Simplified Smithfield Cure For Hams

Serves:

Ingredients:

1 Pork leg (min 5 lbs) boned
1 lb White sea salt **
6 oz Saltpetre
1/2 lb Granulated sugar
English brine

Method:

NB Use Tidman's or Maldon salt, not gros sel (US Kosher salt? IMH) "Smithfield hams come from a small village in Virginia, and have nothing to do with Smithfield Meat Market in London.
They are famous for their mild, sweet cure.
This is the kind of ham to serve with pickled peaches, or spiced apples, or pineapple, and here is a simplified method.
JG" Mix together the salt, sugar and saltpetre, and rub the boned leg with it.
Pay particular attention to the part of the leg which is not covered by the skin, and where the bone came from.
Leave the meat in the salt.
Next day do the same thing all over again, and the two days following.
Four days of dry cure in all.
Scrape off any salt that is still clinging, and put the leg into English Brine for six or seven days.
String it firmly into a neat tubular shape.
If you have a good drying place (cool, airy, the temperature between 50° and 60°F, without violent fluctuations, no direct sunlight), squeeze the ham of as much moisture as possible and hang it up in a boiled string bag, for twenty days.
If you can't be sure of drying the ham properly, let it hang for several days only.
Cook like a Jambon de Paris.
(This ham can be smoked, but only to give it a light golden colour.
) Recipe "Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery" Jane Grigson MMed IMH c/o Georges' Home BBs 2:323/4.
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