Hams Smoked
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the hams
Beat the salt-prunella fine and rub it into the hams.
Let the hams sit for 24 hours.
Mix the common salt, coarse sea salt, saltpetre, brown salt, and brown sugar together.
Rub this mixture into the hams.
Let the hams sit for 3 days.
Brine
Make a brine similar to that for salt beef, adding ½ pound of brown sugar.
Boil the brine and skim it.
Let the brine cool.
Submerge the hams in the brine.
Turn the hams every 2 days for 3 weeks.
Smoke and dry
Hang the hams in a chimney with wood and straw smoke for 7 to 10 days.
After smoking, hang the hams in a dry place.
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 preserve the meat and gives the cured ham its characteristic colour.
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping to preserve it.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping to preserve it.
- Brown sugar
- Softens the sharpness of the salt and adds sweetness and flavour.
The step that matters
Turn the hams every 2 days for 3 weeks. Salt penetrates meat slowly by diffusion and only through surfaces it touches. Turning the hams keeps every side in contact with the brine, so the cure reaches evenly and reduces spoiled or under-salted patches.
“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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