Sugar brine II

About the dish

From the chapter on slaughtering, under the heading "Different curing brines." Sugar brine was the household's standard brine for preserving meat and ham through the winter, in an age without refrigerators. Erken gives detailed advice on tending the brine, which easily went bad from the meat juices.

How to make it

1. 1

   Boil the brine

   Boil the water, salt, sugar, and saltpeter together for a quarter of an hour. Skim off and pour the brine into the curing vessel or crock.

2. 2

   Cool completely

   Let the brine become completely cold before the meat is put in. Warm brine ruins the meat.

3. 3

   Rub in the meat

   Mix 2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp saltpeter, and rub the meat well with the mixture before it is placed in the brine.

4. 4

   Treat bloody meat first

   Bloody meat from beef or horse should not be placed in brine together with other meat or pork until it has lain 36 hours in cold water that has been whisked with salt until an egg floats. Take the meat up, let it drip off, and rub it with salt and saltpeter as usual.

5. 5

   Place in brine under a weight

   Place the meat in the brine. It must always be completely covered; put a little weight on top. The lid of the curing vessel should not close completely tight.

6. 6

   Curing time

   Meat can lie 3–4 weeks in the brine without being watered out before boiling. Hams for curing 5–6 weeks, hams for boiling 3–4 weeks.

7. 7

   Tend the brine

   The brine steadily grows weaker because the meat draws salt and sugar into itself while the meat juices draw out. Stir in a mixture of 3 handfuls of salt and 1 handful of sugar from time to time through the winter, until it is dissolved; then you can usually avoid boiling up the brine.

8. 8

   If the brine goes bad

   If necessary, boil up the brine, skim it, and pour it ice-cold over the meat again. If the brine spoils, the vessel can be ruined too; then scald it with boiling water, and if that does not help, lime the vessel and let it stand for a few days.