Dry Cured Ham??

[Kent]

Has anyone experience with dry curing ham, as a Smithfield?
Kent

[Reg]

Kent wrote:

> Has anyone experience with dry curing ham, as a Smithfield?
> Kent

I dry cure ham of various flavors, as well as other
pork cuts. Just so we're on the same page, ham refers
specifically to the rear leg. For instance, coppo
is pretty close to a ham recipe, except it's made
from shoulder. It's not actually ham, though many
people refer to it as such. Just wanted to define
our terms here.

Some recipes involve cold smoking, some don't.

None of my recipes involve the same amount of drying
as Smithfield, however. IIRC, Smithfield is dried for
something like 6-12 months. The maximum drying period
for any of my dry cured meats is about 4-5 months. That
has as much to do with the cross sectional area of the
cuts involved as anything. The thicker the cut, the
longer it takes to dry all the way to the core.

None of my recipes are as salty as Smithfield either.
Not for nothing. I think Smithfield is way too salty,
which makes it a less versatile product.

--
Reg

[zxcvbob]

Kent wrote:
> Has anyone experience with dry curing ham, as a Smithfield?
> Kent
>
>

I've done it, sort of, when my dad and I used to butcher a hog every
year (that was a *long* time ago). Slightly different process, ended up
with about the same thing (and way too salty.)

What do you want to know? I might can remember some of it. (I know we
used a pamphlet published by Morton Salt as a guide for just about
everything we did)

Best regards,
Bob <-- gotta get back to work

[Tom Deater]

We do, using the same recipe for the last 100 years. It involves Salt,
brown sugar, red pepper, black pepper, and salt peter. Regardless what you
think of the nitrate, it makes your ham redder inside.

As for aging, we leave it in the cure for 6 weeks exactly, then hang it in
the meat house. Note: same cure for the bacons, they just stay in 7 days
regardless of weight, get dipped in warm water, scrubbed, and cut.

Is it salty. You betcha it is. How to overcome it? After 1 year, scrub
off the salt, mold, etc with warm water. With fresh water, place in bucket
overnight (longer if ham is older). Then debone and cut off rind, tie, and
cook. Finally enjoy.

Also of note, you can cure Sausage bladders (Pig pea bladder cleanned and
stuffed with sausage) the same way with the same cure. After 6 weeks, you
can scrub and cook.

Anything else, email me at tdea...@verizon.net
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