And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Its easy to make, its a hard dry cure, worst part is your effin' own patience making sure you keep the ham between 36-38F first 4 months, then whasing all the salt off, dry well, rub genuine olive oil good red wine (and garlic if you like), put it in a muslim bag, has to be real natural muslim, tied tight, keeps weevils out, hang at least a full year. Check it monthly so if any mold gets on the outside you carve it off, add some oil and wine. What your curing is a country ham, with the oil and wine. A soft cold smoke at any point really adds exquisite flavor, which I prefer, but its just as good not smoked. The ham must never get above 72F after hard cure is complete. Thats the trick of it right there, time and temps. Cleanliness is critical to taste too, and if you can use gloves, never touch any part with bare hands, thats another "secret", which applies to all butchered meats. Makes a huge difference. You can use any cure, from straight sea salt, cane sugar/salt, to commercial cures, raw home raised honey and sea salt is extremely good cure. Amount of dry salt/sugar cure is a tablespoon per lb. If its a full ham, (critical to leave the skin on if it can be done), get it dried with bath towels, dry as possible, rub outside with cure working it in, do it on freezer paper to catch all cure falls off, place it on top when you set it in the fridge, it will work in on its own, week to two weeks, add second half of the cure, no need to dry the ham, just get it all rubbed all over, pay particular attention to the bone ends, thats the critical area, cause the salt has to reach all the way from both ends, do it before "bone sour" sets in, what i do is a small very sharp knife, carefully skin the meat around the bone like an inch or two in, stuff a little cure in around the bone, then pat a bit more at the outside, this really speeds up cure along the bone. Don't be bummed if you get bone sour, i been curing hams half my life and every once in a while bone sour happens, no matter what you do, i believe thats more about a healthy hog verses one raised poorly, cause never lost a ham from hogs i raised myself. But its worth all the effort when it comes out right, and one full ham is A-Lot of eating, that stuff is salty, no matter what, thats why you shave it thin in the first place. You can do same for a side of bacon too, different meat and especially fat, personally thats my favorite, its the best flavored fat on the hog, second are jowls, cured they rock, shaved super thin slow fried on Christmas morning with french toast. Yeah Baby! Curing is simple easy once you get the critical techniques down. Temp and Time, and a tablespoon per lb of meat, thats it mostly.
Should be skiving that off of the leg..... jeeezz amateurs.....
ReplyDeleteIf this is prosciutto, then the BEST ever is Santa Daneli.
ReplyDeleteIts easy to make, its a hard dry cure, worst part is your effin' own patience making sure you keep the ham between 36-38F first 4 months, then whasing all the salt off, dry well, rub genuine olive oil good red wine (and garlic if you like), put it in a muslim bag, has to be real natural muslim, tied tight, keeps weevils out, hang at least a full year. Check it monthly so if any mold gets on the outside you carve it off, add some oil and wine.
ReplyDeleteWhat your curing is a country ham, with the oil and wine. A soft cold smoke at any point really adds exquisite flavor, which I prefer, but its just as good not smoked. The ham must never get above 72F after hard cure is complete. Thats the trick of it right there, time and temps. Cleanliness is critical to taste too, and if you can use gloves, never touch any part with bare hands, thats another "secret", which applies to all butchered meats. Makes a huge difference. You can use any cure, from straight sea salt, cane sugar/salt, to commercial cures, raw home raised honey and sea salt is extremely good cure.
Amount of dry salt/sugar cure is a tablespoon per lb. If its a full ham, (critical to leave the skin on if it can be done), get it dried with bath towels, dry as possible, rub outside with cure working it in, do it on freezer paper to catch all cure falls off, place it on top when you set it in the fridge, it will work in on its own, week to two weeks, add second half of the cure, no need to dry the ham, just get it all rubbed all over, pay particular attention to the bone ends, thats the critical area, cause the salt has to reach all the way from both ends, do it before "bone sour" sets in, what i do is a small very sharp knife, carefully skin the meat around the bone like an inch or two in, stuff a little cure in around the bone, then pat a bit more at the outside, this really speeds up cure along the bone. Don't be bummed if you get bone sour, i been curing hams half my life and every once in a while bone sour happens, no matter what you do, i believe thats more about a healthy hog verses one raised poorly, cause never lost a ham from hogs i raised myself.
But its worth all the effort when it comes out right, and one full ham is A-Lot of eating, that stuff is salty, no matter what, thats why you shave it thin in the first place. You can do same for a side of bacon too, different meat and especially fat, personally thats my favorite, its the best flavored fat on the hog, second are jowls, cured they rock, shaved super thin slow fried on Christmas morning with french toast. Yeah Baby! Curing is simple easy once you get the critical techniques down. Temp and Time, and a tablespoon per lb of meat, thats it mostly.
Can I come to your house for Christmas?
Deletebuy a feltz salt ham to eat while you're dealing with the prosciut.
ReplyDelete