To Preserve Skins
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the skin in water for one day.
Clean the skin well of fat.
Dissolve rock salt and alum in enough water to cover the skin in a tub.
Boil the solution, then let it cool to lukewarm.
Soak the skin in the solution for four days, working it with your hands or feet several times.
Remove the skin and dry it in a warm place, avoiding direct sunlight.
Boil the water again and repeat the soaking process.
Wash the skin thoroughly and beat it with a wooden mallet until soft.
Dry the skin in the shade, rubbing it between your hands at intervals.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
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