| Salt
– A Vital Commodity
Salt was used extensively for
preserving various foodstuffs, particularly fish and meat. Whilst
smoking was also used to a certain extent to prevent fish and meat
spoiling, it was salt that was commonly used on the western coasts of
the British Isles. Salt would be imported in to Swansea in massive
quantities to be used for dry-salting, brine-salting and pickling.
Although salt was also produced locally, it was not in sufficient quantities
to satisfy the massive demand. The extract here is from a customs
account of 1587, and shows salt being imported from a popular source in
France. Swansea has had a long association with the French ports. |
A Dry
Salting
Rub the pork thoroughly with salt paying particular attention to
folds and bone ends. Cover the bottom of the pickling tub with salt and
pack in the pork as tightly as possible, with plenty of salt between the
layers of pork. In ordinary damp weather the salt will draw the meat,
and in a fortnight the brine will have risen to almost cover the pork.
Keep the pork submerged under the brine with a weight. In four months
the pork can be dried off and smoked or used as pickled pork. |
A
Bristol Wet Pickle
Take 12 lbs. of salt, 4 gallons of water, 6 lbs. of honey, ¼ lb. of
saltpetre, and 2 oz. of sal prunella (a special form of saltpetre).
Boil all together for ¼ hour, and let the liquid go cold. Pour into
a tub and submerge the hams therein for at least four weeks preferably
longer. After pickling dry and smoke thoroughly.
This type of wet pickle was popular with the ships of the Bristol
Channel. It would last a long time and the recipe was exported with the
early American colonists
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