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, bay salt, sal-prunel, and sugar well.
Rub the mixture into the ham daily for 4 days, turning it each day.
Do not rub after 4 days.
For small hams, turn daily for 3 weeks; for large hams, turn for 4 weeks.
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
- Preserves the meat and gives the cured ham its characteristic colour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the ham while curing it.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the salt and adds sweetness to the cure.
The step that matters
Rubbing for only 4 days. The cure must be rubbed in daily for the first 4 days so salt and curing agents penetrate evenly. Continuing to rub afterward is not part of the method, so stopping on schedule matters.
“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.
More ham curing recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.