which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Air dried cured meat and salami recipes

which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby P0PZ » Sun Sep 08, 2013 7:33 am

Just a quick question i asked Wheels he suggested i post the question to the forum... you all seem to have a wealth of knowledge that I could benefit from so here it is.
I've read quite a few recipes on curing a ham for Christmas... I'm quite a noob at this (have done 1 slab of streaky bacon (dry cure) and a few corned beefs (wet cure/brine) in the past) but I'm not sure which ham recipe to use, and may even be getting confused as I've read so many.

Would you recommend using the revised Pauline's Ham recipe from wheels blog or the Beginner's Guide to Combination Curing Ham from this site for my first attempt at curing a ham or is there a 'better' recipe out there that you know of???

Time isn't really an issue, I'm butchering a whole pig next week and I'm planning on the ham for Christmas so I have a few months where I can have the meat frozen before or after curing.

Cheers
P0PZ
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby yotmon » Sun Sep 08, 2013 7:49 pm

Hi Popz, I've just finished curing my 4th ham using the 'Pauline's ham' method. I't's very simple to follow, cured within a week and has always turned out fine. I don't bother using spices in the brine other than peppercorns as i prefer to add them to the cooking liquor.
ps. the other link to the beginners guide doesn't appear to be working.

Ste.
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby P0PZ » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:12 pm

SORRY... i typed the address wrong for the Beginner's Guide to Combination Curing Ham

use this link instead....http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4899

sorry again
cheers
P0PZ
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby yotmon » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:52 pm

Thanks for the correction. I remember making one of the combination cured hams last December, but having read the instructions again, I think I will continue with the 'Pauline's' method just because it's simpler to follow.

Others may disagree.................

Ste.
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby BriCan » Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:38 am

If you have time you might like to try this one

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6620&hilit=suffolk+ham
But what do I know
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby P0PZ » Mon Sep 09, 2013 8:05 pm

Hi Brican

Yeah i read your recipe before i posted... as a complete noob i thought it was a bit vague in the directions but have since read the entire 5 pages twice more.... i think ill be doing a streaky bacon using your recipe.

just a couple of questions,
Brican wrote:
Normally the leg is then placed in the cooked brine solution for three days for every Kg of meat, for me this would get very expensive (beer wise) so I place the leg in a vacuum pouch and add 1 Lt of the brine and vac pack. I turn the bag every day without fail so that the liquid penetrates all sides.


how much brine does the recipe make??? looks like it would be ALOT... like 4 liters or slightly more?
only asking as i dont want to make a heap of brine for a smallish test bit of belly.... is there a weight of meat to amount of brine ratio??

also a question for anyone in the know.... is there an all purpose curing salt recipe out there??? i have cure #1 salt and Potassium nitrate(kno3) i believe these are what is needed but dont know the amounts

cheers
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby wheels » Mon Sep 09, 2013 8:28 pm

P0PZ

To keep everything together, I'll reply here rather than by PM.

Whatever you choose to do, don't leave it until your Christmas Ham to try it out. I'd make a trial one now to make sure you like it.

Like Brican, I think I'd go for something a bit more special for Christmas. I'd also probably choose to got for a brine cured ham. I guess that's 'cos we have a lot of Pauline's ham during the rest of the year.

If you don't want the flavour of beer you could use water instead; you could even using a different type of sugar if you want. I do something similar to Brican's but using a different method - there's recipes here and here. Within reason, you can use either calculator to get the basic amounts of ingredients and then change the spice, type of liquid and type of sugar to get what you want.

HTH

Phil
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby Ruralidle » Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:19 pm

Hello POPZ
I am a fan of BriCan's Suffolk ham recipe! Cure your ham however you want first (dry cure or brine) then put it into brine or - if you have access to a vacpac machine - a vac pouch then refridgerate. If you are using a vac pouch you should turn in over every couple of days. The longer you can leave it in the cooked brine the better.

It is, of course, not necessary to make the quantity of brine that is in BriCan's recipe - he is a professional who makes his living from cured meats so preparing just one is not something that he does regularly :) . I use a couple of 500ml bottles of decent beer like the Fullers ESB that BriCan suggests, and one 454g can of black treacle. I do upscale the botanicals a bit from a straightforward scaling of the recipe - perhaps doubling the scaled down amount and it has produced a fabulous ham that looks and tastes fantastic.

Here's what my attempts looked like

Image

Image

Image
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby yotmon » Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:42 pm

Hi Ruralidle, your ham looks really good. How would you describe the flavour of the beer/treacle mix - is it a sweet cure or does the beer tone down the sugar, plus what method of cooking is best, baking or boiling ?

Ste.
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Re: which recipe to use for curing a ham for xmas???

Postby Ruralidle » Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:56 pm

Hi yotmon

It was a sweet-ish taste but certainly - as someone who can happily suck lemons - I don't find it too sweet. Fullers ESB is a dark bitter style beer so there is a taste balance in the ham. I have steamed it over the brine (making a foil tent to cover the ham) and that was good (that was the one pictured above) although I think boiling in the brine will keep a bit more moisture in the meat.

I did that last time and used my new remote smoking thermometer to keep track of the internal temperature (we have an Aga so I put it into the simmering oven after bringing the brine to the boil, as I do when steaming hams, until the internal temperature was 170F) and then let it cool a bit in the brine before removing and skinning it then glazing and roasting it for about 30mins. The difference was small but it was slightly more moist than the steamed version.

Both produce - IMO - a lovely ham which would grace any Boxing Day table :) .
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