[SallyintNorth]

Well yesterday I took my first ever home-cured leg out of its briny bath.  I hadn't had any saltpetre at the time, so BH was briefed on the symptoms of botulism and what to do if I started to exhibit any of them!  48 hours on I seemed to only be as loopy as usual so he had some for his tea tonight.

It's not pink but boy is it tasty!   

I'd boiled it and had some in a sandwich (it so didn't need anything to go with it - a bit of lettuce maybe but no need for mustard, chutney, tomato, mayonnaise or anything like that.)  For supper I was going to bake some a la Delia, then I realised I wanted to taste my own cure so I just baked it as it came out of the boil pot.

Well, BH is very good at eating everything you put in front of him.  He never volunteers anything about whether it's good or not while he's eating but will usually make some comment when he's finished.  The highest compliment is, "Did you say there is some more?"

He ate his first mouthful of baked cured pork leg, put his plate down and turned to me.  I can't now remember the exact words but he ended with saying that he'd never eaten ham as good as that.  I even got a big celebratory hug and kiss when we'd finished.

And we got 8 acres of really cracking silage baled today too.  A good day!

[Sandy]

My mouth is watering at the thought of proper ham...shop bought stuff is plastic!!! Ymmmm

[tazbabe]

well done you! sounds yummy!

[Crofter]

I was just thinking of cooking some of our ham. Having read this I'll just have to now!  Pan on!!
Thanks Sally

Dave

[JulieS]

That taste of your first ham is unbelievable.

Well done Sally.

What recipe did you use for your brine?

[Plantoid]

When you home air cure a leg or two of pork in salt for a few weeks and hang it for a month or so try soaking the ham joint over night in cold water to reduce the salt contenr , giving it a couple of changes of clean cool water .
It will still still taste slightly salty .
 With a brined gammon joint do the same  ..once you cut a slice or two off it give it a rinse off or dry off and rinse the whole joint if cooking it as a whole.

 We often used to do that and added some sweet apple juice ( 1/3 pint or so to the veg & joint in the slow cooker .

 Getting over that roast pork smell  .. cook it outside in a slow kettle BBQ and use a honey glaze in the salt rubbed crackling slashes .

[suziequeue]

Oh lovely Sally.

I did one at Christmas from a recipe in this forum.

It was so satisfying to do and absolutely delicious.

I felt a real sense of achievement.

Well done
 
 

[SallyintNorth]

That taste of your first ham is unbelievable.

It absolutely is.  

What recipe did you use for your brine?

Broadly Seymour's.  2lbs cure mix to one gallon water (boiled & cooled).  Cure mix 4 parts salt 1 part sugar.  I used demerara sugar.  Plus I added a pile of freshly smashed peppercorns and a bit of dried sage.