This section is from the "Encyclopedia Of Practical Receipts And Processes" book, by William B. Dick. Also available from Amazon: Dick's encyclopedia of practical receipts and processes.
1617. Sportsman's Beef. Take a fine round of beef, 4 ounces saltpetre, 3/4 ounce allspice, rub it well on the beef, and let it stand 24 hours; then rub in as much common salt as will salt it. Lay it by 12 days, turning it every day; then put it into a pan, such as large pies are baked in, with 3 or 4 pounds beef-suet, some under, some over. Cover it with a thick crust, and bake it for 6 hours. It will keep for 2 months, and most excellent it is.
1618. Preservation of Meat. By repeatedly immersing the meat in hydrochloric acid, subsequently drying, it is sufficiently cured to keep for a considerable time. "When required for use, the acid must be neutralized by a little carbonate of soda, by which it will be salted. The strength of the hydrochloric acid must be determined by experiment.
1619. To Keep Dead Poultry, etc., Fresh. Dead birds may be preserved in a fresh state for some time by removing the intestines, wiping the inside out quite dry with a towel, and then flouring them. A piece of blotting paper, on which one or two drops of creosote have been placed, is now to be put inside them, and a similarly prepared piece of paper tied round them. They should then be hung up in a cool dry place, free from the attacks of flies or vermin, and will be found to keep much longer than without undergoing this process. (See No. 1614 (To Make Carbolic Acid Paper for Preserving Meats).)
1620. To Preserve or Cure Butter. Melt the butter in well glazed earthen pans, at a heat not exceeding 180° Fahr. in a water bath, and keep it heated, skimming it from time to time, until the butter becomes quite transparent, then pour off the clear into another vessel, and cool it as quickly as possible by surrounding it with cold water or ice. The above is the method of preserving butter employed by the Tartars who supply the Constantinople market, and in this state it may be preserved perfectly fresh for 6 months, if kept in a close vessel and a cool place. This plan received the approval of Thenard, as well as Mr. Eaton; the latter states that butter melted by the Tartar method, and then salted by ours, will keep good and fine-tasted for 2 years. Any of the following methods of salting may be adopted.
1621. To Preserve Butter by Salting. Mix well together 1 ounce each saltpetre and white sugar, and 2 ounces best salt, all in very fine powder, then add 1 ounce of this mixture to every pound of butter, and thoroughly incorporate them together. The butter thus prepared is then to be tightly pressed into clean glazed earthenware vessels, so as to have no vacant spaces. This butter does not taste well before it has stood for 2 or 3 weeks, after which it acquires a rich marrow flavor, which no other butter ever possesses. Any good well-made fresh butter, free from butter-milk, will succeed by this method, but the application of it to butter clarified by the Tartar plan, as described above, produces an article that will keep longer good than butter cured by any other process yet discovered.
 
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