Piccalilli Pickle

Take as many varieties of vegetables as possible for this, such as nasturtiums, cauliflowers, white-heart cabbages, small peeled button onions, cucumbers, radishes, gherkins, capsicums, small green tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, red French chillies, and lettuce stalks, etc.,all in equal quantities; pull the cauliflower into pieces and shred the cabbages finely. Prepare some brine with salt and water, which should be boiled together till strong enough to float a raw egg in the shell on the top. Throw all the vegetables into this, let them reboil, then simmer for five minutes, taking care that the vegetables are kept well under water; then drain them on to a sieve, and spread them all out to become quite dry. Then put the vegetables into jars, and cover over entirely with pickle made as follows: - Take two quarts of good vinegar, three ounces of ground ginger, two ounces of whole black arid two ounces of white peppercorns, two ounces of Marshall's Curry Powder, two ounces of whole allspice, three ounces of turmeric, six red dried pounded chillies, four ounces of peeled and pounded eschalots, and boil these together for fifteen minutes; then mix in four ounces of good mustard that has been mixed with two tablespoonfuls of French mustard, and stir well in, but do not let it boil again after the mustard is added; pour this over the vegetables in the jars, leave till cool, then cover with damp bladders, and tie down tightly. These must be examined occasionally, as the vegetables absorb the moisture, when more vinegar must be added and the ingredients stirred from the bottom of the jar; other vegetables may be added as they come in season, but must, of course, be prepared in exactly the same way as above, or they will not keep. Store in a cool dry place till required. It should be kept at least six months before using, and the longer it is kept the better.

To Cure Bacon

Rub the flitches well with common salt for about ten minutes every day for a week and let them lie so that the brine may run from them, then rub off all the salt and put the flitches into a trough or tub and rub into each flitch one pound of saltpetre that has been pounded, warmed, and dissolved; the day after rub in three or four pounds of common salt; then let it lie for a week, during which time it must be rubbed daily on each side; do this for one month, and then wipe over with a clean dry cloth and hang them up in a dry place till required; as soon as they are dry they can be used. This recipe is good for ham-curing also.

Cured Hams (westphalia)

Rub the ham with six ounces of pounded saltpetre for fifteen minutes, let it lie all day after rubbing it; the next day boil three pints of strong ale with a pound of common salt, half a pound of bay salt, and half a pound of brown sugar, and when this is cooling pour it over the ham and rub it thoroughly into it, and leave the ham in it; then rub it twice or thrice every day for a fortnight, turning it each day; at the end of that time take out the ham and have it hung in the curing chimney; if convenient, dry for three days and nights; or in any dry place where there is smoke, from a wood fire would do.