Pork

Young pork has a thin rind or skin, easily indented by pressing with the finger, and the lean will break by pinching. If fresh, the meat is smooth and dry; but if damp and clammy, it is tainted. If the fat is rough with little kernels, the pig has had a disease resembling the measles, and to eat it is poisonous. Pigs that have short legs, and thick necks, are the best. Pigs fed entirely on slop make very bad pork. They should be kept up for at least two months, fed with corn, and not allowed during the time of fattening to eat any sort of trash. No animal tastes more of its food than a pig. If allowed to eat the garbage of fish, they will not only have a fishy taste, but a smell of fish so intolerable, when cooking, that such pork cannot be endured in the house. During the two months that they are kept up to fatten, all their food must be wholesome as well as abundant, and it does them much good to have soap-suds given to them occasionally. Let them have plenty of corn, and plenty of fresh water. They will thrive better and make finer pork, if their pens are not allowed to be dirty. No animal actually likes dirt, and even pigs would be clean if they knew how. It is very beneficial to young pigs to wash them well in soap and water. We have seen this often done with great care.

The pork in Spain and Portugal is delicious, from being fed chiefly on the large chestnuts, of which there is great abundance in those countries. These pigs are short-legged and thick-bodied - a profitable species. The best pieces of a pig are the hind-leg and loin; the next is the shoulder, or foreleg. The spare-rib, (pronounced sparrib by the English,) affords so little meat, and the bones are so tedious to pick, that it is seldom seen on good, American tables, nothing being popular with us that cannot be eaten fast or fastish.

Pork must be thoroughly cooked; done well, and completely to the very bone. Who ever asked for a slice of pork done rare? Who could eat pork with the blood appearing, when served? So it is with veal. Underdone veal, or underdone chicken, is not to be thought of without disgust.

Pork, for boiling, is always previously salted or corned. Fresh pork, however, is very good stewed or cooked slowly in a very little water, and with plenty of vegetables in the same pot. The vegetables should be potatos, (either sweet or white,) pared and cut into pieces - parsnips the same, or yams in thick slices. For corned pork cook the vegetables separately from the meat, or they will taste too salt and fat. They should be cabbage, or green sprouts, green beans or peas, green corn, young poke, squash, pumpkin, or cashaw, (winter squash,) boiled, mashed, and squeezed.

For salt pork, in winter, have dried beans or dried peas; first boiled, and then baked.

To Roast Pork

The roasting pieces are the loin, the leg, the saddle, the fillet, the shoulder and the spare-rib, (which last is found between the shoulder or fore-leg,) and the griskin or back-bone. All roast pork should be well seasoned; rubbed with pepper, salt, or powdered sage or marjoram. Score the skin with a sharp knife, making deep lines at regular distances, about an inch apart Cross these lines with others, so as to form squares or diamonds. Make a stuffing of minced sage or marjoram leaves; bread-crumbs; if liked, a very little minced onion previously boiled; and some powdered mace. Introduce this stuffing profusely wherever it can be inserted, loosening a piece of the skin, and fastening it down again with a small skewer. In a leg or shoulder you can put in a great deal at the knuckle. In a fillet or large end of the leg, stuff the place from whence you have taken the bone. Put the pork down to roast not very close to the fire, but place it nearer when the skin begins to brown. You can soon baste it with its own gravy; and see that it is thoroughly cooked, before removing it from the spit. After taking up the meat, skim the fat from the gravy, and stir in a little flour to thicken it.

The crackling or skin will be much more crisp and tender if you go all over it with sweet oil, or lard, before you put it to the fire.

Always accompany roast pork with apple sauce, served in a deep dish or a sauce-tureen.

Cold roast pork is very good sliced at tea or breakfast.