Virginia Mode of Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of saltpetre on the fleshy side of each ham.
Lightly salt the hams and let them cure for 5 weeks (6 weeks if the weather is freezing).
Ash and rest
Brush the hams well and rub them with hickory ashes.
Let the hams sit for 1 week.
After brushing, pack the hams in hickory ashes.
Smoke
Hang and smoke the hams for 6 weeks using green hickory chips.
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
- Helps preserve the meat's pink colour and inhibits spoilage bacteria during the long cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the ham and seasons it while preserving it during curing.
- Green hickory chips
- Gives the ham its smoky aroma and flavour during the smoking period.
The step that matters
Lightly salting and curing. Salt must slowly penetrate the thick ham to preserve it evenly. Cutting the cure short risks uneven curing and spoilage, so the full period should be followed, extended to 6 weeks in freezing weather.
“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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