Home Cured Bacon & Ham; see Disclaimer in post #1

Askim

Firstly the disclaimer,
The following are my views, experiments and trials, I am not a butcher, food scientist or any of the like, I treat all my cured products as raw meat & use the freezer for storage. All my produce is for home use & a few select friends (I like it too much to share), what follows is how I do it & not a recipe, etc, you should consult a professional if you want advice on the correct way.

Firstly write everything you do Down, you won’t remember!!

I cut up my pig myself, cut it in 5 first, Hand & shoulder up front, chump & ham down the back & middle split in 2, giving loin on top & belly underneath.
I then separate the Ham & chump, either bone out the ham or leave it whole, in the freezer it all goes, loin goes for chops or boned out, then cut in half & frozen.
Belly is boned out & cut in half, Leaves about 10” chunk of belly, then it is frozen too.

My theory on curing is flavour with as little salt as possible.

Dry cure, I mix curing salt with sea salt at ratio of 2:1 ( I want pink meat but with less chemicals), too this I add various spices & some brown sugar, a handful of this is rubbed on defrosted belly or loin, every day for 3 days (Loin gets 3 days on eye & 1 day on skinny bit on the end), then quick rinse with cold water & it is hung outside, for a day or so, if it is cold & no flies about, otherwise in the fridge, this will dry it out, the a big knife & slice away.

Wet cure, Curing salt is mixed with water & spices are added, I have only cured a boned leg this way, I inject the meat with brine using a 2” needle & syringe, then I immerse in the brine & into the fridge, I go by the rule 1 day curing per inch of meat, so a leg 5” thick I give it 5 days, I then rinse & hang it for a day.


How do you do yours??
A

slowburner

Askim wrote: »

Firstly the disclaimer,
The following are my views, experiments and trials, I am not a butcher, food scientist or any of the like, I treat all my cured products as raw meat & use the freezer for storage. All my produce is for home use & a few select friends (I like it too much to share), what follows is how I do it & not a recipe, etc, you should consult a professional if you want advice on the correct way.

Firstly write everything you do Down, you won’t remember!!

I cut up my pig myself, cut it in 5 first, Hand & shoulder up front, chump & ham down the back & middle split in 2, giving loin on top & belly underneath.
I then separate the Ham & chump, either bone out the ham or leave it whole, in the freezer it all goes, loin goes for chops or boned out, then cut in half & frozen.
Belly is boned out & cut in half, Leaves about 10” chunk of belly, then it is frozen too.

My theory on curing is flavour with as little salt as possible.

Dry cure, I mix curing salt with sea salt at ratio of 2:1 ( I want pink meat but with less chemicals), too this I add various spices & some brown sugar, a handful of this is rubbed on defrosted belly or loin, every day for 3 days (Loin gets 3 days on eye & 1 day on skinny bit on the end), then quick rinse with cold water & it is hung outside, for a day or so, if it is cold & no flies about, otherwise in the fridge, this will dry it out, the a big knife & slice away.

Wet cure, Curing salt is mixed with water & spices are added, I have only cured a boned leg this way, I inject the meat with brine using a 2” needle & syringe, then I immerse in the brine & into the fridge, I go by the rule 1 day curing per inch of meat, so a leg 5” thick I give it 5 days, I then rinse & hang it for a day.


How do you do yours??
A

I don't know anything about the process at all.
I just want to say that this sounds fantastic given all the worries about Nitrites in ham and preserved pork products.
Suphate, sulphide and nitrite free, home spice cured pork - now that sounds like a winner to me.
Will you be selling some by any chance?:D

Askim

won't be selling, see post below, would want €300 a pig if selling & i think i would be waiting for it.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056469316

Mine is not Nitrate or nitrate free, i use Curing salt with them included, i do cut them down by adding pure sea salt, Might try see how low a ratio that would still give me pink ham, you can leave them out but you will have Grey ham

A

slowburner

I wonder what folks used before nitrite was available. Did they just put up with the colour?

adgsevans

So Askim , is it that simple , i had this vision of an old bath with bags of salt and weights to hold it down .
I can break down a side of pork so what you are suggesting is curing it a piece at a time which makes perfect sense .
What about the whole parma ham thing , saw it done on tv , looked simple enough , have you any experience .
The nitrites etc , where would i get them from .
The gob****es (pigs) have destroyed thier ark and are sleeping in the frost although they have dug a hole in which they sleep side by side , very rescourceful . They should have run in the election .

