[Button End Beasts]

Hello,


Our next lot of pigs are off to the seaside soon and I fancy having a go at making Parma ham. I am worried though at wasting a lovely chunk of meat, that is if I don't get the processing bit right and the meat goes rancid. I would appreciate any tips of "do's" or "dont's" from those of you who have made Parma ham. I guess buying the book Cured is a good starting point!


Thanks in advance,
Beki

[Tamsaddle]

We have made several and it is absolutely divine!   So far we have not had a failure (ie. rotting) but it is always nerve wracking opening them up after hanging for 6 to 9 months, particularly as there is always lots of green mould on the outside before you wash it off.   We use the recipe for Sweet Cured Ham in 'Preserved' by Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton.  Main word of warning - parma ham is pointless unless you have a good enough slicer that can do the very thin slices required, it really is not very pleasant as thick hand sliced rashers, far too chewy and tastes completely different.    Other thing we do is weight down the lid with very heavy breeze blocks, this causes a black salty liquid to leach out at the bottom, so need a tray to catch this in.   Just wash it away from time to time.    Good luck - Tamsaddle

[Anke]

We used HFW's recipe from River cottage books, our were always boned by the butcher, the dry cured and hang in the (mostly open) garage. Very nice...
 
But we have only done this with pigs that went for slaughter in October/Nov time, this way the hanging was one outside the fly season and in pretty cold winters.

[darkbrowneggs]

I made a Black Forest type one with lots of herbs in the cure and very nice it was too
 
I remember reading somewhere the old way for Parma Ham was to store it in pea flour in a wooden chest on an upstairs landing, but I would guess it is nowhere near as "damp" ove there as our climate 

[Sudanpan]

We've made air-dried ham (there are a couple of topics on here already about the experiences)
I would definitely second the recommendation about having a proper meat slicer as the product tastes completely different (better) when sliced wafer thin.
One of the reasons Parma Ham is so expensive is the time element, but also the fact that it is impossible to make sure you don't suffer any losses - sometimes the meat just goes bad.
We currently have 3 hams hanging in our homemade meatsafe in the eaves of the lean to for the barn. They've been there for nearly 6 months now and look completely disgusting (!) I'm sort of resigned to the fact that we may lose all of them this year because it has been so damp    that I'll be amazed if they do dry out properly - I'll find out in another 3 months!
Give it a go - the finished product is really amazing 

[Eve]

Sudanpan, do they smell bad? Otherwise, just leave them, if they had enough salt on them they'll dry out well enough. It's ok if they're covered with mould.
 
Button End Beast, as long as you put plenty of salt on and in the ham it'll be fine. We weigh it down with bits of cast iron and hubby's drill, all wrapped in tea towels and lots of clingfilm. It'll take about a week or two to cure (a day per half a kilo of meat), then rinse it and rub any exposed meat with lard to help with drying out (hard skin stops moisture from escaping from the meat and hence prevents drying and encourages rot). Hang in muslin or a pillowcase somewhere frost free and leave for 6 months or go. When the pig is first butchered, ask the butcher to tunnel bone the leg, it'll make for easier slicing once you've turned it into ham.
We didn't have a professional slicer for the first few hams (and the bone was still in), but a few good knives did a reasonable job - but as with anything, thin slices make it go much further 
 
It won't be parma ham, btw, it'll be a UK cured ham (much more flavour, in my humble opinion  ).
 
This subject has been covered quite a few times already, have a search on this forum and you'll read all about our experiences.
 
Enjoy!
 

[Button End Beasts]

Hmmm   hadn't thought about the thin slicing aspect. I shall check out the thread on slicing machines which was on here last year? Could be my OHs birthday present!


So where do people hang their hams? Eve, I think you said on a previous thread that you put them in the loft. I could do that but we tend to get cluster flies in there over the winter. Or we have a wood shed. I could hang it in there but, if the meat is ready to hang, say the end of Feb, then it would need to stay there until end of the summer I guess. So what about the extremes of temp? Could it get too cold and then perhaps too hot? Also I am a bit worried at finding a disgusting rat hanging off the meat (I know rats live under the shed, and much as I try to kill them, another steps in!)


So looking forward to this!

