Another Way to Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Finely pound the coarse sea salt, common salt, saltpetre and black pepper.
Cure the ham
Rub the mixture well into the ham, turning it daily for four days.
Pour the treacle over the ham.
Let the ham sit for four weeks, turning it daily and basting it frequently with the pickle.
Soak, smoke and mature
Soak the ham in cold water for 24 hours.
Smoke the ham for two weeks.
Bury the ham in malt dust in a box.
Let it cure for three to four months before using.
Do not soak the ham before boiling.
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 preserves it while seasoning it deeply.
- Common salt
- Penetrates the meat with salt, helping preserve it and season it evenly.
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps keep the meat's colour pink and inhibits spoilage bacteria.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavour and forms a sticky pickle that coats the ham.
The step that matters
Turning and basting the ham during the four-week cure. Salt and curing agents must penetrate evenly. Turning the ham daily and basting it with the pickle keeps every surface in contact with the cure, so no area is left under-salted and open to spoilage.
“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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