To Salt Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Rub the hams well with saltpetre, sal-prunella, and common salt.
Lay them in lead or earthen salt-pans for 10 days, turning them once.
Rub them again with common salt and let them sit for another 10 days, turning daily.
Dry
Remove the hams, scrape them clean, and dry with a clean cloth.
Rub them lightly with a little salt and hang them up to dry.
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
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and set its colour.
- Common salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it while it cures.
The step that matters
Turning the hams during the salt-pan cure. Salt penetrates meat slowly and unevenly. Turning the hams keeps every surface in contact with the cure, so the salt and saltpetre reach the whole joint and the curing is even.
“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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