Smoking Hams, &C.
Ingredients
Directions
Smoke the hams
Hang the hams across the chimney of an open hearth.
Keep two or three oak or ash billets smoldering.
Burn dry sawdust underneath the billets.
Avoid using fir and other resinous woods.
Smoking takes two to four weeks.
Use the acid substitute
If no smoking convenience exists, use impure pyroligneous acid as a substitute.
Pour a little acid into a saucer.
Paint the hams with the acid using a paste brush.
Hang the hams up to dry after painting.
Repeat the process two or three times for high smoking.
If hams turn damp and moldy, wipe and dry them.
Apply impure pyroligneous acid again.
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 food being cured and flavoured by smoke over the weeks of treatment.
- Oak or ash billets
- Smoldering hardwood supplies the smoke that gives the ham its flavour and colour.
- Dry sawdust
- Burning dry sawdust under the billets produces steady smoke for the hams.
- Impure pyroligneous acid
- Acts as a liquid smoke that is painted onto the hams in place of real smoking.
The step that matters
Avoid using fir and other resinous woods. Resinous woods such as fir give off sap and harsh, bitter flavours when burned, which can spoil the taste of the ham. Hardwoods like oak or ash produce cleaner smoke.
“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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