Brine Pumps

[Ken Boy]

Hi
Is there anything else that you can use Rather than a brine Pump When curing hams
I have seen the price of these pumps on a of couple of sites they seem quite exspensive
anyone out there who can help or any ideas

[sausagemaker]

Hi Ken boy

Try using a syringe of some sort, you can get these for filling ink into the printer cartridges, you may need to sharpen the end though.

Regards
Sausagemaker

[aris]

Maybe your local vet can help - they use some pretty large syringes.

Franco did say he was getting some cheaper pumps - not sure what happened with those.

[othmar]

Maybe your local vet can help - they use some pretty large syringes.

Franco did say he was getting some cheaper pumps - not sure what happened with those.

That is exactly how I did it for a long time too with abig "elephant" syringe and the thickest longest needle I could get hold of by the veterinarian. Go to a vet who deals with large livestock like cattle and horses they have these monsters not unlike the vet in the city whose biggest client is a dog.

As you inject the brine remember to pull the syringe slowely out as you inject otherwise all the brine will be on one spot and not evenly distributed in the meat.

If you can't find a syringe then you also can dry cure a ham too. That is how we did it in the past before pumps became available. Black forest ham (the real stuff) amongst other high quality hams and bacons are still today all dry cured with a rub. It is a lot of work changing and rubbing hams every day but the result is, IMO, a much better quality product.

[aris]

I sometimes buy black forest ham here in the UK. Do you have a recipe for it Othmar?

[othmar]

I sometimes buy black forest ham here in the UK. Do you have a recipe for it Othmar?

I have no black forest ham recipe in my files, but I do know who has one, it will take me a while to get it. Recipes like this are treated like a state secret by many butchers. You can get the commercial recipe easy enough but as soon it comes to the "house recipe" it is a different story and that's the one I am after.

Like I said I have not forgotten, just give me a bit time.

[Ken Boy]

HI Sausage maker,Aris, Othmar
Thankyou all for your ideas for a brine pump method of injecting brine into the ham I will see how the two joints that I have in the brine at the moment work out I gave them both a seeing too with a metal kebab skewer and have left them in the brine mixture for 20 days both joints where about 1.500 kg hope this will be ok

[othmar]

I sometimes buy black forest ham here in the UK. Do you have a recipe for it Othmar?

Hi aries.

Here as promised is what I could find out about Blackforest Bacon. It is not much. As I said before the recipes are guarded like a state secret, even my own brother was not very forthcoming. "You are going to tell someone about it. Are you?" was his comment. Then he gave me the following list of ingredients but no weight or percentage.

Normal cooking salt.
Nitrite salt (Poeckelsalt)
Juniper berries
Peper corns whole
Garlic fresh
Onion fresh
Coriander

The meat chosen for blackforest ham should have a PH value of no more than 5.9.
The best meat comes from the pork shoulder and hams for this type of bacon and should not be to fat.
The seasoning mixture is rubbed well into the meat. The curing phase begins with the bacon being left for 2 to 3 days so it can build and rest in its own juices. After that the bacon is transfered into a wooden (oak wood) container and pressed for another 2 to 3 days. (preferably this is done on a location which is at or higher than 800 meters above sea level) I do not know why but my brother and others are insistent on that one to achieve maximum quality)

After the curing the bacon is moked in cold smoke (tmeperature between 25C to 27C) for 2 to 3 weeks. (Again, my brother and others insist that this has to be done in an old well used high brick chimney and you guesst it above 800 meters sea level.) For smoking only pine wood and pine needles are used in addition with juniper berries or branches and coriander.

After the smoking the bacon is let to rest for another 2 to 3 weeks in a specially climatized room. My guess here is as good as yours. I think the same humitiy and temps apply here as with salami or thereabouts.