Bacon to Ham cure?

Air dried cured Meat Techniques

Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Wed Dec 11, 2013 12:37 pm

Is there any reason why a bacon cure (wheels dry cure) cannot be used to make a Xmas ham?, taking into account the cure time being longer?
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:35 pm

I have a de-boned leg 4.5 kg, Do you think I could double cure#1 and increase salt % and still work on the half inch a day + 2. ?
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby yotmon » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:32 am

Probably better following his 'pump and rub' method of curing. I think it would be more suitable for a piece of leg. Use his calculator to work out the cure precisely.
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:50 am

Light bulb gone off but still a little wary! What I'm trying to make is a gammon not a ham so to cure as bacon is ok........isn't it?

Maybe the butchers amongst us could clarify what the difference between a ham and a gammon is?
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby yotmon » Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:20 pm

I was always told that a Gammon was cured as part of the side of bacon, whereas the Ham was removed first and then separately cured.

I was suggesting the 'pump' method to speed up the process which would depend on how thick a piece of leg you are trying to cure, ( ie may not be cured in time for xmas).
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby wheels » Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:21 pm

There's no reason at all why the dry cure couldn't be used for ham, but don't double the cure #1.

As to the ham/gammon debate? I'll leave that for others. But did you know that the back leg of any animal is its ham?

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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby yotmon » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:19 pm

I wonder what happened to all the Badger 'hams' that were culled in the South west this year, incinerator/landfill probably...
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:35 pm

Thanks all, and as for the cure#1 doubling, where did I get that from!!

In the end I have gone for Oddley's pump and rub recipe (which certainly tested my grey matter!!((not difficult)), a question about the cooking though, should it be soaked before cooking, and if so, for how long?
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby wheels » Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:07 pm

ped wrote:...In the end I have gone for Oddley's pump and rub recipe (which certainly tested my grey matter!!((not difficult)), a question about the cooking though, should it be soaked before cooking, and if so, for how long?


There's no need for it to test the grey matter as there's a calculator for it here:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4899

Whether it needs soaking will depend on your taste. It calcultes to 3% salt and 1.5% sugar; that's higher than my family like, so I would soak it. I'm sure that others would differ.

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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Fri Dec 13, 2013 3:49 pm

Aargh! And I spent a couple of hours setting up my own spread sheet, will have to do a comparison to see if I got right?, thanks for the cooking inx Phil
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Fri Dec 13, 2013 4:49 pm

Phil you have a PM
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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby onewheeler » Fri Dec 13, 2013 11:16 pm

ped wrote:a question about the cooking though, should it be soaked before cooking, and if so, for how long?


Having done it a few times, there's no need to soak it. Just rinse, ideally let it sit for a day or two in the 'fridge, then cook. It's not salty (and I don't like salty ham), I guess some comes out in the cooking water.

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Re: Bacon to Ham cure?

Postby ped » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:11 am

How long did you cure for Martin?
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