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Ingle Hams

A ham cured by salt, brine, and slow smoking over several weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Ingle Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Rub the hams well with salt, especially around the bone.

  2. Place them in a cask and pour over the well-skimmed boiling brine.

  3. Let the hams sit for four to five weeks.

Smoke

  1. Hang them up in the smoke of a slow fire, requiring daily attention.

  2. Smoke the hams very slowly for a week or more until they are a dark chestnut color.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 out moisture and preserves the hams during the long cure.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives the cured ham its color.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and depth of flavor to the brine.

The step that matters

Smoke the hams very slowly. Low, slow smoke colours and flavours the meat without drying it out or cooking it too quickly. Keeping the fire gentle and steady for the full week or more gives an even dark colour through the ham.

“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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