Hams, to Salt
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the hams
Two days before pickling, rub the hams with salt to remove slime and blood.
Discard the liquid that comes from the hams, then rub them with treacle, saltpetre, and common salt.
Place the hams in a deep pan and let them sit for one day.
Pickle
Boil the treacle, saltpetre, coarse sea salt, and common salt for ½ hour, then pour the hot pickle over the hams, ensuring they are fully covered.
For the first day or two, rub the hams with the pickle; afterwards, just turn them occasionally.
Let the hams remain in the pickle for 3 weeks to 1 month before smoking.
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
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness and helps flavour and colour the cure.
- Saltpetre
- Sets the pink colour of the cured meat and contributes to preservation.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it through the long cure.
- Common salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it through the long cure.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot pickle over the hams. The pickle must be fully boiled and cover the hams completely. Full coverage keeps every part of the meat in contact with the brine, so the cure penetrates evenly and no surface is left exposed 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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