To Cure a Beef Ham

Ingredients

• 1 ramp of beef
• dry salt
• saltpetre
• coarse cloth
• bran or oatmeal
• strong brown paper
• heavy weight

Directions

1. Open the beef on the underside with a sharp knife and remove the bone neatly.

2. Mix dry salt with a little saltpetre and rub it into the area where the bone was removed and all over the beef.

3. Let it sit for two days, rubbing it well each day.

4. Tie the beef with tape to close the area where the bone was removed.

5. Prepare a pickle sufficient to cover the beef and let it sit in the pickle for about six weeks.

6. After six weeks, remove the beef, dry it with a cloth, and wrap it in a coarse cloth on a board with a heavy weight to squeeze out the pickle for two days.

7. Mix dried salt, ground pepper, and pounded ginger, then rub this mixture all over the beef.

8. Dredge the beef with bran or oatmeal and hang it near the heat of the fire until it stops dripping.

9. Wrap the beef in strong brown paper, tie it up well, and hang it in a dry part of the kitchen.