Country Ham

[NCPaul]

Country Ham

There are a number of good resources out there to help in making a country ham, these are a few I liked.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qcwu6K4crHc

https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/458/458-223/458-223.html

https://www.amazon.com/Country-Ham-Sout ... ountry+ham

It is possible, because it is a whole muscle, to cure a country ham with salt only. I preferred to use cure # 2. The legal requirements for a country ham are that the ham has over 4 % salt and that it loses 18 % weight. With such a large amount of salt, sugar is usually added at 1/4 the amount of salt. The hams are usually smoked though the process can vary widely. The bulk of the hams are sent to market sliced after 6 months. Increasingly more country hams are being held for longer aging to allow for additional flavor development. The number of ham producers has been declining; some have retired and simply not been replaced.

https://www.stevecoomes.com/2018/08/23/ ... bluegrass/

Here is what I did to make a country ham:

Pork leg with trotter removed and aitch bone attached 28 #
Salt 168 g
Sugar 49 g
Cure #2 31 g

Rub the cure in the face and hock end (not all of the salt will stick). Wrap the ham in unwaxed paper and put the package in a ham stocking hock down. Hold the ham at 50 F for 2 weeks. No attempt to control the humidity was made. At this point, add

Salt 196 g
Sugar 49 g

Wrap in fresh paper and hold at 50 F for two weeks. At this point, add

Salt 196 g
Sugar 49 g

Wrap in fresh paper and hold at 50 F for two weeks. The third cure treatment had some portion of salt not adsorbed, the excess was brushed off. After two more additional weeks, I cold smoked the ham overnight for 12 hours using corn cob pellets. After 2 more months, I cold smoked the ham overnight for 12 hours using corn cob pellets. After 1 more month, I gave it its last cold smoking. The weight loss was 19 %. The ham had a beautiful copper color and an intense smoke smell. The ham was aged in a fridge at 50-55 F for a total of 18 months with a weight loss of 28.2 %.











After trimming out the aitch bone:



Wedge cut out and trimmed:



Sliced:

[Shuswap]

Now that is patience

[Snags]

Would this be what is considered a Xmas Ham ?

[NCPaul]

It is for me.

[SteveW]

Do you need to cook it or eat as is?

[NCPaul]

I've had it both ways for dinner tonight. It is different from the hams of Europe but quality meat and time has made it special.

[mr_magicfingers]

That looks delicious.

[NCPaul]

It is possible, because it is a whole muscle, to cure a prosciutto style ham with salt only. I preferred to use cure # 2. Jason's excellent instructions are here: http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2014/08/ ... .html#more Here is what I did to make this type of ham:

Pork leg with trotter removed and aitch bone attached 24.3 #
Salt 126 g
Cure #2 26.5 g

Rub the cure in the face and hock end (not all of the salt will stick). Lay the ham on a glass shelf and flatten it with a clean plastic cutting board and something to weight it down (I used a large can of tomatoes). Hold the ham at 50 F for 2 weeks. No attempt to control the humidity was made. At this point, add

Salt 126 g

Hold at 50 F for two weeks. At this point, add

Salt 126 g

Hold at 50 F for two weeks. The third cure treatment had some portion of salt not adsorbed. At two months time the ham weighed 21.2 # (13.8 %) and at three months 20.1 # (17.3 %). An equal mixture of lard and rice flour was applied to the face and to the hock end to seal it. The ham was aged in a fridge at 50-55 F for a total of 24 months with a weight loss of 20 %.

[ahm Fae glasgow]

I like the looks of that. Summer is going to be consumed by bacon fever that has hit me, and well BBQ will be doing overtime with some nice sausages so I will wait till fall and then maybe try an adventure into curing ham like this. I'll have to plan it carefully though as I will be absent for a while, trying to get to Cuba this winter as I missed out last year due to heart attack.