Franco's Ham Brine Question: to boil or not to boil?

[Simon]

Any help very much appreciated!

I am going to brine cure a whole ham on the bone using Franco's pre-made brine mix: on the packet it states mixing with cold water and then using. In the past all of my brines made with with saltpetre have involved boiling the water with the sugar/ salt and spices then letting it cool before adding the saltpetre and then using. My questions are:

1. Can I boil Franco's brine mix without "deactivating" then cure (I seem to remember that boiling some cures destroys them?) (I have already added his mix to the water...)

2. If I don't boil the water wont the risk of bacterial contamination be higher ??

3. How much of the brine should I inject into the ham?

I was also keen on boiling the water in order to influse the spices better. I have tried contacting the sales team but no replies to my messages..

I am buying the ham tomorrow and wasnt sure if I should just start all over again with a new brine made using one of my old methods...I brought Franco's mix thinking it would be simpler but in my haste I didnt think through the boiling issue until I had already added it to my 16 litres of water..

[Oddley]

1. Can I boil Franco's brine mix without "deactivating" then cure (I seem to remember that boiling some cures destroys them?) (I have already added his mix to the water...)

No you can't boil the cure. NitrIte is very reactive and will have oxidized. I would have suggested boiling the water first, then when cool, adding the cure.

2. If I don't boil the water wont the risk of bacterial contamination be higher ??

I'm not too sure, I would have to work out the brine concentration first. The most likely culprit for causing problems, would be E.coli O157:H7. There is only a small risk of this bacteria, in UK water supplies. E.coli O157:H7, is known to be very salt resistant.

http://www.accepta.com/industry_water_t ... e_coli.asp

3. How much of the brine should I inject into the ham?

If you post the instructions. I might be able to come up with something.

[Simon]

Thanks Oddley thats really helpful. The brine recipe I have used before is from Fergus Henderson's book Nose to Tail and makes 4 litres of brine:

400g sugar
600g sea salt
12 juniper berries
12 cloves
12 black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
4 litres water

I multiply all of the above ingredients by 4 (ie 16 litres of water) as this quantity seems to be about the right amount to cover the size of ham i usually buy (bone in).

I previously used an adaptation which you made to this brine recipe which included salt petre, but I cant seem to find it on the forum now? I added the salt petre to the warm brine rather than boiling it.

This time I would like to use your recipe (if I can find it!) and inject the ham as i have brought a brine pump and quite like the idea of using it particularly for such a large ham. I am going to start again with the brine tonight and instead of francos mix just use salt/ sugar/ spices and salt petre.

I dont know the exact weight of the ham yet as I am buying it tomorrow. If you could give me a formula to work out how much to inject that would be fantastic. Also should I inject all around the ham or mostly along the bone?

Thanks again Oddley, your posts are always so helpful.

Simon

[Oddley]

Simon, Due to information that was discovered, I found that calculating an immersion cure accurately, on a batch basis, was almost an impossibility.

I have calculated the cure below to do just that. It is very important to use the quantity's specified. Due to particle size it would be better if you can put the cure through a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, this is to ensure even distribution.

The best way I have found to cure ham etc: is using a pump, then rubbing a dry cure, this I have found is the best of both worlds.

Oddleys Ham Cure

This is a 10% pump and dry rub cure.

300 g Sea Salt
150 g Sugar
6 g Saltpetre

Total Weight 456 g

Usage add 295 g to 1 litre of water

Boil the required amount of water add your herbs and spices then let cool. Add 295g of the above cure to every 1 litre of the water. Pump the meat at 10% eg: pump 100 g of the cure into every 1 Kg of meat. Pumping all the meat but particularly around the bones. Remember in a pork leg about 20 % is bone so take this off the meat total.

Add dry cure. Rub 23 g for every 1 Kg of meat.

We finish the cure by rubbing in 23 g of the above dry cure for every 1 Kg of meat less bone. Put in a food grade bag and store at 6� C (Top shelf of fridge) for about 14 days, this amount of time is only to allow for conversion of the nitrAte to nitrIte. Cook by your normal method.

There will be ingoing in the product about:
3 % salt
1.5 % Sugar
600 mg/Kg saltpetre