In salting all meat, care should be taken to remove the kernels, otherwise it will soon become tainted. It should be sprinkled with a handful of common salt to fetch out the blood, the brine thrown away on the following day, and the meat wiped with a dry cloth; it is then ready to be cured in any of the undermentioned ways. Too much care cannot be taken in the first salting to rub between every muscle or under every flap of the meat; as for want of this care it may have an unpleasant taste, though sufficiently salted.

The brine will serve again, by being boiled and skimmed, which may be repeated as long as any scum will rise. Hams should be laid with the rind-side downwards: and it is a good plan to heat a quarter peck of common salt in a frying-pan, and lay it at the bottom of the pan. A small quantity of saltpetre is necessary to produce the fine red color either in ham or beef; but much will make the meat hard, and the proportions of sugar and salt should be varied according to the preference given to highly-salted provisions, or those which are cured milder.