Recipe - To Cure Hams

100 pound Ham
3 ounce Salt peter
1 pt Salt, kosher
One half pound Brown sugar
*also:
2 pt Salt
1/8 pound Pepper

*** The "recipe" specifies ham from cornfed hogs, and "fine salt (best
quality)". Since kosher salt is commonly available today, and contains no
iodine, I changed the ingredients to specify it. Mix thoroughly the salt
peter, 1 pint salt and brown sugar and rub over the hams and let stand for
24 hours. Then rub the meat with the pepper and part of the remaining salt.
Let stand for 5 days and then rub meat again with fine salt. Set aside for
30 days, hang the meat up and brush off the salt. Have hams smoked at a
good smoke house, smoking them for 10 days with wood. When finished, rub
entire ham with red pepper, wrap carefully in brown paper and then in
muslin bags and hang up with the hock down. Hams prepared in this manner
will keep indefinitely, and flavor and quality improve with time.

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