Last November on a hunt with GSGS, I killed a pig that had lived his entire life in an orange grove. Neil took me there as a treat, because he knows I have dry-cured hams from pigs I’ve shot with him. We agreed it would be worth a try. After all, world-class prosciutto gets its flavor from the pigs’ diet: whey from Parmesan cheese in the case of Parma hams, peanuts in the case of Serrano hams from Spain, and so on. So why not give “California Ham” a try?
It takes a long time to dry cure a ham, but the process is pretty simple. First, it’s best to freeze the hams. The length of time it takes to kill all larvae of the Trichomonas parasite varies, but if you have a chest freezer that gets to 10-20 deg below 0 Farenheit, 3 months is more than enough. I tend to leave mine longer than that, then do the curing when I get the time. After the salting, you then hang it for 9-12 months. So all the flavor you’ll get from the ham is natural flavor from the pig itself. That’s why what they eat is important.
I took this pig with Neil last November, and it’s been in the freezer since then. I’m clearing my freezer for the fall hunts so I’ve been meaning to get started on the curing, and I thought some of you might be interested in the process.
I took the two hindquarters and cut off the shanks. That leaves two one-pound shanks for braising, and two 5+ lb hams to cure. I didn’t bother to cut off the shanks with the first prosciutto I made, which was a mistake because it’s hard to cut cured meat off the bone of the knee (stifle) joint. I concluded it’s better to use the shank on its own.
After rinsing and patting dry, you just rub kosher salt into the surfaces and put a weight on top. The salt draws out the moisture, and the extra weight helps by pressing the excess out of the meat.
You can stack them like I do in these pics. They go into the fridge like this, and will stay there about one day for each pound. I check them every day to pour off the fluid that accumulates in the bottom so the hams don’t sit in brine.
I’ll post up more pics when the salting is done and I hang them to age.
It takes a long time to dry cure a ham, but the process is pretty simple. First, it’s best to freeze the hams. The length of time it takes to kill all larvae of the Trichomonas parasite varies, but if you have a chest freezer that gets to 10-20 deg below 0 Farenheit, 3 months is more than enough. I tend to leave mine longer than that, then do the curing when I get the time. After the salting, you then hang it for 9-12 months. So all the flavor you’ll get from the ham is natural flavor from the pig itself. That’s why what they eat is important.
I took this pig with Neil last November, and it’s been in the freezer since then. I’m clearing my freezer for the fall hunts so I’ve been meaning to get started on the curing, and I thought some of you might be interested in the process.
I took the two hindquarters and cut off the shanks. That leaves two one-pound shanks for braising, and two 5+ lb hams to cure. I didn’t bother to cut off the shanks with the first prosciutto I made, which was a mistake because it’s hard to cut cured meat off the bone of the knee (stifle) joint. I concluded it’s better to use the shank on its own.
After rinsing and patting dry, you just rub kosher salt into the surfaces and put a weight on top. The salt draws out the moisture, and the extra weight helps by pressing the excess out of the meat.
You can stack them like I do in these pics. They go into the fridge like this, and will stay there about one day for each pound. I check them every day to pour off the fluid that accumulates in the bottom so the hams don’t sit in brine.
I’ll post up more pics when the salting is done and I hang them to age.
