My first ham.

[Mark Benson]

Just had the slaughter date for my 3 GOS pigs (December), I'm definitely going to try this with a leg from this batch, that ham looks delicious.

[dazco]

I need to have a go at this too.I have a massive draughty freezing garage.

Calling Pad58. I assume you are a butcher because of your post on the sausage thread. How much for a very decent ham?

Edited by dazco on Monday 26th October 16:58

[pad58]

Hi,I cure my gammons in two weeks done a bit differently to that mentioned,

The legs i use are from outside reared pigs,
The leg weight is approx 9-10kg (20lbs+) bone-in then injected into each muscle with brine to push the overall weight up 16-20% this is then vacumed and left for two weeks,turning every 2 days or so.
14 days later washed and dried ready to be boned and tied for boiling.

I don't sell these to the public,just cook them and slice for my shop.

Hope this helps

[pad58]

Bill said:

Tucked into it at last, and it's great

Edited by Bill on Saturday 24th October 18:30

That looks the dogs danglies,Well done that man

[sleep envy]

get yourself a slicing machine, the way a ham is cut makes a massive difference to the taste

[Bill]

I'm guessing they don't cope well with bones though... I've seen them use a board with a clamp in Spain, and thinking about it i have a long thin smoked salmon knife that i inherited tucked away in a box somewhere.

[sleep envy]

no they don't but you can debone it before you cure it

[Bill]

won't that affect the taste?

[sleep envy]

TBH I don't know

saying that I doubt it considering how large parma hams tend to get I think they leave it so they can hang them better



I've currently got a parma ham and wild boar mix cured ham on the go, the parma ham side of it tastes much the same as when it is cut from the leg with the bone so I'm guessing not

I'll ask my father this evening, he used to make them

[dazco]

You can buy the wooden clamps on eBay.

Quite a nice feature in a kitchen, only £18 ish.

[smack]

That looks great Bill!

[pad58]

Bill said:

won't that affect the taste?

YES

[pad58]

There is an art to cutting ham on the bone,takes years of practice to get it right.
because if you get it wrong the meat will be tough and stringy,it has to be carved down the grain as appossed
to along the grain,same with any meat that is carved lamb,pork,beef specially steaks they can end up tough as old boots.