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About to make my first parma ham, pig due on saturday. I've read this forum fairly extensively, but have a couple of questions.
In HF-W's books, he reccommends injecting some brine into the ham, as well as dry-curing it. Would this lessen the chance of spoilage or is the rubbing of cure generally enough?
Also, Franco's recipie says that after the ham is out of the cure it should be hung "in a warm room for three days (an airing cupboard is ideal)", while len poli's site talks about 130 degrees F (about 55 C) for 60 hrs - far warmer than my airing cupboard. Is this difference important?
Thanks

Freddy,

I can't answer all of your questions, but I can provide you with some information.

Curing meat is essentially a race. The race is between meat spoilage bacteria and you, and the issue at hand is just who gets to eat the meat: if the bacteria win, they get to eat it; if your curing wins and preserves the ham, you get to eat it.

Having written that, I am reminded that for thousands of years, meat was only rubbed on the outside with cures. Later on, it was found that careful rubbing technique, especially working the cure in at the bone ends, and rubbing well at cut surfaces really helped. Meat was frequently overhauled at intervals and re-rubbed with fresh cure on all surfaces so that good penetration into the meat was had. However, frequent failures were common, especially with bacterial growth starting along the bones and in the joints--the places that were difficult and slow to reach with cures only rubbed on.

Nowadays, we have the option of using a meat pump. The meat pump can be used to inject liquid cure into the joint spaces and along the bones and otherwise into deep places right from the start. Doing such practically eliminates some of the spoilage problems previously encountered.

As for the air drying: one should air dry the ham, as it forms a pellicle on the meat and the pellicle makes it easier to cold smoke. Prosciutto is not smoked, but the tough pellicle should aid in preservation and storage. I think that the differences you have encountered simply reflect a slow and a fast way to form the pellicle.