Sugar Curing Meats?

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A great uncle of mine used to sugar cure pigs using pepper and other things. He would then hang the pig so that it hung the "way it stood". Does anyone know this recipe? I've bought the Morton Sugar Cure, but he didn't have access to this. In checking the ingredients on the package, it just says spices. Can anyone help? Thanks.

-- Jane Smith (kelticladie@aol.com), December 26, 1999

Answers

This is a recipe from an old cookbook. I don't know the name of it, as the cover has been gone since it was given to my mother by her landlady in the early forties, but the photos in it of "modern" kitchens all show gas stoves made to look like woodburners, so I would guess the 'teens or 'twenties. Anyway, I haven't tried this, just have the recipe. Here goes:

TO DRY SUGAR CURE MEAT For 400 pounds meat allow 10 lb. salt, 1 1/2 lbs. each black pepper and brown sugar, and 4 ounces saltpeter. Mix well together and rub each piece of meat well with this mixture, using the hands, about 5 or 10 minutes. Do not pile up the pieces of meat, but lay them out on a board or table, skin side down, in a cool place, but not cold enough to freeze. Let them stay there 4 to 6 weeks, after which they will be ready to smoke. After smoking, wrap them in clean, sweet hay, then put them in muslin sacks and hang in a cool, dark place.

TREATING HAMS AFTER SMOKING Have a boiler full of boiling water, dip the hams in, and let them remain 2 or 3 minutes, then remove, and cover them with a thick paste made of flour, water and cayenne pepper. The paste should be red with the pepper. Hang the covered hams in the sun until the paste covering is dry. Then put in stout paper sacks, tie closely, and hang in a dark and cool place.

There are other methods described in the book, including hot salt cures, brining, and drying. If anyone would like to know more, email me and I will try to get it to you. I don't check this site but about once a week, and who knows, this thing may all be down for the count in a couple more days!!!

-- A.C. Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 29, 1999.


We sugar cure our hams, and I am sure that is what your relative was referring to. When he said "hang it the way it stood" he was referring to the way we hang the ham to cure, with the shank end down.

It very easy to do:

1 1/2 cup Brown sugar 2 cups salt 2 tsp Black pepper 1 tsp ceyanne pepper

Coat the ham in this mixture and lay it in clean brown paper bags, (slit on one side and slid into each other at their open ends - so they can be slid closed when the ham is layed in.) Put the mixture in the sack, also and lay the ham in and slide the bags together. Wrap the bags in heavy string (we use baler twine), tightly to hold the salt mixture against the ham. (Leave 1/2 to 1 inch between the wraps of string and lace each row together as you go so they don't slip apart. Put the ham in a pillow case or cloth sack and hang with the shank end down for 5 to six weeks. (It will drip some at first, so put a pan under it to avoid a mess.)

I have excellent digital pictures that I would be happy to email to anyone of this process from start to finish. It takes at least a 133mhz computer to bring them in. My email is real, so feel free to contact me. The pictures are clear and eliminate the mystery. This is one of those times when a picture is worth a thousand words.

-- homestead2 (homestead@monroecty.net), January 05, 2000.


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