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Preserving Meats

A method for curing and smoking hams using salt, saltpeter, molasses, brine, and wood.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,879 recipes. The science ↓

Preserving Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the hams

  1. Mix salt, saltpeter, and molasses in a bowl.

  2. Rub the mixture into the hams thoroughly.

  3. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

  4. Let the hams rest for 2-3 days.

  5. Soak hams in brine for 3 weeks.

Soak, hang and smoke

  1. After brining, soak hams in cold water for 8 hours.

  2. Hang hams for a week or longer.

  3. Smoke hams for 3-5 days using apple tree wood or corn cobs.

  4. Keep the hams cool while smoking.

Store

  1. Tie hams in bags until ready to use.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,879 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it against spoilage.
Saltpeter
Helps preserve the meat and gives cured ham its characteristic pink color.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and flavor that balances the harshness of the salt cure.

The step that matters

Keep the hams cool while smoking. Smoking warms the meat, and heat can soften the cure's protection and spoil the ham. Keeping the temperature low lets smoke flavor develop while the ham stays safe.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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