salt curing ham

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Could anyone let me know how to properly salt cure a ham? Its too warm in Texas to do it outside so, I am attempting it in the refrigerator. I have stipped the ham of skin. Layed it on a piece of butcher paper and coated it with salt and brown sugar. Every week i add more salt. To keep it from drying out too much I wrap the butcher paper with pla- stic wrap. Its been in the refrigerator about a month. Hope yall can help.

-- Jay Lee (jljabo42@aol.com), March 31, 2001

Answers

Jay,

As a boy I remenber my uncle would soak his hams in a brine solution, it seems as if he would leave the hams in the brine for a month then he would hang the hams in the smokehouse and smoke them with hickory wood (I think). He passed on in the late 1960's and I have the fondest memories of him, with his passing no one in my family cures meat anymore.

Regards,

Bob

-- Robert (STBABR@usa.net), April 03, 2001.


In other words, you are trying to reproduce the "curing on the board" that is done in a smoke house. When we cure on the board (versus, sugar curing where the hams hang to drip and cure) we use only salt. The brown sugar will make liquid and a mess for you. That's ok, just get ready to catch what drips.

As for covering with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out, - we don't try to keep the outside moist. As it cures, it will dry out and hence the uniqueness of a cured ham. There will be places on the ham that are as dry as jerky.

We stay flexible about how long we leave the ham in salt, determined by how warm it is. If it is super cold, like 10 - 20 degrees, we leave the hams longer, because they take the salt in slower in extremely cold temperatures. If it gets up in to the 40's and 50's and stays there for any length of time, we take that into consideration, knowing they will take the salt in faster in warmer temperatures.

We leave them in the salt for 4 to 6 weeks. If you get it a little too salty, cook it slowly in soupbeans or greenbeans for a real treat. You will never buy a ham that can compare to one you cured yourself.

If you are curing in a spare refrigerator, you could do the hanging cure that we do, by removing the shelves and rigging up to hang with a pan under it to catch the drips.

I have great digital pictures that email well, if you want to see how much salt/br sugar/pepper mix to put on a hanging ham. (The sugar cured hams are slid into two facing paper bags and wrapped tightly and closely with string to hold the salt mix against the ham during curing and then hung in a cloth bag.)

-- homestead2 (homestead@localnetplus.com), April 03, 2001.


Jay Lee , Swing by our web page you may find the answers your looking for and possiably more lol . http://www.geocities.com/sugarmountain

-- Lee Jobe (sgrmtn@moaccess.com), April 05, 2001.

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