# Translating a 200 year old recipe



## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

Hi people, I recently down loaded a 200 year old Berkshire year book to my smart phone. In this book they have different recipes on curing, Making brines and some basic pork recipes for the house wife. 
WOuld any body like to take a chance at translating some of the recipes that i want to try?, Mostly the brine & curing recipes. 
Most of them are easy to figure out but some are, Well an easy way to say it, Put in 200 year old slang. 
Thanks Tim


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

I m certainly curious about your recipes. What is not making sense ? Measurments or instructions .


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## Pam in KY (Jul 26, 2011)

Oh could you please post a couple of those antique recipes?! It would be so much fun to work on them here in an open forum.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Are they online? A link would be helpful.

(I can speak/partially understand Elizabethan english)


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

I would love to see them too. I think it would be fun for us all to get together and try to translate it to modern terms.


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## Newlife (May 27, 2012)

If you can post some of the ones you are trying to get translated, I'd be happy to also help out. It'd be fun and we would all get to learn some old ways of cooking!


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## Silverstar7337 (Feb 10, 2012)

Post post post! Would love to help and love to see them!


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## Pam in KY (Jul 26, 2011)

Would ye please to post yon recipes? lol


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## Solarmom (Jun 17, 2010)

pleaseth, ifeth you do not mindeth, posteth a linketh or pdfeth?

i find this Most intriguing! 

Kris


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## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

Sorry it took so long to get back on here, I didnt plan on leaving everybody hanging. 

Curing Hams
To every 100 pounds of ham, 8 pounds best pork salt, 2 ounces saltpeter, 2 pounds brown sugar, 1 & a half ounces potash and 4 gallons water. Mix and pour over the hams after they have lain in tub two days , Having been rubbed with fine salt and a little brown sugar when put in. Let them remain in this pickle six days, then let hang and dry a few days before smoking. A. J Lovejoy, Roscoe, Ill 1804


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## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

So what i question is.
1 pork salt, I dont think they make that anymore. salt is salt lol 
2 what is potash? 
3 I'm sure when you lay the hams in the tub, They must be kept in a very cool place to prevent spoilage?


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## sewserious (Apr 2, 2010)

From what I can find on google, pork salt and salt pork are synonymous.

Potash or Pot Ash in modern terms is a salt that contains potassium. In your case, potash would have been made by leaching wood ashes and then boiling it down. Potash - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And yes, you would want the hams in a cool dry place; that is why butchering used to almost always take place in the late fall; cooler but not freezing weather.


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## Pam in KY (Jul 26, 2011)

Make sure you weight down the pork when it's in the tub. Loveth thine recipe!


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## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

i will put another one on shortly, Have to check my animals


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

1) I'm pretty sure the "pork salt" would be referring to a curing salt mixture, something like the "pink salt" sold for curing hams today. I typed "pork curing salt in the 1800s" into Google and came up with lots of hits. Here are several articles that discuss this in more detail:

Curing and Smoking Meats for Home Food Preservation (in particular, the paragraph on nitrate/nitrite curing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_(food_preservation) Hmm, for some reason the direct link won't work. Just click on the first link listed as Curing (food preservation)

Cooking in the 1800s (from Tar Heel Junior Historian) | NCpedia (the fourth paragraph in particular talks about curing)

2) Sewserious explained the potash very well.

3) Hogs were typically slaughtered in the fall, around the time of the first frost. This was mainly to prevent spoilage since they didn't have any refrigeration, so yes you'd definitely want a cool area.

I agree with Pam that I'd want to weight the ham down in the brine, maybe with a plate or tray with a brick or two on top, and turn the ham daily during the curing process to make sure all sides were evenly immersed.

I study and love old recipes and cookbooks myself, so hope this helps. Please feel free to share any others!


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## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

RW kansas hogs said:


> Sorry it took so long to get back on here, I didnt plan on leaving everybody hanging.
> 
> Curing Hams
> To every 100 pounds of ham, 8 pounds best pork salt, 2 ounces saltpeter, 2 pounds brown sugar, 1 & a half ounces potash and 4 gallons water. Mix and pour over the hams after they have lain in tub two days ,* Having been rubbed with fine salt and a little brown sugar when put in.* Let them remain in this pickle six days, then let hang and dry a few days before smoking. A. J Lovejoy, Roscoe, Ill 1804


I think that is the key that everyone is missing... the hams were salt/sugar rubbed so they wouldn't spoil...

cool weather helps too


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## derm (Aug 6, 2009)

Sodium Nitrate was not invented yet in the 1800's for curing and that is why they probably used 8# of salt for 100# of ham. That is a serious crapload of salt. That is like a six tablespoons of salt on a 16oz steak. The potash and other things were probably added to add to the bug kill. The brown sugar rub is common to do after a cure. 

I do my own charcuterie on a small scale and commonly will add brown sugar to the cure and then a little bit after the cure with some black pepper if I am doing pancetta. 

While it is neato to do an 1800's recipe, be careful of what you do so you dont wreck 100# of ham. Pink salt is cheap, you only use a tiny bit in a cure and it does a better job than the stuff from 1800. I think home trying this type of this is great as you can make something seriously awesome in the process. My most recent batch of pancetta is the best thing I ever ate out of pork.


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## RW kansas hogs (Nov 19, 2010)

After re-reading with a magnafin glass, They used alot of salt. I understand why to, It just seems like a butt load of salt was used, I'm sure the salt mines were making $ to.


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