Honey-cured Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Combine the coarse sea salt, saltpetre, honey, and water in a large container and mix the ingredients well until fully blended.
Cure the ham
Pour the honeyed brine over the hams.
Allow the hams to rest in the brine for six weeks.
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
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it while curing it.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's pink colour during long curing.
- Honey
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the brine.
The step that matters
Allow the hams to rest in the brine for six weeks. The cure must stay fully submerged and cold for the whole period so salt and curing agents penetrate evenly. Uneven contact can leave spoiled or unevenly cured spots, so the hams should be kept covered in brine throughout.
“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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