Hams, to Salt
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the hams
Rub the hams with common salt to remove slime and blood.
Discard the liquid that comes from the hams.
Rub the hams with treacle, saltpetre, and coarse sea salt.
Place the hams in a deep pan and let them sit for one day.
Make and apply the pickle
Boil the treacle, saltpetre, coarse sea salt, and common salt for 1 hour.
Pour the hot pickle over the hams, ensuring they are fully covered.
Rub the hams with the pickle for the next couple of days.
Turn the hams occasionally thereafter.
Cure before smoking
Let the hams remain in the pickle for 3 weeks to 1 month 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
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and firms the meat, slowing spoilage during curing.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness and helps the cure take on a darker colour and rich flavour.
- Saltpetre
- Helps keep the meat pink and cured-looking during the long salting period.
- Coarse sea salt
- Adds salt for curing and seasons the ham, with a slightly rougher texture than common salt.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot pickle over the hams. The pickle must cover the hams completely so no part is left exposed to air, which could let spoilage start. Keeping every surface submerged and turning the hams helps the salt penetrate evenly.
“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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