Brine for Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Boil the salt, saltpetre, and molasses in water and skim off any impurities.
Allow the brine to cool.
Cure the meat
Pour the cooled brine over the meat.
Before packing, rub the ends of the meat around the bone with salt, saltpetre, and molasses.
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
- Seasons the meat and draws out moisture, helping preserve and firm its texture during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps the meat keep its pink color and a cured flavor.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavor, and helps the surface brown as the ham cooks.
The step that matters
Cool the brine before pouring it over the meat. Hot brine can partly cook the outer surface of the meat, which blocks salt from penetrating evenly. Cooling it first lets the cure soak in gradually and uniformly.
“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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