Title: To Pickle Mutton [Or Other Meat]
Categories: Australian History Meat Preserve Pickle
Yield: 1 Servings

9	l	Water, boiling.
4	c	Salt
1	tb	Saltpetre
		Muslin, soaked in
		Vinegar

To half a kerosene tin [9 litre] of boiling water add salt and saltpetre. Add the mutton, cut into joints, and boil 20 minutes. Lift off the fire, and tie a piece of muslin soaked in vinegar over the top of the tin.

Sprinkle salt on top of the muslin, and store in a cool place. Next day remove the fat, and weight the meat down under the brine with a stone. Leave for a week before using the meat.

"Some cooks added a cup of sugar to their half kerosene tin of pickling solution, and some added soda bicarbonate in the same quantity as saltpetre [1 tbspn to half a kerosene tin] when curing bacon, saying that it prevented the lean from becoming hard, and was an inhibitor or rancidity.

"Some believed that bacon kept longer if it was sliced and partly fried as soon as it was cured, then laid away in its own grease till needed, when it could be lightly refried and served. Juniper berries, thyme, and bay leaves were tasty additions to the brine.

"These recipes presuppose large receptacles in which the meat could be stored in brine for long periods of time. These were not often available to true bush cooks, who had to solve the problem in a slightly different way." See TO CURE MEAT & FISH BUSH-STYLE separate recipe.

from THE TRADITION OF AUSTRALIAN COOKING by ANN GOLLAN typed by KEVIN JCJD SYMONS

From: Kevin Jcjd Symons Date: 06 Mar 98

previous

next