[Tamsaddle]

We have a cellar which stays cool all year long, including hot summers.  However, I have always understood that just as important as temperature is good ventilation and moving, not still, air.   The ideal would be to live up a mountain with deep, cool caves through which the wind blows all the time, as it does in the Parma region of Italy, hence the reason they make hams there.   When we remember to get them out, we sometimes hang them outside from tree branches in the depths of winter, inside a large, six sided wire mesh cage to prevent squirrels or mice getting in, not that they have ever shown any interest in trying, and a gale resistant, plastic sheet attached to the flat top to prevent them getting soaked, although rainy weather is not ideal as too much of it comes in sideways.   Much better is the drier, bitterly cold, north easterly wind sort of weather.    Tamsaddle

[domfoy]

Hi


my 3rd (annual) pair of pigs is due to go for slaughter in 12 days time. I have made airdried ham from my last two pairs. Each time i've removed the bone as i'm told there is more likelihood of rotting if you don't. It hasn't been tunnel boned though so I put lots of salt / cure inside and then sewed it up with butcher's string. The 1st ham was great, the 2nd I have just unwrapped from  its mouldy muslin after 9 months. When I first hung it in April it was (I believe) attacked by birds who ripped the muslin. Then flies got in- disaster! So I unwrapped, cleaned with w wine vinegar and rewrapped. It was attacked a 2nd time so eventually i hung inside the garage away from pesky feathered creatures. When I unwrapped last weekend about 4 maggots fell out. I was a bit shocked. The meat looks ok but smells a bit mildewy. I cut away any meat / fat that looked at all dodgy and the rest is now wrapped in a tea towel in the fridge.


I'm not sure whether I should eat it or whether the taste is any good. Bin or eat? Hmm! I think my lessons are: start the dry curing in winter, keep birds away Any opinions please?!

[Tamsaddle]

I reckon the answer lies in your nose - if it's seriously inedible it will smell horrible, and probably would taste horrible too.   If not, I would proceed with eating a very small slice of a nice looking unmouldy bit, then wait 24 hours and see if there is any stomach/gut reaction.  Bin it, or not, accordingly.    The maggots must have escaped your notice when you washed it out with wine vinegar, but I don't think their presence would necessarily have ruined the whole thing, or made it poisonous.   Tamsaddle

[domfoy]

Thanks Tamsaddle, will proceed on those grounds! I think the damp over the past few months hasn't done us any favours

[Sudanpan]

Domfoy the last ham I unwrapped did have some creepy crawlies in it which did make me pretty worried - but I followed the advice of trust your nose and cut away anything vaguely soft and/or smelly and persevered wth the rest and it was fab 


Our current 'drying' hams (the weather isn't helping' look horrible but not smelly so we are waiting it out 

[fruitful]

I had a first go last autumn and was really pleased with the result.It had two months coated in the cure mix in the fridge before I hung it in the cellar which is always cool, even in summer and it seemed to dry out without any mold after covering it in lard. I did do a fairly small boneless joint as i was worried about wasting my precious meat but might do more this year. We found someone locally who sliced it for us in return for a few slices.
I did a big gammon joint for boxing day as well which was amazing - just left in in a big plastic box with a weighted down lid in an outhouse for a few weeks, then rinsed it well, boiled it and then baked it coated with honey and mustard - yum!

[Button End Beasts]

Yummmmm, just had a bagel with scrambled egg and......our parma ham. The ham turned out great, we've opened it up after 5 months and its really nice, not too salty and not too hideous looking. The only downside was that there was a section where there was no fat, and this bit was pretty dried out, a bit like jerky. I think I read somewhere to cover the ham in lard before hanging?


So if anyone wants to have a go, we followed HFWs method, which is on the web , no need to buy the book. Then we hung it outside from Feb onwards in our lean to/ porch thing (so no rain could get on it), wrapped in a couple of layers of muslin and put the whole thing inside one of those bird feeder, cage protectors with chicken wire wrapped around it to stop birds pecking it.


Parma ham and asparagus spears tonight I think!

[Bionic]

I followed HFW's version on utube. I hung it last Oct and we opened it a couple of weeks ago. After reading a few horror stories I wasn't sure what to expect but apart from some green algee on the outside that was it.
I cut off all the outside and then cut it into 2 pieces so that it is easier to manage. I have wrapped it in cling flim and then foil and put it in the bottom of the fridge.
It isn't at all salty but does have quite a strong flavour and OH isn't all that keen  . He said it smells funny but actually it smells exactly like the inside of a delecatesen shop so I think its fine.