Mutton Ham Recipes

[Parson Snows]

As previously promised

The following recipes copied verbatim from
Traditional Scottish Cookery Theodora Fitzgibbon 1991

For smoking

�If you want to smoke it, then hang it over a barrel in which peat is burning slowly, and see that the smoke reaches all parts, for 3 or 4 days.�


PICKLE FOR HAM OR PORK JOINTS

1 ham, about 8 -10 lbs (3.6 -4.5 kg)
3 lb (1.4 kg) coarse salt
2 oz (50 g) saltpeter
1 lb (450 g) brown sugar
1 oz (25 g) each bruised cloves and mace
1 teaspoon allspice
2 cloves garlic
1 few sprigs of thyme and marjoram
1 bay leaf
� lb (225 g) black treacle
1 pint (600 ml) dark ale

Mix all ingredients except the treacle and ale together and rub thoroughly all over the meat, turning every day. After three days add � lb (225 g) black treacle and 1 pint (600 ml) dark brown ale. Leave for at least 14 days, then take out and hang up to dry. It is not necessary to smoke them, but if desired then follow instructions for beef above

MUTTON HAMS

�These were often served for breakfast in the Highlands of Scotland, after boiling like a pork ham. It is served cold, cut into thin slices.
�The Scottish border is famous for the excellence of its mutton-hams. They are carefully pickled with salt, a little coarse sugar, and very little saltpeter, kept in the pickle for three weeks, and hung for months in the shepherd�s chimneys, where peat and wood are the only fuel. Without previous steeping, they are boiled quicly for an hour, ior a little more, if large, and allowed to soak in the pot-liquor for twenty-four hours�
Meg Dods c 1826

1 leg or shoulder mutton, about 4-5 lbs (1.8 � 2.3 kg)
1 lb (450 g) coarse salt
1 oz (25 g) saltpetre
4 oz (125 g) moist brown sugar
1 oz (25 g) allspice
1 oz black peppercorns
1 teaspoon crushed juniper berries
1 tablespoon crushed coriander seeds

Mix all ingredients together very well, then rub all over the joint. Put into an earthenware or glass container, cover and leave 12-14 days, turning and rubbing it every day. Drain and smoke as above if desired�

Note: I strongly advise steeping the joint for at least 1 hour and preferably 3-4 before cooking, despite Meg Dod�s advice.

The following recipe copied verbatim from
The Scottish Cookery Book by Elizabeth Craig 1956 edition

MUTTON HAM

�Mutton hams are sometimes served at breakfast in the Highlands, after boiling as you would an ordinary ham. To make a mutton ham you need:

1 shoulder of mutton
� lb cooking salt
2 oz bay salt
4 oz moist brown sugar
� oz saltpeter
2 oz black pepper
4 or 5 juniper berries

Place the mutton in a crock or pickling pan. Mix all the other ingredients together and pound well. Heat and rub half the mixture into the mutton. Leave for 2 days, then heat the remainder of the mixture and rub this in. Turn the muton daily in the pickle for a fortnight, then smoke it or have it smoked, and it wioll keep well for 3 to 4 months. Soak in cold water to cover for 2 hours before boiling.�

Note: a fortnight is 14 days

Hope that this is some use to you

Kind regards

Parson Snows