Yorkshire Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Rub the hams with coarse salt, saltpetre, salt-prunella, and common salt.
After 3 days, hang up the hams.
Pickle and dry
Add enough water to the pickle to cover the hams and make it strong enough to float an egg.
Boil and strain the pickle.
Place the hams in it the next morning.
Let the hams remain in the pickle for 2 weeks.
Dry them.
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
- Form the meat that is cured and then dried, so the cure itself defines the final texture and flavour.
- Coarse salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and begins preserving it through the cure.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives the cured ham its characteristic pink colour.
- Common salt
- Seasons the meat and, in the pickle, keeps it preserved during the long soak.
The step that matters
Testing the pickle strength. The brine must be strong enough to float an egg. If it is weaker, the cure may not preserve the ham safely over the two-week soak.
“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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