Cider Cured Ham

Recipes and techniques using brine.

Cider Cured Ham

Postby Jogeephus » Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:54 am

Am not much of a wet cure person but I tried something this year and with some help and suggestions from some people on another forum I came up with this recipe for two 25 lb hams that turned out pretty good.

Brine
3 gallons of water, 2.5 gallons of hard cider, 4 gallons of apple juice, heaping handful of peppercorns, 3 quarts of cane syrup, 2 lbs of brown sugar, 6 lbs of salt, a handful of juniper berries and 26 ounces of cure 1. Brine was adjusted to 75 degrees.

Hams were placed in a barrel and covered with brine for 25 days.

Hams removed and hung for a week to equalize.

One ham was then smoked for 4 days and other was not.

Hams were then tasted and they seemed pleasant enough but still seemed lacking something.

Hung hams in curing chamber at 50-60F and 60 - 90% humidity for two months and flavor seemed to improve considerably. Here is the non smoked ham but I think I'll try and let the other cure for a year and see how it tastes then.

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Not suggesting anyone reuse brine but I thought it wasteful to toss all this good brine so before pouring it out I used it to brine some turkeys. They turned out wonderful. I now have several people who want to buy turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas and have been offered $50/bird.

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Patience please, I'm just trying to get on the learning curve.
Jogeephus
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Postby quietwatersfarm » Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:54 am

That ham looks right up my street! fantastic job.
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Postby grisell » Sat Apr 16, 2011 7:19 am

Looks great! :D
André

I have a simple taste - I'm always satisfied with the best.
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