Help with making a ham!

[Masco&Bongo]

We have, in our freezer, half a pig (cut up, not whole!)...

I was browsing some River Cottage recipes and there was one for brine, for a ham...

It says you need fresh pork for it, but could I use a defrosted leg of pork to do this with?

The pig was killed, hung and brought home in November, where we immediately bagged it and froze it all.

Don't want to poison us, but really fancy making a ham!

Any ideas?

Cheers!

[contadino]

You'll struggle to make prosciutto using frozen meat, but a wet-cured ham could be an option. I don't know anything about wet-curing, but I guess the increased levels of water in the meat from freezing could be less of an issue.

[Masco&Bongo]

You'll struggle to make prosciutto using frozen meat, but a wet-cured ham could be an option. I don't know anything about wet-curing, but I guess the increased levels of water in the meat from freezing could be less of an issue.

It is (I think) a wet cured ham - left in a brine mixture for several days/weeks dependent on how long you want to preserve it for... recipe below:

Brine recipe
You don’t have to use a whole leg (which may weigh over 10kg) and an important consideration is whether you have a stockpot big enough to accommodate such a huge piece of meat. The quantities here are for a small, boned-out leg or half a large leg. For a large leg of pork from a mature baconer, on the bone, you may need to double the quantities.

1 whole or half leg of fresh, free-range pork, on or off the bone

Ingredients:

• 4 litres water
• 1.2kg salt
• 2 teaspoon dried red chilli
• 1 tablespoons cloves
• 2 tablespoons white peppercorns
• 6 juniper berries

Combine ingredients, mixing well to dissolve the salt.

Boil all the brine ingredients together in a large pan and leave to cool. Transfer to a non-metallic brine tub and chill to 3–4°C. Place your piece of pork – also chilled, ideally to almost freezing – in the tub and submerge completely, using a non-metallic weight. Leave the pork in the brine, in the coolest place you can find, for 3 days (minimum) to 4 days (maximum) for every kilo. The maximum time is for a ham you intend to keep a long while; the minimum will suffice if you plan to cook and eat it soon after it is finished.

After its allotted time, remove the ham from the cure, wipe it dry with a cotton cloth and hang it to dry in a muslin bag in a cool, well-ventilated place for 24 hours.

You can then smoke it if you like: hang it high above a hardwood fire or place it in your smoker and either smoke it continuously for 24 hours or intermittently (6–12 hours a day) for 5–7 days. Ideally the air temperature where the ham is smoking should not exceed 40°C (27°C is perfect but a little variation will not hurt).

Smoked or unsmoked, this ham keeps well if you go for the maximum cure time: hang it in a well-ventilated outbuilding, or covered porch where a draught can get to it but the rain can’t, and it should keep right through the winter months. In warmer weather, hams are at risk from flies and other bugs: best get them cooked before too long. A minimum-cure time, unsmoked ham should be kept in the fridge, wrapped in a cloth or muslin, but not plastic, and cooked within a month of curing. Don’t worry if a few specks of mould appear; just wipe them off with a cloth dipped in vinegar.

Hams should be soaked in plenty of fresh water, changed every 12 hours, for 24–48 hours (depending on the length of the cure) before boiling. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2–5 hours, depending on size. If the water tastes very salty after the first hour of cooking, pour at least half of it away and top up with fresh boiling water from the kettle.

[CHyRO]

I've made ham with defrosted pork leg no problems what so ever.

The only tip I can offer is after brining for x amount of days (3days a kilo) before rinsing and leaving in cold water for 24 hrs to help get rid of excess salt

Then boil the ham on a very, very low heat. before glazing and roasting.

http://www.cookeryonline.com/Ham/Cooking%20Ham.html

I don't bother with the hanging and all that I just cook it after it's allotted brining time and soaking in the cold water.

[Annpan]

Can I ask... why brine it, when you are going to soak the salt out again straightaway?

I can see that it makes sense to do it for storage but not if you are going to cook it immediately..

just curious...

[Ellendra]

You brine it to get the salt all the way throughout the meat.

You soak it to get the salt out of the surface of the meat.

Without the salt curing, its not ham, its just pork.

[Annpan]

Thankyou

[Cheezy]

Brineing draws out moisture from the pork, and the high levels of salt then preserves the pork. Also if you use salt petre/brine it gives it that ham red colour. With out the salt petre it tends to be the same colour as cooked pork.

[CHyRO]

I think the Eskimos bury their meat in the ground for six months and allow it to go rotten. They consider it a delicacy, bit like blue cheese.

Next year I'm gonna bury a pork chop over the winter with some juniper berries dig it up In February for Imbolk and eat it with some mashed potatoes. If you see me in on the news in casualty then you know I was not sucessful :

[Ellendra]

Theoretically, if the ground had enough salt and/or nitrates in the soil, that could be done.

I wouldn't recommend it though.