Just to finish " is it that simple"

regards

Askim

adgsevans wrote: »

So Askim , is it that simple , i had this vision of an old bath with bags of salt and weights to hold it down .
I can break down a side of pork so what you are suggesting is curing it a piece at a time which makes perfect sense .

Firstly it is that simple

What about the whole parma ham thing , saw it done on tv , looked simple enough , have you any experience .

Haven't tried it yet, last year was my 1st year to try any curing, i will try it but it is a risk & i am too chicken to try one of my lovely legs, yet !!

The nitrites etc , where would i get them from .

i get it from these guys, http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk i bought a mincer & sausage stuffer, using a kenwood mixer with mincer attachment was so slow.

The gob****es (pigs) have destroyed thier ark and are sleeping in the frost although they have dug a hole in which they sleep side by side , very rescourceful . They should have run in the election .

They are so clever, the next ark you build think, would this break if i was to go mental with a sledge !!!

Just to finish " is it that simple"

Tis

Have you killed yours yet ??

try a full pork leg on the bone roasted slow, no rub, no marinade & no anything, it us really good, not dry & the flavour, mmmmmmm:cool::):):)



A

knownothing

have a read of j seymours selfsufficiency book; or hugh f h.s rivercottage series.now on dvd. make sure its the first series. also some of the older polish people are worth talking to, as the speak from experience. our own older generation also carry a lot of wonderful first hand info on many subjects not only on filling ones belly:) i have some vpb pigs which i got for aforementioned purpose, but have become pets:D so you know the rest.i hope to try again, with a differant breed,maybe tamworths or tam wild boar cross. something not as lovable as the v pot bellys .ive eaten a fair amount of polish pig,very good, not too fond of the smoked variety though.but beggars cant be choosers:)

slowburner

I am still thinking about the marketability of nitrite free ham.
There is a fair bit of debate going on about the health implications of nitrite and some scary things have been said about it.

Interesting links here from the same supplier
http://www.pastureperfect.com.au
http://pastureperfect.nourished.com.au/nasty-nitrites-and-nitrates/

There could be a heck of a demand for this product.
I'd be in the queue anyway

adgsevans

Killed them after xmas , i think i left them about 6 weeks too late . A serious amount of fat , but not on the legs . I presume this is because they had plenty of exercise . Just ordered some salt to cure . Have eaten a few pieces of pork . Verrry tasty

fodda

Now you know where lard comes from:)

Askim

adgsevans wrote: »

Killed them after xmas , i think i left them about 6 weeks too late . A serious amount of fat , but not on the legs . I presume this is because they had plenty of exercise . Just ordered some salt to cure . Have eaten a few pieces of pork . Verrry tasty

Same here Killed 3 end of Jan,smaller one was fine, but 2 bigger ones were too fatty, my problem is i have to book time off in advance to get them killed & 2 days the following week to cut them up, 2 very cold days, thank feck.

Sasusges were much better this time, went for 6mm mince, less bread crumb, little more salt, ice water, basic spice, big mix, then back through the 6mm plate, then stuff all into big casings & when cooking cook slow. small ones dry out when cooking

Ag, did you have a go at cutting up yourself ??

A

slowburner

The fact that a major Irish pork product manufacturer is advertising a '5 natural ingredients' (i.e. no nitrite) recipe for its ham, might hint at the future.
Since the bad press over the ingredients used in the curing process, I've noticed masses of ham & ham products condemned to the bargain bins.
The way forward is nitrite free imho. :pac:

Askim

slowburner wrote: »

The fact that a major Irish pork product manufacturer is advertising a '5 natural ingredients' (i.e. no nitrite) recipe for its ham, might hint at the future.
Since the bad press over the ingredients used in the curing process, I've noticed masses of ham & ham products condemned to the bargain bins.
The way forward is nitrite free imho. :pac:

We have had that ham, i wonder how they get it pink, ham cured with just salt is brown/green, me personaly i don't like the look of it,

anyone any ideas how to get ham pink without nitrates ??

slowburner

Only a guess, mind you - but is it something to do with celery?
That's the only ingredient which stood out.

Atilathehun

Askim wrote: »

We have had that ham, i wonder how they get it pink, ham cured with just salt is brown/green, me personaly i don't like the look of it,

anyone any ideas how to get ham pink without nitrates ??

You just eat the brown green stuff, with your eyes closed:D

Askim

Atilathehun wrote: »

You just eat the brown green stuff, with your eyes closed:D

if i did that, my dinner would be eaten by others,:(

A

slowburner

How come there's no problem with eating browny/greeny beef?