TO MAKE A PICKLE FOR CHINES

Rub the chines with fine salt, and pack them in a tight barrel, make a pickle of coarse salt, strong enough to bear an egg, boil and skim it, and when nearly cold pour it on, let there be enough to cover them, and put a weight on the top. Chines are good smoked. It is best to make a separate pickle for the heads; wash and scrape them, cut off the ears and noses, and take out the eyes. The jowls may be packed and smoked with the bacon.

Sausage Meat, &c. Separate the tender parts of the meat from the rough and bony pieces, and chop each sort separately, to twenty-two pounds of meat have half a pound of salt, three heaped table-spoonsful of sage, three of pepper, and two of thyme.

If you have a box large enough to hold this quantity, sprinkle it over the meat before it is chopped, and it will be thoroughly mixed by the time it is done. It is best to have a small piece fried to taste, and if it is not seasoned right, it can be altered; you should have some pieces of fat, chopped in with the meat. The sage and thyme should be carefully dried, but not heated too much, neither should it be hung up too near the fire, as it would spoil the flavor, rub it through a wire sifter, and if that should not make it fine enough, pound it in a mortar or grind it in your pepper mill.

The pepper should be ground and ready some days before it is needed, as the pork season in the country is (while it lasts) one of the busiest in the year, every thing should be prepared beforehand that you possibly can.

It is a good plan to have plenty of bread and pies baked, and a quantity of apples stewed, vegetables washed and ready to cook, so that every member of the family, that is able, may devote herself to the work of putting away the meat which is of so much importance for the coming year, while some are cutting up the fat to render into lard, others may be employed in assorting the sausage meat, and cutting it into small pieces for the chopping machine, by trimming off every part that can be spared.

You can have one hundred pounds of sausage from twelve hundred weight of pork, and since the introduction of sausage choppers, a great deal more sausage is made, than formerly, by the old method.

Clean a few of the maws, and soak them in salt and water, and fill them with sausage meat, sew them close, let them lay in pickle for two weeks then hang them up, and when your meat is smoked, let them have a few days smoke. In this way sausage will keep all summer, and is very nice when boiled slowly for several hours, and eaten cold.

The best fat to chop in with sausage is taken from the chines or back bones. To keep sausage for present use, put it in small stone pans, and pour melted lard over the top; for later in the season, make muslin bags that will hold about three pounds, with a loop sewed on to hang them up by; fill them with meat, tie them tight, and hang them in a cool airy place; they will keep in this way till August, when you want to fry them, rip part of the seam, cut out as many slices as you want, tie up the bag and hang it up again.

If you have a large quantity, a sausage chopper is a great convenience. Liver Sausage Take four livers, with the lights and hearts, have two heads cleaned, and boil them with any scraps, or skinny pieces you have, skim the pot, take out the livers when they are done, and let the heads boil longer, when they are done, pick out the bones, and chop all together, season with sage, thyme, sweet marjoram, salt and pepper, put it in pans, and fry it as sausage.

Bologna Sausage Chop ten pounds of beef, with two pounds and a half of the fat of fresh pork, pound one ounce of mace, and one of cloves, and mix in, let it stand a day, then stuff it in large skins, let them lay in brine ten days, then hang them up to smoke a few days, they can be put in the same brine with beef or tongues.

Hogs' Head Cheese Take off the ears and noses of four heads, and pick out the eyes, and lay them in salt and water all night, then wash and put them on to boil, take out the bones carefully, chop and season them well, and pack it in bowls, they will turn out whole, and may be eaten cold with vinegar, or fried as sausage.