To some young housekeepers, the salting of meat, and taking care of it, and of smoked meat, are perplexing. Perhaps the following directions may assist them. The best pieces to corn are the end of the rump, the thin end of the sirloin, and the edge-bone. If you like it with alternate streaks of fat and lean, the pieces at the ends of the ribs, called by butchers the rattle-ran, are very good. The edge-bone affords the most lean meat.

The best piece of pork to corn is the shoulder. It is a good way to divide it, if large, and stuff half of it with sage and bread crumbs, and roast it; and corn the other half.

In winter, hang fresh killed meat up two or three days before putting it into brine, as it will thus become more tender. Make a brine of four quarts of water, three pints of salt, half a table-spoonful of saltpetre, and a pint of molasses, or a pound of coarse brown sugar. Mix it thoroughly without boiling it. In this lay the meat, and see that it is entirely covered. It is well to look at it after a day or two, and if necessary, turn it the other side up. It will be good in a few days, but it is better to let it lie three or four weeks before boiling it. The same brine will do for many successive pieces in winter. But for a family that like salt meat, it is the best way to make a double measure, and put into it at once as much meat as it will cover. It should be kept in a firkin or tub, with a close cover.

After a considerable quantity of meat has thus been cured, scald and skim the brine, add a little more molasses, salt, and saltpetre, and let it become cold before meat is put into it.

A brine like this, only a little more rich with molasses, is very good for salting tongues, and pieces that are to be smoked. But they should lie in it four or five weeks. Meat should never be salted for smoking, later than February or the middle of March.

In warm weather, it will not do to use the same brine more than once, as the blood from the meat will become tainted. Therefore a less expensive mixture, that may be thrown away after being used once, is better. Two quarts of salt to four of water, is a good rule for brine in hot weather.

In the summer, the strong membrane that covers the rib bones, must be cut open with a sharp knife before the meat is put into brine; for, as the salt will not penetrate this membrane, the bones will else become tainted, and the meat soon be spoiled. Meat, at this season, should be cooked within three or four days after being put into brine.

How To Salt Pork

Allow a bushel of salt for a barrel of pork, or a peck for fifty-weight. The salt called coarse-fine, is commonly used by butchers; but the best way in a private family, where no more than twenty-five or fifty weight is put down for the year's use, is to use fine salt. Put water enough to cover it. Examine it in a few days, and if the salt is all dissolved, add more. The only sure way of keeping pork sweet, is to have the brine so strong that some of the salt remains undissolved. A board, with a stone upon it, should always be kept on the top of pork, as it will soon become rusty if the edges lie above the surface of the brine.

It is not fit for use, until it has been in brine six weeks.