Hammer Time!
May. 18th, 2009 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: York-Style Ham
1 pound (3 cups) kosher salt
1/2 pound (1 cup) light brown sugar
3 Tbsp insta-cure #1 (aka pink salt)
1 gallon ice water
10 lbs boneless pork leg top roast or bottom roast
Put the salt, brown sugar, and insta-cure in a 3-gallon or larger plastic or glass tub or crock. Add the ice water and stir until the salt is completely dissolved. Submerge the meat in the brine and weight it down with a plate so that it stays submerged. Refrigerate for three days. Remove the meat, stir the brine, and return the meat. Weight down and refrigerate for another three days. Remove from brine, lightly rinse and pat dry. Cold-smoke or poach in a vegetable broth; I cold-smoked it for about 3 hours.
What worked: It tasted like ham. But really, really good. It's in tonight's dinner (a ham, walnut & gruyere quiche). See below; I thought it came out just about perfectly and it sliced up well for the most part.
What didn't: Um, some of the slices shredded? I was very happy with it. The wife questioned if it was cooked enough because it was perfectly pink. A reasonable question but keeping the meat pink (instead of it going grey) is one of the reasons for using nitrate. That and avoiding botulism.
Will I make it again? Not until we go through some of it, but heck yeah. This is incredibly easy and I can't see buying a ham if I can help it...
1 pound (3 cups) kosher salt
1/2 pound (1 cup) light brown sugar
3 Tbsp insta-cure #1 (aka pink salt)
1 gallon ice water
10 lbs boneless pork leg top roast or bottom roast
Put the salt, brown sugar, and insta-cure in a 3-gallon or larger plastic or glass tub or crock. Add the ice water and stir until the salt is completely dissolved. Submerge the meat in the brine and weight it down with a plate so that it stays submerged. Refrigerate for three days. Remove the meat, stir the brine, and return the meat. Weight down and refrigerate for another three days. Remove from brine, lightly rinse and pat dry. Cold-smoke or poach in a vegetable broth; I cold-smoked it for about 3 hours.
What worked: It tasted like ham. But really, really good. It's in tonight's dinner (a ham, walnut & gruyere quiche). See below; I thought it came out just about perfectly and it sliced up well for the most part.
What didn't: Um, some of the slices shredded? I was very happy with it. The wife questioned if it was cooked enough because it was perfectly pink. A reasonable question but keeping the meat pink (instead of it going grey) is one of the reasons for using nitrate. That and avoiding botulism.
Will I make it again? Not until we go through some of it, but heck yeah. This is incredibly easy and I can't see buying a ham if I can help it...
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 02:48 am (UTC)I did some hams for the big school banquet about a month ago and was surprised at how well they came out. I liked the flavor better than store bought ones because I think the store bought ones are really over salted and they do some weird stuff to plump them up... it makes them sort of spongy or something? Anyway it was a fun experiment! It is nice to have a few other charcutiers around to blather on about our unusual hobby :)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 03:07 am (UTC)Can you use pork loin do you think?
Date: 2009-05-19 05:10 am (UTC)Re: Can you use pork loin do you think?
Date: 2009-05-20 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 10:57 pm (UTC)Are you planning on working with aged charcuterie as well? Air dried, smoked, etc.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 12:07 am (UTC)