and fry them of a light brown.

[52]

[52]

LEG OF MUTTON.

But hang it, to poets, who seldom can eat, Your very good mutton’s a very good treat. Goldsmith.

Goldsmith.

Cut off the shank bone, and trim the knuckle, put it into lukewarm water for ten minutes, wash it clean, cover it with cold water, and let it simmer very gently, and skim it carefully; a leg of nine pounds will take two and a half or three hours, if you like it thoroughly done, especially in very cold weather.

The liquor the mutton is boiled in, you may convert into good soup in five minutes, and Scotch barley broth. Thus managed, a leg of mutton is a most economical joint.

TO CURE HAMS.

Or urged thereunto by the woes he endured, The way to be smoked, is the way to be cured. Anonymous.

Anonymous.

But to the fading palate bring relief, By the Westphalian ham or Belgic beef. King.

King.

When the weather will permit, hang the ham three days; mix an ounce of saltpetre with one[53] quarter of a pound of bay salt, ditto common salt, ditto of coarsest sugar, and a quart of strong beer; boil them together, and pour over immediately on the ham; turn it twice a day in the pickle for three weeks. An ounce of black pepper, ditto of pimento in finest powder, added to the above, will give still more flavor. Cover with bran when wiped, and smoke from three to four weeks, as you approve; the latter will make it harder, and more of the flavor of Westphalia. Sew hams in hessings, i. e. coarse wrapper, if to be smoked where there is a strong fire.

[53]

HAM PIES.

Each mortal has his pleasure; none deny Scarsdale his bottle, Darby his ham pie. Dodsley.

Dodsley.

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