ON different occasions in this work I have spoken of home-cured tongues, I now take the opportunity of jotting down a recipe for that useful operation, and of adding a few remarks upon salt meat which I think will be found useful.

The general rules of this branch of kitchen work may be given as follows :-

For salting purposes you should procure a wooden tub sufficiently large to hold a hump, a brisket of beef, or a fair sized leg of mutton.

You cannot commence operations too soon in this climate; the fresher the meat for pickling, the better.

Rub the meat, after having cleaned and carefully wiped it, with salt, etc., at once, and take great pains that no part is omitted: all indentations, and holes caused by skewers, should be scrupulously salted.

If you keep the meat in brine, see that it is frequently turned, and basted.

A common syringe is a capital thing to use for salting work, - especially for large joints, - squirt the brine all over the meat, penetrating all cavities and chinks.

A good pickle brine need not be wasted : after you have cured one joint, boil the liquid up again, skimming off the scum, add a little saltpetre, salt, etc., and it will be fit to receive another piece of meat.

Let us now proceed to cure a tongue of from three to four pounds weight. For which the following ingredients must be prepared :-

Best bazar salt ...............1 1/4 lb.

Saltpetre .......................1 oz.

Bay-salt (Ind-oopoo).........1 ,,

Spiced pepper..................1 ,,

Moist sugar.....................5 ,,

The juice of three limes and a sherry-glass of good vinegar; or, if no limes be procurable, two glasses of vinegar.

First, rub the tongue - after cleansing and wiping it thoroughly - with the bazar salt and " spiced pepper:" the operation will expend about a quarter of a pound of the former. When satisfactorily salted, put the tongue aside, and let it drain for the rest of the day to get rid of any blood that it may still contain.

After rubbing in the salt, proceed to make the brine as follows :- Take a roomy enamelled sauce-pan and put into it the remaining bazar salt (about a pound) the bay-salt, saltpetre, the lime juice, and vinegar, and a pint and a half of cold water. Boil these over a low fire, removing all scum as it rises, when clear of scum and well boiled, the liquor may be set to get cold.

Make a separate syrup with the sugar, diluting it with water in a small sauce-pan, and heating it gently till free from scum and smooth, then let it get cold.

When the salt liquor and syrup are cold, they should be amalgamated, the work being done with a wooden spoon, and the brine being then completed should be poured into the tub.

The tongue, having been drained for six or eight hours, should be placed in the brine in the evening, where it ought to remain for a couple of days, being frequently turned over and basted during that period.

On the evening of the second day's soaking, the tongue must be drained from the brine, and then hung to dry in the smoke of the kitchen fire for a couple of days, after which it may be considered fit to use. Wrap it in paper during the smoking stage, and soak it a little before cooking in cold water.

The above process can, of course, be depended upon for preserving tongues for much longer periods. I can recommend it to sportsmen who, after killing deer or bison in the jungle, hardly know what to do with the good meat thrown upon their hands. A brine tub for tongues and humps would not seriously increase their impedimenta, and a moderately quick servant could soon master the secret of curing. Artificial smoking can easily be managed out in camp, and the ingredients I have named can be carried out of cantonment without much trouble. Never mind if a tongue seem to shrivel up after the smoking stage; after the soaking which it must receive before cooking, it will revive wonderfully, and regain its original proportions.

A tongue that has merely lain in brine for a couple of days may be cooked at once without smoking; soaking is then unnecessary; but a well smoked tongue requires soaking, according to the degree of dryness it may have attained, from two hours upwards.

Tongues have an annoying habit of curling themselves round, contracting, that is to say, as they get cold after cooking. To combat this unsightliness, and straighten the tongue, Ramasanry is wont to thrust a good thick wooden skewer straight through it from end to end, which he withdraws before sending the dish to table, the consequence of which is that you find a strange ugly cavity in the centre of the tongue which spoils every slice you cut from it. If you want to straighten a tongue properly, you must place it upon a clean board, - the lid of a packing case for instance, - in the position in which tongues are always presented to you in England; pin it down to the board by driving a strong steel carving fork through the root end, stretch it straight, and secure the tip by a sharp skewer also driven into the board: support the tongue in shape by weights on either side, and over the top of it, and let it get cold. When quite cold, you may release it, glaze it, let the glaze set, and then serve the tongue.

