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Author Topic: can you dry cure ham that's been frozen?  (Read 5674 times)

jarrick

  • Joined Jul 2012
can you dry cure ham that's been frozen?
« on: July 28, 2012, 01:52:16 pm »
Hi, we have 3 pigs to be slaughtered very soon and I wanted to have a go at dry curing some of the meat. The trouble is that it's not the right time of year for it (according to what I've read on the net) and I don't have a drying curing chamber rigged up yet so I'm wondering if it's ok to just chop it all up and stick it in the freezer until I'm more prepared, then thaw it out and dry cure it (as in salt it, cold smoke it and leave it hanging for months - no cooking).
Thanks.

Greenerlife

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Leafy Surrey
Re: can you dry cure ham that's been frozen?
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2012, 03:00:08 pm »
Yes you can.


I am never ready, so I have done it a few times!  :D   I haven't died from eating it - a curing counts as cooking.

jarrick

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: can you dry cure ham that's been frozen?
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2012, 03:48:19 pm »
thanks, that's a relief. I suppose there's no noticable difference in quality then?

Greenerlife

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Leafy Surrey
Re: can you dry cure ham that's been frozen?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2012, 05:52:00 pm »
None that I have noticed.  i don't smoke mine - just salt and air dry, and I have also done it during hot months, but hung the hams in a cool(ish) garage.  Once they have been packed under weight, they don't really drip!

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: can you dry cure ham that's been frozen?
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2012, 10:09:15 pm »
Yes, it'll be fine to freeze it first. But unless the temperatures go back up to 30 degrees I wouldn't worry about it being too warm if your pigs are going in a few week's time or so - our pigs went at the end of September last year and suddenly we had an Indian summer with higher temperatures than in August / September (20-22 degrees Celcius but in a suntrap garden it gets much warmer) and yet the meat that was covered in salt for curing was absolutely fine - salt is a marvellous thing! :thumbsup:
You don't need a dry curing chamber, just somewhere dark and relatively cool but frost free. A lot of the information on the internet comes from southern US states where it gets much warmer than here and the humidity is higher.

 

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