To Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the ham
Hang the ham for 1-2 days.
Sprinkle with a little salt and drain for another day.
Cure
Mix saltpetre, coarse sea salt, sal-prunel, and sugar well.
Rub the mixture into the ham daily for 4 days, turning it each time.
For small hams, turn daily for 3 weeks; for large hams, turn for 4 weeks but stop rubbing after 4 days.
Dry and smoke
Before drying, drain and cover with bran.
Smoke the ham for 10 days.
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
- Saltpetre
- Helps cure the meat and gives it a pink colour and cured flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it.
- Sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds a mild sweetness to the cure.
The step that matters
Rubbing and turning the ham during the cure. The salt mixture must reach every part of the meat evenly. Daily rubbing and turning spreads the cure and draws out moisture, so the ham is preserved evenly rather than spoiling in spots.
“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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