiltshire side remains.

In other districts the ham and the shoulder are cut off and the side is
converted into a middle, a ham and a shoulder or fore-ham. The jowls are
taken off the head and salted with the bacon and hams. The upper part of
the head, or, as it is commonly termed, the scorf, is usually used with
the feet in the manufacture of brawn, or, as it is sometimes called,
pork cheese--presumably from its being cooled in a form, and then turned
out on to the dish on which it is served at table.

The first operation in curing is to distribute a small quantity of salt
all over the meat to be cured. If allowed to remain about forty-eight
hours the blood remaining in the meat will have become dissolved, and
will have exuded from the carcase. This liquid should be thrown away. A
mixture in the proportion of 4 lbs. salt, 1 lb. coarse brown sugar, 1
oz. saltpetre, 1/4 oz. bay salt, and 1/4 oz. salt prunell should be
prepared, and a portion of it be applied to all parts of the meat and
particularly in the pocket hole, if the shoulder blade has been drawn.
This should be continued for from twenty to thirty days, according to
the thickness of the meat and the degree of saltness desired. In one or
two districts of a limited area it is usual to rub the meat somewhat
violently with a large pebble when applying the salt mixture, the
alleged object being to rub in the salt; but for this there is not the
slightest necessity as the result of the rubbing is nil, since the salt
will penetrate the meat equally as well without the manipulation as with
it. The principal point is to secure the distribution of the salt to
every part of th