Was asked by teesquare if I could post the recipe\method I used to produce my Country Ham. Well most of it can be learnt from watching the youtube video I will provide and reading a little. You do need a lot of patients also
So here goes:
How to Cure a Country Ham
With the proper mix of sugar, spices, temperature and patience you can cure your own country ham.
What is the difference between country and city ham?
Country hams are produced using traditional dry-curing methods. The cure is applied to the surface of the ham in dry form and is allowed to penetrate into the ham naturally over time. The result of the drying and aging process creates a robust, pronounced flavor and a firm texture. Some people who are salt conscious may find the saltier nature of country ham to be objectionable, but to the enthusiast, there is no substitute. Country hams may be purchased cooked or uncooked and may or may not be smoked.
City hams are produced using modern moist-curing methods. The cure is injected into the ham in a brine form. The process takes much less time compared to that of country ham. The result is a moist and tender ham that is characterized by its sweet flavor. Although milder than country ham, the flavor of the city ham is not bland and may actually be considered bold compared to a water-added grocery store ham. City hams are cooked and smoked using natural hickory sawdust.
I picked up the kosher salt and brown sugar that I needed for the salt sugar cure for the ham. Along with that I found a roll of table paper. I needed that to wrap the ham up with after salting it down. Earlier this morning I removed the aitch bone. Never did that before but watched a couple of youtube videos on how its done and its a piece of cake. Made sure I had lots of room to get the salt cure down inside the shank(hock). This is a must or you will get bone sour.
This will cure inside my little bar fridge for 20 days and than get another layer of salt cure for the rest of the time. (40 total)
Hams should be cured for seven days per inch of cushion depth , or one and a half days per pound of ham. So this is what I am going for.
I have this web site which pretty much is what I am doing but I am mostly following this youtube video. One is from the Food Science and Technology, Virginia Tech and the video is a 4H video done by the UK College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
They added pepper and some hot pepper which is what I did also.
Reference website:
https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/458/458-223/458-223.htmlYoutube Video to follow:
My ham was 17.5 lbs. and I also managed to pick up 10 lbs. of back fat for sausage making.
After removing the aitch bone. And pumping out any left over blood in the Mian vain.
Got my paper rolled out. Funny I worked in a paper mill for 38 years and I had to go out and buy paper.
Applying the sugar/salt cure.
Wrapping the paper around the ham
All netted up with large Ham Netting.
Testing to see if it will hold.
Off to the cheese fridge down stairs. The little crisper will serve as a catch tray when it starts dripping.
After 12 Hours We Have Liquid
Lots of Liquid after a few days.
After 20 days or so it is now time to do the second salting.
I did manage to get it down about two inches into the hock and piled it very thick on the butt face. I also have decided to go with cure time of two days per pound of ham and thinking I just might round that off at 40 days total cure time. I'm supposed to do this one more time before the 40 days are up. I will see how much liquid I get this time in the catch tray before I decide to renew. There was still a lot of salt left on there so I'm thinking it’s not necessary a third time. I repacked in around the bones very well and layered as much as I could on the outside of the ham before rewrapping. You can see the red color from the hot pepper I used. It had no funky smell and I also did the ice pick test thing at the bone (Google it) and to me anyways it smelt just fine.
After unwrapping.
So now it’s time to remove the ham and clean up the ham. It has lost 21% over the curing stage.
Getting unwrapped
All nice and cleaned up, love the color of the meat.
Off into a bucket of cold water and into the fridge for 24 hours to help remove left over salt.
Cure Equalization
Remove the salt cure by washing, the cured product
should be stored in a 40˚F environment for
approximately 14-21 days to permit the cure adjuncts to be
distributed evenly throughout the ham.
After that it will get a 24 hour cold smoke and then hanged at 50-60˚F for a year.
So Three Weeks Later the equalization stage is over it is now time to cold smoke the ham. This will be a two day process.
Day one:
And now day two and you can see it is taking on a nice smoky color. This will be the final smoke. Next stage is to hang them for a year.
Before hanging you will need to make a mixture of bacon fat (lard) and rice flour. No real measurements on this just make it thick and sticky. Wear food safe glove as it is real messy.
Cover any exposed meat and around the shank so they do not dry out. Hanging it in a basement with a good humidity of around 50-70 percent will do just fine. If you have a curing chamber you can adjust your settings throughout the year.
OK here is some info from one of my Go To Guys when I was doing this.
"No right or wrong answer but what you choose will be reflected in the overall character of the ham. Some like it more salty than others. The Kentucky hams I've tasted - and these were high dollar items - were extremely salty to my taste but that is how they like them. I've done it this way but my preference is a less salty ham so I backed my last ones off some and this was good to my taste.
One thing I think is important, and this is just my thoughts, but I prefer to let them equalize longer than the two weeks which is mostly recommended. I'll rinse them then let them equalize maybe three weeks. It just seems this works better for me and after all it’s not like another week will matter in the scope of things.
Your summer sweats is up to you. I don't worry with the humidity. I've hung them in the attic like many in Virginia do. Hotter the summer the better the ham. My attic will be in the 80's in the summer months. This heat tends to put a nutty taste to the ham. Some like this some don't. Some use this nuttiness as a gauge of how good the ham is. Some don't.
I think in all, it’s really what you want and like. I'd suggest doing one ham on one extreme and doing another on the other extreme and seeing the difference in the end product. Personally, for eating purposes, I like them less salty, and younger. No more than a year old but in small doses and/or for seasoning, you can't beat one that has been aged some years with some hot summers to really set some interesting flavors.
I guess, what I'm saying is there is no right or wrong way to do it but the longer it ages the more intense the flavor but the harder it is to slice. Just my take on hams."
Well as time go by the Ham will start to develop mold. Mine had green and white mold. Both OK molds. You don't want Black mold and be careful of any red mold. As long as the ham does not smell bad it will be fine.
This one hung for two years. I don't recommend two years as it was pretty hard to slice up even with a deli slicer.
The final product.
That’s about it. The YouTube video explains most of it. The hard part is waiting a year.
Hope this helps you out.
