To Cure Beef and Hams
542. Half a bushel of fine salt,
Half a pound of saltpetre,
Half a gallon of molasses.
Mix the salt, saltpetre, and molasses together well with your hands, until the mixture resembles brown sugar.
Rub the meat well with this mixture, then place it in your tubs, with the fleshy side up; it should have a coating of the salt, &c., at least half an inch thick. At the end of ten days, or two weeks at farthest, take out your beef, and hang it in a dry place. Hams should remain in the salt from five to six weeks.
Never smoke beef. Hams would be better if not smoked.