"Glaze" is not difficult to achieve if proper care be exercised during its making. You must boil down some clear strong gravy, like that laid down for "aspic jelly," and reduce it until it begins to thicken sufficiently to coat the spoon with which you are stirring it. Constant stir-ring is downright essential to prevent the glaze sticking to the bottom of the sauce-pan, and burning. As soon as satisfied with its consistency, pour it into a small jar. When cold, the glaze will solidify like hard jelly. When required for use, place the jar in which you have set it in the bain-marie and let the jelly melt; then dip a brush into it, and paint the surface of the tongue, or joint, over thoroughly; when dry, the appearance will be that of a clear varnish. Colour the gravy beforehand with caramel according to the tint required.

To cure a hump, brisket, aitch-bone, or piece of the silver side of beef, proceed as recommended for the tongue; you will probably require double the quantity of ingredients, but the principles are the same. Smoking is, of course, not wanted, and the joint can be lifted from the brine on the fourth day and cooked; scarcely any soaking will be then necessary. Syringe the brine well into the meat during the pickling period, and turn it frequently.

A "mutton ham" is a capital thing for rough travelling times, the meat should be cured exactly as the joints of beef just spoken of.

"Spiced beef" is an excellent thing in its turn. Choose a nice brisket, or a fleshy piece of the flank for this operation. Remove all bones. Rub the joint well with salt, and let it lie in the brine already described for about two days. Then spread it out flat, dry it, and lay a coating of the following spices over the inside (in the same manner as you would spread jam over the paste before making a rolypoly pudding) :- half an ounce of cloves, half an ounce of pepper corns (ground), half an ounce of mace, a table-spoonful of finely minced parsley, half one of marjoram, the chopped rind of a nice yellow lime, peeled very finely, and a dust of Nepaul pepper : roll up the brisket and tie it tightly with a string. Stew it patiently until tender; set it, when done, under a weight; when cold, remove the string, trim the joint neatly, glaze it, and when the glaze is dry, the beef may be considered ready for the table. A couple of glasses of Madeira mixed with the liquor in which the beef is cooked will improve the flavour greatly.

"Pressed beef" should come to table in a rectangular shape : saltpetre is not wanted in its curing as we do not require the red colour which is generally liked in humps, briskets, etc. Choose a nice fleshy piece of the flank, with fat and lean, pretty equally balanced. Rub it carefully with salt, and "spiced pepper," and let it rest in brine (without saltpetre) for forty-eight hours : then drain it dry, wipe it, and stew it gently till nice and tender. When done, set it on a dish with a weight above it, and let it get quite cold. The weight must then be removed, and the joint must be neatly trimmed in a rectangular form with a sharp knife. Its surface having been glazed, nothing remains to be done in the kitchen.

"Ox-head brawn" is not to be despised by dwellers in the plains to whom pork is denied. Skin and clean an ox-head, or purchase one already skinned : split it in two, cut out the eyes, break the bones of the jaws, remove the brains, and let the whole soak for an hour or two in cold water. Then put it into a stew-pan with water enough to cover it. Boil very slowly, and then add vegetables and flavouring as if for soup; when the meat is quite tender, and you can pick the bones away from it easily, strain the meat from the broth, and vegetables, free it from every fragment of bone, and cut up the meat whilst it is hot and juicy, en masse rather small, seasoning it with salt and "spiced pepper" whilst doing so. If you have no spiced pepper, mix a table-spoonful of powdered dried thyme and marjoram blended, with a tea-spoonful of pepper, and dust it freely into the meat: when seasoned well, cut up, and mixed, press the meat tightly down in a round brawn tin, and let it get cold. After which it can be turned out whole, and sliced for breakfast or lunch. The broth in which the meat was stewed should be blended with the soup stock for it will be gelatinous and strong, the proper basis in fact for a good "mock turtle."

An excellent "brawn" can be made with an ox-head, a well cured tongue, and a thick slice of bacon cut into dice. Stew the ox-head as in the foregoing recipe, and boil the tongue, cut up both with the bacon whilst they are quite hot, season as before explained, stir the chopped meats well together, press the whole tightly down in a brawn tin, and let it remain three or four hours with a heavy weight above it. When required, dip the tin into hot water to loosen the sides of the brawn, and it will slip out fully formed, and ready for the table.

Minced ham. bacon lean, or Bologna sausage, may be sprinkled in with the seasoning. Be careful to cut up and work your brawn together whilst the meat is quite hot. Unless this be done, the brawn will not solidify satisfactorily. Turn the meat into the tin as soon as you can. Use an ordinary round cake tin, and place a heavy weight over the meat to press it firmly together.

Calves' heads make delicious brawn when associated with ox tongue and bacon, and judiciously seasoned.

For brawn of pig's head, follow the rules already given for ox-head brawn.