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Curing Hams

A method for curing hams using salt, molasses, saltpetre, brine, and cold water, followed by drying and smoking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,879 recipes. The science ↓

Curing Hams

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Hang the hams for 7 to 10 days in a cool, dry place.

  2. Mix the salt, molasses, and saltpetre in a bowl.

  3. Rub the mixture thoroughly into the hams, focusing on the bones and recesses.

  4. Repeat the rubbing process until all the mixture is used.

  5. Let the hams sit for 2 to 3 days.

  6. Submerge the hams in brine for 3 weeks.

Soak, dry and smoke

  1. Soak the hams in cold water for 8 hours.

  2. Hang the hams to dry in a convenient place for at least a week.

  3. Smoke the hams for 3 to 5 days using corn-cobs or apple-tree wood, keeping the hocks down.

  4. Store the hams in bags for the summer.

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Molasses + eggtop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,879 recipes

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it against spoilage.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives cured hams their pink color.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and flavor that balances the salt.

The step that matters

Rubbing the cure into the hams. Salt and saltpetre must reach the bones and deep recesses, where meat spoils first. Thin or uneven coverage leaves pockets that can spoil during the long cure.

“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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