Virginia Cookery-book

Brine for Preserving Souse. Five quarts of water and one quart of vinegar to one quart of salt; the salt is to be carefully dissolved in the liquor, and the mixture to be strained through a cloth. If this quantity is not sufficient to cover as much souse as you have prepared, increase the bulk by adhering to the same relative proportion of one ingredient to the others. Souse cheese is a dish always ready and in place. Made of refuse meat, as it were, it is a genuine delicacy, and must have the accompaniments of mustard, pepper, salt, and any catsup or sauce fancied, when set upon the table. Mock Bologna Sausage. One part of beef, two parts of pork, with enough fat on both for the sausage to fry without butter or lard ; season to taste with onion, sage, and pepper, black and red. If not for immediate use, stuff tightly in cloth bags and hang them up in a dry place. Pudding. Take five hog faces and have them singed and scraped nicely ; then throw them into a tub of water, with a handful of salt ; let them remain so for two days or more, changing the salt and water every day ; some persons add a few slices taken from the backbone. Have ready about two pounds of beef liver ; when the meat has been long enough in soak, put it on to boil, and let it cook until the flesh is ready to drop off and the bones can be all removed with readiness. While thus preparing this part of the pudding, put the liver on to parboil, and then chop all together very fine on a board, if you have no sausagegrinder ; season with salt, pepper, and allspice to your taste ; two table-spoonfuls of each will probably answer. Most people make a sort of sausage of this preparation by stuffing with it hog entrails of the larger kind, or beef entrails, which are still better. If to be kept in this way, boil a short time before storing, in order to cook the outside, which will make it keep longer. Fried, however. fresh as you do sausage, it is very nice for persons who can partake of rich dishes, and in cold weather is a favorite breakfast relish at many tables. This recipe is of German origin, and came from the valley of Virginia, where are many settlers of that nationality. To Corn Beef, No. 1. To six pounds of salt put five gallons of water, two pounds of common brown sugar, and half a pound of saltpetre ; boil this brine, and skim it well ; when perfectly cool put the beef in it. It is important to sprinkle the beef first with salt, and keep it lying thus on a board or other place where it can be drained of all blood adhering ; then see that it is submerged beneath the brine, and keep it well covered. This recipe never fails to give satisfaction. The beef matures in ten days, and is tender and sweet. Into this brine you can drop with advantage tongues, chines, or jowls, and find them conveniently ready for use. To Corn Beef, No. 2. Six gallons of water, nine pounds of salt, three pounds of brown sugar, one quart of molasses, three ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of pearlash or soda. Boil, skim, and pour over the beef when cold. To Corn Beef, No. 3. Four gallons of water, six pounds of salt, one pound and a half of sugar, four ounces of saltpetre. A Spiced Round of Beef. Take a large round of beef weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds ; take three ounces of saltpetre, and, after beating it up very fine in a muslin rag, rub it well into the round ; let it stand thus for two days ; then take 12*