Keeping Ham pink

[Oddley]

Oops..

I recalculated Spuddys "Easy Ham Recipe", because I suspected I did some thing wrong. Well I only calculated the recipe with 1 gallon of water instead of 3.

As you can see from my edited post, it turns out if you use it in a 2 parts meat too 1 part brine, it's not too bad at all.

I'm glad I caused a bit of a fuss though, or I wouldn't have found out that it had to be used at a certain ratio, or it could have had a dangerous ingoing level of nitrite at other ratios. Many beginners would make up the whole recipe and use it for 1 Kg meat, this would be dangerous if left to equilibrium.

[wheels]

I'm glad I caused a bit of a fuss though, or I wouldn't have found out that it had to be used at a certain ratio, or it could have had a dangerous ingoing level of nitrite at other ratios. Many beginners would make up the whole recipe and use it for 1 Kg meat, this would be dangerous if left to equilibrium.

I'm glad you did - the 2:1 meat to brine ratio you came up with is superb.

Thanks
Phil

[carllancaster]

http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/ch ... e_p_1.html

this is the recipe I am going to use and have bught the ingredients for....

Sorry for being a bit anal but this is my first go.

If I replace the 600gr of normal salt with 600gr of Curing salt (bought from the site) will this keep my ham pink?

I'm sure to most this will be irrelevant, and to a point, I dont mind either, but to explain to guests why me ham is not pink would defeat my objective!


Thanks

[Oddley]

Hi carllancaster

I really can't comment on the curing salt, because I don't know how much of the regulated chemicals are in there.

What I can tell you is, using 3.33 days per Kg meat in the brine you will get approx.

1: 1.7% salt of the meat weight for a 9Kg boneless joint.
2: 2.8% salt of the meat weight for a 4.5 Kg boneless joint.

Surprisingly little salt for HFW.

Recipe Here

Hugh: "This creates the most delicious ham and easily repays your patience as you wait for the brine to work its magic. Enjoy it as, sliced for salads and sandwiches, or you can glaze and bake it if you like."

Ingredients
2l water
600g salt
6 juniper berries, lightly crushed
2-3 tbsp white peppercorns
A couple of cloves
A couple of whole, dried chillies or 1tsp chilli flakes
A couple of bay leaves, crushed slightly to release their flavour
A 4.5kg-9kg half or whole leg of pork

For boiling:
A couple of bay leaves
A small glass of cider

Method: How to make boiled ham
1. Pour the water into a large pan and warm up. Tip in the salt and aromatics and stir until the salt has dissolved completely. Pour the brine into a large plastic container and cool then refrigerate until chilled.

2. Place the ham in the brine and weight it down to ensure it is completely submerged. Cover and leave in the coolest place you can find for 3 days minimum, 4 days maximum per kilo.

3. Take the ham out of the brine and soak in plenty of fresh, cold water for 24 hours. Drain and weigh the ham.

4. Place the ham in a pan with more fresh, cold water and bring to the boil. On boiling, empty the water and replace with more fresh, cold water, bay leaves and a glug of cider. Leave to simmer for about 20 minutes per 500g; allow the ham to cool in the cooking liquid.

5. Remove the ham from the water once cool and refrigerate.

[carllancaster]

Can anyoone else comment on the whether a straight swap of table salt to curing salt (from sausagemaker.org) will be same/acceptable?

[wheels]

carllancaster

Like Oddley I can't comment on the curing salt, because I don't know how much of the regulated chemicals are in there. Sorry

If I was forced to give an answer, then I would tell you that personally I would use cure #1 in this recipe (as it stands) - but I would also tell you that, for an immersion cure, I would choose to use Spuddy's or Oddley's recipes instead. I will post a recipe for Oddley's method using cure #1 (like Spuddy's does) shortly.

Phil

[wheels]

Oddley wrote:

New English Brine


IMPORTANT, ONLY USE THESE RATIOS
2 Parts Meat
1 Part Brine

Brine Ingredients
84.79 % - Water
0.21 % - Saltpetre (700 mg/Kg)
10 % - Salt (10.5% Brine concentration)
5 % Sugar

Method:
You may add to this brine any insoluble herbs spices you like ie: whole coriander seeds, whole bay leaves, whole juniper berries. Bring the water to a simmer and add all ingredients, including the insoluble ones. Leave to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, allow your meat to come to room temperature, and leave it there for about an hour to encourage the lactic acid flora to grow. Find a tight fitting container of food grade plastic, You will need a tight fitting container, because most importantly you are using the brine, 1 part too 2 parts meat. Submerge the meat below the surface and keep it there with a plate or weight, of some kind. Now put it on the top shelf of the fridge, 5 - 6 �C for 10 days per Kg of meat. Or at least 9 days. turning every other day.

If people wish to use Cure #1 instead of Saltpetre for this method, am I correct in saying that they could use something like..

Water 85%
Salt 9%
Sugar 5%
Cure #1 (From main site) 1%

to be about on the FDA recommended levels of Nitrite?

Or for the EU levels...

Water 85%
Salt 9.25%
Sugar 5%
Cure #1 (From main site) 0.75%

Phil

[saucisson]

Quoted from the site shop:


All Purpose Curing Salt

This salt is an easy to use replacement for saltpetre or cure 2 in recipes, this replaces the salt and the cure. If a recipe calls for saltpetre and salt simply replace the amount of salt required with this curing salt. This ready mixed formula is a mix of salt sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, it gives guaranteed results and is safer to use than pure nitrate/nitrite.

The problem here is that you are trying to adapt a recipe that has no cure in it as it stands, so I just don't know if you can just do the one for one swap. As far as I can see you should be able to use Oddleys English Brine recipe and swap the salt and saltpetre for all the all purpose curing salt. It would be nice to know how much nitrate and nitrite is actually in it though.

Dave