To Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Mix together the salt, saltpetre, brown sugar, potash, and water to create a brine.
Cure the hams
Ensure the meat is thoroughly cool before packing.
Rub the meat with fine salt when packing it down.
Pour the brine over the pork after it has been in the tub for about 2 days.
Let the hams remain in the brine for 6 weeks.
Dry the hams for several days before smoking.
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 moisture out of the meat and seasons it, helping preserve the ham.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's pink colour during the long cure.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds mild sweetness and flavour to the cure.
- Potash
- Alkaline salt that helps the brine penetrate and firm the meat's texture.
The step that matters
Ensure the meat is thoroughly cool before packing. Warm meat can spoil or cure unevenly, and salt penetrates poorly when the surface is not chilled. Cooling before salting keeps the cure safe and consistent.
“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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