Method of Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the black acid by distilling wood and separating it from tar and naphtha.
Mix the black acid with a small portion of coarse sea salt.
Apply the mixture to the pork or beef without soaking it in water.
Boil the cured meat; it will swell and become very succulent.
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.
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The step that matters
Applying the mixture without soaking. Soaking the meat in water would wash off the salt mixture and dilute it, so the cure would not penetrate evenly. Keeping the meat dry lets the salt be applied directly to its surface.
“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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