Another Way to Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the ham
Pound the saltpetre, black pepper, and coarse sea salt together.
Rub the mixture over the ham and let it sit for four days, turning it daily.
After four days, pour the treacle over the ham and baste it daily for a month.
Prepare and hang
Soak the ham in cold water for 24 hours.
Wipe it dry and sew it in a piece of old linen.
Hang it up in a chimney where wood is burned.
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
- Helps cure the meat and gives it a firm, pink colour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and preserves the ham during curing.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness and flavour to the surface during repeated basting.
The step that matters
Soak the ham in cold water for 24 hours. Soaking draws out surplus salt and cure from the surface, so the ham is not overly salty. Skipping or shortening this step can leave the finished ham harsh.
“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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