Recipe - Dry Salt Cure For A 14-Lb Ham

1 Ham (English hams weigh
roughly 14 to 20 lbs)
1 ounce Brown sugar
One half ounce Saltpeter (from the
drugstore)
2 pound Rough salt

The same method may be used for bacon. A leg of pork severed from the
whole side is called a ham. When the leg is left attached to the side, and
severed only after the cure, it is called a gammon.

You will need a salting pan. Leave the ham unskinned. Rub in the sugar and
the saltpeter first, paying particular attention to the bone ends. Then rub
on half the salt and put the ham to rest on slats in a slating trough (best
if it has a channel for the brine to drain out). Rub in the rest of the
salt at the end of a week. Leave the ham to take the salt for a total of 3
weeks (depending on the size of the ham), turning regularly. Then hang the
ham to dry in a draft of warm air for a day or two. If you would like to
smoke your own, you will need a barrel smoker or a smoking shed. Light the
fire with kindling first, then feed it with beech, birch, or oak sawdust.
Smoke over the open end of a smoker barrel. Keep the fire smoldering
constantly it is not good for the cure to allow changes in temperature.

Twentyfour hours in the smoke shoudl suffice for a ham; 6 hours is enough
for a side of bacon. York hams are then hung to mature for 2 to 3 months
in a tgemperature and humidity controlled room.

Time: 3 weeks plus.

From: "The Old World Kitchen The Rich Tradition of European Peasant
Cooking" by Elisabeth Luard, ISBN 0553052195 Posted by: Karin Brewer,
Cooking Echo, 7/92

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini