_Mode_.--Should the pork be very salt, let it remain in water about 2
hours before it is dressed; put it into a saucepan with sufficient cold
water to cover it, let it gradually come to a boil, then gently simmer
until quite tender. Allow ample time for it to cook, as nothing is more
disagreeable than underdone pork, and when boiled fast, the meat becomes
hard. This is sometimes served with boiled poultry and roast veal,
instead of bacon: when tender, and not over salt, it will be found
equally good.
_Time_.--A piece of pickled pork weighing 2 lbs., 1-1/4 hour; 4 lbs.,
rather more than 2 hours.
_Average cost_, 10d. per lb. for the primest parts.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
THE ANTIQUITY OF THE HOG.--By what nation and in what period the
hog was reclaimed, is involved in the deepest obscurity. So far
back as we have any records of history, we find notices of this
animal, and of its flesh being used as the food of man. By some
nations, however, its flesh was denounced as unclean, and
therefore prohibited to be used, whilst by others it was
esteemed as a great delicacy. By the Mosaic law it was forbidden
to be eaten by the Jews, and the Mahometans hold it in utter
abhorrence. Dr. Kitto, however, says that there does not appear
to be any reason in the law of Moses why the hog should be held
in such peculiar abomination. There seems nothing to have
prevented the Jews, if they had been so inclined, to rear pigs
for sale, or for the use of the land. In the Talmud there are
some indications that this was actually done; and it was,
probably, for such purposes that the herds of swine mentioned in
the New Testament were kept, although it is usual to consider
that they were kept by the foreign settlers in the land. Indeed,
the story which accounts for the peculiar aversion of the
Hebrews to the hog, assumes that it did not originate until
about 130 years before Christ, and that, previously, some Jews
were in the habit of rearing hogs for the purposes indicated.
PORK PIES (Warwickshire Recipe).