To Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Hang and salt
Hang the ham for a day or two.
Sprinkle with a little salt and drain for another day.
Cure
Mix 1½ ounces saltpetre, 1½ ounces coarse sea salt, ½ ounce saltprunel, and 1 pound coarse sugar.
Rub this mixture into the ham daily for four days, turning it each day.
For small hams, continue turning for three weeks.
For large hams, turn for an additional week.
Do not rub after four days.
Dry and smoke
Before drying, drain and cover with bran.
Smoke the ham for ten 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
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it as it cures.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and sets its pink colour during curing.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds sweetness to the cured surface.
The step that matters
Stop rubbing after four days. Extra rubbing adds salt to the surface without helping it penetrate, which can leave the ham overly salty. Salt then moves slowly inward through the meat over the remaining turning period.
“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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