[Pocagranja]

Hi, does anyone have any advice on using a wet brine to cure a ham?  I have bought some Saltpetre but some recipes say add it & others omit it due to health risks? 
I can not dry cure hams here as its too hot, so I am going to wet brine the meat & put it in the fridge & then cook it afterwards. Has anyone had any success with wet brining? Any advice is appreciated!

[suziequeue]

THE expert on this forum (IMO) is Hilary's Mum. She put this recipe up a year or two ago and I messaged her for some additional information. Below is a composite of those messages.

Her wet cure recipe is as follows and is delicious - no saltpetre:

to every litre of water
340 grammes salt
60 grammes sugar (brown for pref)
then
about 20 juniper berries
same cloves
about 40 peppercorns  (My cure is usually in 6 litre lots)

Bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes.  If any scum appears skim it off.  Allow to cool then chill.

In a non metal container leave ham making sure its covered by the water. I have a large fridge for this. I tend to leave it for around 2 weeks but I do whole boned out legs.  During this time I check the water temperature daily and try to turn the ham over twice a day. I use freezer packs to weigh down the meat so it remains covered.    Its necessary to keep the meat at 4 deg. c

When its had enough time in the salt I soak for 24 hours. No idea why I just do. 

Then leave the meat to dry in the fridge allowing as much air to circulate as pos for around 2 days.

When you have rested your cured ham for 2 days, then simmer for 20 mins. per kilo. (very aprox)  Test with a knife to make sure it is cooked through.  I tend to leave it in the water to cool before removing.  Then let it rest and shove on the glaze.

For the glaze remove the skin, and any excess fat.  Cover the fat with a mix of dry mustard and honey, score into diamond shapes and put a clove in each diamond if you want.

Put this in a preheated oven as hot as pos. for about 10 minutes, just to finish off the glaze.

Let it cool before slicing really thin. 

You will find that each person has a slightly different take on this recipe its very basic, change it to suit you and your tastes. 

 

[Olly398]

As it happens, I put in a little ham (a hock basically) this morning! 

I used a variation the "english brine" from the late Jane Grigson: 5 pints rain water, 3/4lb salt. 3/4lb soft brown sugar, 2oz saltpetre, bouquet garni of your liking, boiled and cooled. I used 1/2lb salt because I had rock rather than sea available.

It will be removed from the brine, rinsed and boiled. Ideally I would only keep this little cut in for about 5 days but I forgot I'm going away for the weekend on Thursday so it might end up a little overpickled...  I might give it a resoak in cold clean water...   a full size ham should be in for around 10 days I beleive but I haven't tried one yet.

Looking at suzique's post, my brine might be a bit strong/sweet,  but anway I know it will taste good.
Enjoy!

[Olly398]

It turned out delicious! Full details here


 

[Pocagranja]

Thanks for the recipes, I am going to try both & see which we prefer.  Your ham looks great Olly!

[MAK]

Thanks Suzieque - I followed the recipe above  ( minus the junipers)   and immersed for 10 days - we did not soak it in water or leave to rest but therafter followed your recipe. We used the same glaze too and a large boned leg needed  30-40 mins at 180 to finish off.
Best ham ever!1
We invested in a meat cutter, sliced the lot then wrapped portions in foil and froze.
Today I had some of the frozen ham - just as good as the fresh.

Thanks so much - think we will just stick to the same recipe when we do the next lot - why change.

[graham-j]

Hi,I read this post with some interest as I have just slaughtered my first pig.
I have decided I want to cure both back legs,and have half filled a brewing bucket with you recipy above.
Is it ok to put both back legs in together and dose it matter that they are touching.

Graham.

[MAK]

No but rotate every morning to ensure all the meat gets fully  immersed. What about temperature though? We kept ours below 5 and above 2 degrees C. we used a camping fridge with the brine in a black bin linner and all the hams and hocks within. Ten days and then a soak in water before cooking and freezing. This year we boned and made much more ham than last year as visitors ate us clean last year. We even have ham labelled " Not for visitors"  - we keep the good stlices back.

[graham-j]

Hi thanks for the reply,I have a large chest freezer that I have replaced the thermostat on so it runs like a fridge.The brine is held in a brewing bucket set in that.When I measured the temp of the brine is 2c,I would struggle to raise this as I have the temp in the top baskets set to 4c so the lower you go the colder it gets.I hope this will be all right,we have 2 belly's in there dry curring as well as loads of sausages.

Graham.

[halfwaytothegoodlife]

I used a recipe of 12 oz sugar 12oz salt and 1 oz saltpetre today dissolved in 5 litres of water for a small 1 kilo joint of leg pork. I hope this works okay as first time trying to salt brine a joint. Its a practice run for a christmas ham.


Im not sure how many days to leave a 1 kilo in for?