New England Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Dry cure
Beat the salprunella fine and rub it into the hams.
Let the hams sit for 24 hours.
Mix the bay salt, common salt, saltpetre, and coarse sugar and rub this mixture into the hams.
Let the hams sit for 2-3 days.
Brine
Make a strong brine with 2 gallons of water and ½ pound of brown sugar, then boil the brine and cool it.
Skim the brine.
Submerge the hams in the brine.
Turn the hams every 2-3 days for 3 weeks.
Smoke and store
Hang the hams in a chimney and smoke them for 1-2 days using horse litter.
Let the hams hang for a week by the kitchen chimney.
Take the hams down.
Store the hams in a dry place in a large box covered with bran.
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
- Salprunella
- Acts as a curing agent that seasons the meat and helps preserve it during the dry cure.
- Bay salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during the dry cure.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's color and contributes to the cured flavor over long curing.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the brine.
- Coarse sugar
- Adds sweetness to the dry cure and balances the saltiness of the salt.
The step that matters
Turning the hams in the brine. Salt penetrates the meat unevenly if the hams are not turned regularly, so some parts can stay underseasoned or spoil while others become overly salty. Turning every 2-3 days keeps the brine in contact with all surfaces over the three weeks.
“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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