The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pickle
Boil the hams with three times the quantity of water and the proportion of treacle.
Place the hams rind side down in a deep earthen pan.
Cure
Rub the hams in the pickle daily for five to six weeks, keeping them rind side down.
Boil the brine three to four times during this period.
After the curing time, wash the hams lightly to remove the pickle.
Dry and store
Hang the hams in a cool, airy place to dry for about a month.
If desired, have them smoked by a local confectioner or provision dealer.
Wrap each ham in a cotton bag and store in a cool, airy location until needed.
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
- Hams
- The main meat that is cured, dried and kept for later eating.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness and a dark colour to the pickle, and flavour to the cured meat.
The step that matters
Rubbing the hams in the pickle daily. Salt and sugar must penetrate evenly through the meat over weeks. Missing days or letting the hams sit in uneven contact can leave spoilage-prone spots, so the daily rubbing and keeping them rind side down matter for a safe, even 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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