The Rocky Mountain Cook Book : For High Altitude Cooking. Caroline Trask Norton

      PORK.

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      ROAST PIG.

      Select a pig from three to five weeks old. Wash well and stuff with a potato stuffing.

      Stuffing.—Two cups mashed potato, season with one-fourth cup of butter, two tablespoonfuls of chopped onion, one-fourth teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful sage, stuff and sew.

      Skewer the fore legs forward and the hind ones backward. Rub over with softened butter, sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper. Put in a hot over with a little water in the pan. Baste often with melted butter at first to soften the skin. Bake about three hours or until tender when tried with a fork. Arrange on the platter in a bed of parsley, with a slice of lemon in the mouth. Serve with apple sauce or fried apples.

      ROAST PORK.

      The loin, spare-rib and shoulder are best for roasting. Sprinkle well with flour, salt, pepper and sage. Cook in a hot oven, allowing twenty-five minutes to a pound. Pork should be well cooked. It requires five hours for digestion, and is more easily digested when cold.

      PORK CHOPS.

      To fry or sauté them, have them cut one-half inch thick, dredge with a little flour, sage, salt and pepper, and cook until brown on both sides. It will take about twenty minutes. Serve on a hot platter, garnished with fried apples.

      BACON.

      Slice very thin, remove the rind, place in a hot frying pan. Cook until crisp. Drain on soft paper.

      FRIED APPLES.

      Cut slices of sour apples, one-half inch thick. Do not remove the skin. Sauté in beef drippings, pork fat or butter until tender.

      BROILED HAM AND EGGS.

      Have the ham cut in very thin slices. Place it in hot water for three or four minutes to take out a little of the salt. Wipe dry; broil over hot coals for about five minutes. Fry out several slices of salt pork, add the eggs and cook until the white is firm, basting them with the fat from the pan.

      FRIED HAM.

      Put the slices on a hot frying pan, brown on both sides. Remove, and cook the eggs in the fat left in the pan. Place the eggs around or on top of the ham.

      BOILED HAM.

      If salt, soak for several hours. Wash thoroughly, trim off any of the black part. Cover with cold water and let it cook slowly, allowing one-half hour to a pound. Remove from the fire, let it remain in the water over night, then cut off the skin. Press into the fat a number of whole cloves, sprinkle the top with cracker crumbs and brown sugar. Bake in quite a hot oven for fifteen minutes. A half glass of sherry wine may be added to the boiling ham just before it is done.

      BAKED VIRGINIA HAM.

      Soak the ham two days in cold water, changing the water four times. Then put in fresh cold water, bring to the boiling point, and let simmer for four to six hours until tender, when pierced with a fork. When cool remove the skin, stick with cloves, cover with brown sugar and sprinkle with fine cracker crumbs. Brown in the oven.

      BAKED HAM.

      Prepare the ham the same as for boiling. Let it simmer slowly for four hours, then remove it and cut off the skin. Press cloves into the fat. Bake in a moderate oven for two hours, basting at first with one-half cup of sherry wine, and then with the fat in the pan. Fifteen minutes before it is done cover with cracker crumbs and one-fourth cup of brown sugar. Serve hot or cold. If serving hot, make a gravy of two tablespoonfuls of the fat in the pan. Stir into it one tablespoonful of flour and one cup of brown stock.

      HAM COOKED IN CIDER.

      Boil and prepare the ham for baking. Baste it every few minutes with a quart of hot cider.

      SAUSAGES (Mrs. Lincoln).

      Use sweet fresh pork. Take one-third fat and two-thirds lean. Chop or grind very fine; season for every pound of meat and fat two teaspoonfuls of salt, two teaspoonfuls of sage, one-half teaspoonful of pepper. Make cotton bags, one-half yard long and four inches wide. Dip them in strong salt and water and dry. Crowd the meat into them, tie the bag tightly and keep in a cool place. When wanted for use turn the end of the bag back, cut off the meat in half-inch slices, fry in hot frying pan until brown on both sides.

      PHILADELPHIA SCRAPPLE.

      Cook a pigs head in boiling water until the flesh slips easily from the bones. Take out the bones, and when cold chop the meat fine. When the liquid is cold remove the fat and reheat the liquid to the boiling point. Add a teaspoonful of salt to each quart of liquid. Then sift in through the fingers of one hand, while stirring with the other, enough corn meal to give the consistency of mush. Let boil hard several minutes. Then set back to cook more slowly for an hour. Stir occasionally. At last stir in the chopped meat and turn into bread pans and set aside in a cool place. When ready to use cut in slices half an inch thick and brown in fat.

      TO TRY OUT LARD.

      Cut the leaves in small pieces, remove all flesh. Put a few pieces in the kettle first. When they are tried out put in the remainder. Cook slowly until the scraps are crisp, strain through cheese cloth into pails.

      Many like to add one pound of suet to every five of the leaves. This