Recipe: Dry Salt Cure for a 14 Lb Ham

Title: Dry Salt Cure for a 14-Lb Ham
Categories: Pork/ham, Londontowne
Yield: 6 servings

1 Ham (English hams weigh 1/2 oz Saltpeter (from the
-roughly 14 to 20 lbs) -drugstore)
1 oz Brown sugar 2 lb Rough salt

The same method may be used for bacon. A leg of pork severed from the
whole side is called a ham. When the leg is left attached to the side, and
severed only after the cure, it is called a gammon.

You will need a salting pan. Leave the ham unskinned. Rub in the sugar
and the saltpeter first, paying particular attention to the bone ends. Then
rub on half the salt and put the ham to rest on slats in a slating trough
(best if it has a channel for the brine to drain out). Rub in the rest of
the salt at the end of a week. Leave the ham to take the salt for a total
of 3 weeks (depending on the size of the ham), turning regularly. Then hang
the ham to dry in a draft of warm air for a day or two. If you would like
to smoke your own, you will need a barrel smoker or a smoking shed. Light
the fire with kindling first, then feed it with beech, birch, or oak
sawdust. Smoke over the open end of a smoker barrel. Keep the fire
smoldering constantly - it is not good for the cure to allow changes in
temperature.

Twenty-four hours in the smoke shoudl suffice for a ham; 6 hours is enough
for a side of bacon. York hams are then hung to mature for 2 to 3 months
in a tgemperature and humidity controlled room.

Time: 3 weeks plus.

From: "The Old World Kitchen - The Rich Tradition of European Peasant
Cooking" by Elisabeth Luard, ISBN 0-553-05219-5 Posted by: Karin Brewer,
Cooking Echo, 7/92