Ham and Bacon

A lot of people have expressed surprise that I not only butcher my own pigs, but I also cure my own ham and bacon.

There seems to be this idea that it's a lot of hard work and that it always comes out too salty.

I brine both ham and bacon (with different mixes) and find that it's not a lot of work at all.  Once the brine is mixed to satisfaction, it's a matter of placing the cuts in the bucket and leaving them in the fridge for a week.  After a week, I check to be sure the cure has gone all the way through, rinse them (this can take time and lots of water) then slice them, bag them and freeze them.

Bags of sliced bacon

This time I hired a meat slicer for slicing up the bacon and ham.  It was probably not the best model and I don't believe it was worth what I paid for it for the weekend.  I may just buy one myself, even using it only twice a year means it's paid for itself in just over a year.

The bacon was challenging to slice (better once I'd let it airdry for about an hour), but since the ham is baked (to an internal temp of 68 C), it made slicing it far easier.

I got my Bacon Cure mix and Prague Powder from Oskarbutcher.

The recipes and processes are as follows:

Ham

3/4 C salt
1 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Molasses
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 tsp prague powder #1

Mix all in warm water.  The salination of the brine is right if a fresh egg floats.  If the egg doesn't float, add equal parts of brown sugar and salt until the egg does float.

Place pork to be cured in brine and ensure that it's completely submerged (a plate on top can help as the meat tends to float).

Place in the fridge for 1 day per kg of meat.

Check the cure has gone right through.  Rinse ham and let soak in clean water.
Cut a small piece, fry and taste to check for saltiness.  If the ham is still too salty, let it rinse some more.
Cook at 150C until an internal temperature of 68C is reached.

Notes: 

I've never found it clear whether it's per kg of total meat or for each individual cut.  Most recently, I had 7 kg of ham in 5 different pieces (two were legs on the bone).  I almost forgot about it, so it cured for 9 days and wasn't noticeably different from last time when it cured for 4 days.

When I'm rinsing the ham, I leave my bucket under the tap with the tap running at it's slowest without just dripping and check it hourly.

Baking the ham this way does not affect it's ability to soak in a tasty glaze if you freeze it and then cook it later.  We used a leg ham for Christmas dinner last year and the brown sugar and orange juice glaze I made still soaked right through and tasted great.

Because I'm using whole legs, I use a 15 litre food grade bucket.  I need at least 3C each of brown sugar and salt for this.

Bacon

1 part bacon cure
1 part salt (not iodised)
1/2 part brown sugar

Dissolve in water until a fresh egg floats.  Submerge meat in brine.  Keep in the fridge for 4 - 7 days.  Soak in fresh water for 1 hour and test for saltiness.

Notes:

This mix can also be used as a dry rub in the same proportions, rubbed thoroughly into the meat every 2 or 3 days and finished off in the same way.