This morning I decided to bite the bullet and go for it, having mulled over it for ages. I am going to attempt to air dry a leg of ham , which will hopefully turn out something like Parma Ham in about a years time. It will spend about 20 days in salt till the moisture is removed, then hung in a dry atmosphere for a year. Sounds simple but lots can go wrong
I have some friends who did this and it was great! The outside was a bit manky initially but a good scrub and it was luuuurvely! Its hard to get it cut thin enough so they ended up getting a second hand deli meat slicer :biggrin:
Like the sound of it... used to live in Madrid, with all those shop windows full of hung ham legs... Delicious. Tapas y copas anyone?
Not at all, 14lb of boned leg of pork €40 , 25kg bag of food grade salt €7.50 . Finding a dry place to hang it in our climate is a potential problem all right, After salt will hopefully have drawn out most of the moisture I intend to cheat a small bit by running a dehumidifier for a fortnight in a small utility room where it will hang, then put it outside in a very old stone outbuilding where it will hang for several months.Hopefully the fact that the first few months its hanging will be summer, and the shed is very dry, if it gets too damp in the autumn I will bring it back into the house. Its all theory and as a first timer hopefully it works.
My Mrs did one of these from one of our own pigs a year or two ago - it turned out very well. I'm sure she'd be happy to share any tips if you like. I think she learnt a thing or two in the process
Do you not need some preservative like potassium nitrate (saltpetre) in the salt to help the outside from not going off? Like ths one? Basic dry cure ingredients 2 kilograms of salt 15 grams of saltpetre (optional) 200 grams sugar (optional, see below) 2 tablespoons black peppercorns (optional, see below)
My brother made some air cured sausage when his first daughter was born. There is still a bit in a jar of olive oil in his garage, on very special occasions it comes out and is served only to very select guests sliced very thing. Bethany is 9 years old in a couple of months.
I cant help thinking that recipe would be improved with a little bit of pork thrown in there.........:wink:
