To Cure a Mutton Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cure
Cut the mutton into the shape of a ham.
Rub the saltpetre, coarse sea salt, common salt, and loaf sugar into the meat.
Wrap tightly and let it sit for fifteen days.
Smoke and cook
Hang it to smoke for ten to fifteen days.
Soak the ham well before cooking.
Boil gently for three hours.
Slice and broil for breakfast or lunch.
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
- Saltpetre
- Preserves the meat and gives it a pink cured colour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during curing.
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during curing.
- Loaf sugar
- Balances the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cured meat.
The step that matters
Soak the ham well before cooking. Cured meat is very salty, so soaking draws out excess salt before boiling. Skipping or shortening the soak can leave the ham too salty to eat comfortably.
“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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