To Cure Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Boil the water and add the coarse salt, saltpetre and brown sugar, stirring well to dissolve.
Skim the mixture and let it cool.
Cure the meat
Pour the cooled brine over the meat, ensuring it is well covered.
Let the hams cure in the brine for one month, or a few days longer if they are very large.
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 salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and slows spoilage, seasoning it throughout during the cure.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the meat keep its pink colour and adds the characteristic cured flavour.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the sharp saltiness and adds mild sweetness and a little moisture to the brine.
The step that matters
Let the brine cool before pouring it over the meat. Hot brine can partly cook or warm the surface of the meat, which can encourage spoilage bacteria. Cooling it first keeps the meat raw and the cure working as intended.
“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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