Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

After the carcass is freed from bristles, which is done by scalding it and. then scraping them off, it is to be cut up for curing. The shoulders are usually corned for about a week, and then either boiled or baked ; the hams are first cured with brown sugar or molasses and salt, and then smoked ; the head and feet are made into souse ; the loins, tender-, loins, spare-ribs, and neck are generally cooked while they are fresh. When the pig is large, only part of the head is made into souse, the cheeks being salted or made into REMOVES (RELEVEs). 333 brawn ; the fat sides, cut close off at the loins, and including the belly, are salted in brine, or cured as bacon ; the inner fat, which lies about the intestines, is tried out as lard ; the edible entrails are cooked fresh, usually by frying or boiling; the outer casings of the intestines are thoroughly cleaned, and used in making sausages and black puddings ; the latter are made from the blood boiled with oatmeal or Indian meal and seasonings, and cased with the larger intestines ; sausages are made from the leaner trimmings of the carcass, seasoned highly and cased in the smaller intestines.' After the sides and belly are cut in pieces of the desired size, they are packed in kegs or barrels with plenty of salt, and covered with cold water; about a bushel of salt is allowed to a barrelful of pork ; a heavy stone is laid on the pork to keep it under the brine. If all the salt is dissolved in two or three days, more is to be added ; there should always be a little more salt than the water will dissolve ; in about six weeks the pork will be sufficiently salted to use. HOW TO TRY OUT LARD. To prepare lard at home, use very clean, fresh, white-looking " leaves " of fresh pork fat ; cut the fat in pieces a little less than an inch square, removing any membranes or small veins which may be apparent. Place a large iron pot over a very gentle fire, put into it half a pint of cold water, then put in the chopped fat ; let it heat gradually, and boil slowly but steadily for about three hours, stirring it occasionally to prevent sticking. While it is necessary to keep the lard boiling constantly, care must be taken that the fire is not too hot, lest the fat boil over and burn. As the fat boils, and the water evaporates, it will gradually lose its cloudy appearance and become transparent. When the fat no longer bubbles, and the pieces of fat or "scraps" are yellowish brown, and begin to cake together, the lard is sufficiently cooked. Set the pot off the fire, and let the lard cool a little J then use a large ladle to dip the liquid lard into perfectly tight wooden kegs, earthen jars, or tin pails ; be careful that no particle of " scraps " is dipped out with the lard ; and when it has nearly all been removed from the " scraps," lay a folded towel in a large sieve, set the sieve over an earthen bowl, pour the remaining lard and " scraps " into the sieve, and let them drain without pressing. Keep the lard which drains from the "scraps" separate from the other, and use it first. The " scraps " are good served with hot baked or boiled potatoes. They are also used in the South for making Indiaii bread, under the name of crackling bread. BOILED PORK AND FARSNEPS.