Post
by uwanna61 » Thu May 03, 2012 02:32
Hey Jan
I would work with a pork shoulder on 1st attempt, this way you won`t invest a large amount of money in a large ham leg. A prosciutto is truly made from the hog`s rear leg, as mentioned I would recommend the smaller picnic shoulder for practice. The ham I posted was in fact a picnic and I boned the shoulder also, this will make it easier to mix the salt and seasoning, throughout the whole shoulder. When you cut the bone from the pork, take your time and remove the bone with minimal cutting so not tare everything apart, use a sharp knife. Once you have a clean cut shoulder, with bone removed, rub 2/3 of the mixed salt and seasoning, and fold the ham together and put in a plastic bag, then use a ham press. I used two bakers cooling racks to press the ham with plastic tie wraps to squeeze everything together. This also helps to remove all moisture and any blood that may be in the meat. Then Put the ham skin side down into the fridge at 36 - 38 degrees for 15 days. At the end of the first 15 days remove the ham and rub the remainder 1/3 of the salt and seasoning mixture and repeat the whole process for another 15 days for a total of 30 days for the curing process to complete. At the end of 30 days remove the plastic bag and press (cooling rack) soak the ham in cold water for no more than 30 minutes, changing the water once, and then let the ham air dry for about an hour. Rub black pepper on the meat only, not the skin/fat portion of the ham. Now is the time to put the ham into a ham bag and reapply the ham press and then into the smoker at 130 degrees for 60 hrs, making sure not to run over 130 degrees during the 60 hour process. After the 60 hour process is complete, hang the ham for a minimum of 30 days at 60 degrees with 70% humidity.
Note: I did not reapply the wire rack to the ham when I put the ham in the smoker, next time I will, so that the ham will have that flat prosciutto appearance. Makes it easier to slice also!
Also you can make this ham with the bone in but will have to make sure to get as much salt into the bone area as possible. I would also recommend if you do leave the bone in, make a slit length ways across the shoulder to press as much of the salt/seasoning into the bone area.
(USA style) Prosciutto ham (8lbs)
Ingredients:
½ cup Salt
½ cup Maple or Brown sugar
½ oz Cure #2
3 TBS Whole black pepper crushed
2 tsp Juniper barriers crushed
Mix everything together and put into a container.
Superb looking ham!
