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Hams the Yorkshire Way

Curing hams with a salt mixture and brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Hams the Yorkshire Way

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the hams

  1. Mix together the coarse sea salt, saltpetre, sal-prunella, and very coarse salt.

  2. Rub the mixture well into the hams.

  3. Place the hams in a large pan or pickling tub and cover with the remaining mixture.

  4. Let the hams sit for three days.

Brine and dry

  1. Add enough water to cover the hams, adding salt until it can float an egg, then boil and strain the brine.

  2. The next morning, submerge the hams in the brine and press them down.

  3. Let them sit for a fortnight, then rub them with bran and dry.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during curing.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its pink colour during curing.
Very coarse salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it during curing.

The step that matters

Adding salt to the brine until it floats an egg. The brine must be strong enough to keep the ham preserved and firm while it soaks. Salt concentration controls how much water the meat gives up and takes in, so a brine that is too weak may not protect the ham.

“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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