OK here is my question. I'm sure Habs will come through on this one. Does anyone have a recipe to make/cure a Westphalian Ham? I received two hams from my brother that he received from the Amish. These hogs are about as Organic and Free Range as you can get. The Amish get the piglets in the spring and turn them loose in the timber then butcher them in the fall, when the weather is cold enough. I know I can and will do the injection thing with one of the hams but the one that I boned out I would like to try and make into a Westphalian Style Ham. To give you an idea of the size of these hams. Even after deboning the ham and placing it into a ham net and tying it tight. The ham WILL NOT fit into a 2 gallon Ziplock freezer bag. Any suggestions on how to make one?
No Ka Honu I am not shipping this Ham to anyone!!!
No need to ship!
I'll drive right up and trade you for a Virginia cured ham.. (whenever the UPS guy brings it) :D
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_CbvAIVzmFFM/Szq7ocObdSI/AAAAAAABB5k/s9dXRqPGP2g/1229091343-00.jpg)
Here's a recipe I found on n Austrian site - http://www.kirchenweb.at/kochrezepte/schweinefleisch/raeuchern/raeuchern.htm (http://www.kirchenweb.at/kochrezepte/schweinefleisch/raeuchern/raeuchern.htm)
MARINADE ZUM PÖKELN:
500 g Salz (salt)
70 g Rieselzucker (Kristallzucker), im Mörser zerstoßen (can use regular white sugar)
15 g Salpeter (pure KNO3)
1 L kochendes Wasser (1 liter boiling water)
Dissolve ingredients in boiling water and then cool and chill. Make enough solution to completely cover the ham and then keep the ham submerged in the brine for 3-4 weeks (that for a 3-3.5kg ham).
After brining take ham out of brine and allow to air dry for two days.
Then cold smoke over Juniper wood, all day, every day for 3-4 weeks (no smoke at night but leave in smoker). Ham should be firm but not hard.
Now I know why the stuff is so damn salty - at least the stuff we bring home from Westphalia.
I've found a couple recipes for this, and they all seem to have 'beechwood and juniper' smoke as the common element..
Maybe put some juniper berries in the brine?
Thanks 3rensho, Now I have to find the replacement value to use cure #1 or cure#2 instead of Saltpeter. I think I will use Hickory though to smoke mine. I am wondering how to convert the 3-4 weeks of smoke time to a Bradley style smoke. Maybe 8hrs a day for a week might be close to the same amount of smoke as what you would get in a traditional outdoor smoker
I just found this Now all I need is for it to be translated into English for me.
(http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/3979/20091212005619.png)
Hey Chris
Here is the ham i told you about. Maybe when the weather breaks i will do it.
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o290/stlthy1/DSCF5253.jpg)
cool maybe we can both do one of these Westphalian Hams. I would suggest that you trim the rind (Skin) off of the thing though.
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on January 01, 2010, 07:58:57 AM
I just found this Now all I need is for it to be translated into English for me.
1:5000 would be 0.0002.
Take the weight of your ham times 0.0002, and that is the amount of SN you'll need. (use Google to convert that to oz)
15 pound ham would need 0.003 pounds of SN.
Google (http://www.google.com/search?q=0.003+pounds+in+grams&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a) says:
0.003 pounds = 1.36077711 grams
IMO, that's how I would read that..
Thanks Pat, Now to way weight my ham and answer the other half of the question do I use #1 or #2 ? I am thinking Cure #2 since it is going to be cold smoked and aged.
From my uncooked (sitting in a UPS warehouse - somewhere) Virginia ham... They used Sodium Nitrate.
(http://virginiatraditions.com/assets/item/nutrition/regular/NF01.jpg)
I'd definitely go with No. 2.
guess I will have to order some.
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on January 01, 2010, 09:04:47 AM
guess I will have to order some.
If you need cure #2 i gots some.
when do you plan on doing this? i will have to get mine from the freezer.
This is what i found.
http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/Pages/westphalianham
Quote from: NePaSmoKer on January 01, 2010, 11:04:23 AM
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on January 01, 2010, 09:04:47 AM
guess I will have to order some.
If you need cure #2 i gots some.
when do you plan on doing this? i will have to get mine from the freezer.
Cool if you wouldn't mind sending some. Looks like once we get everything together probably start towards the end of January. Mine is in the freezer as well. I seen that link you posted they dont give a lot of specifics on measurements. I didn't read it all that well at 4am but I will reread it later need to take a quick nap. Have a surprise B-Day party tonight for a friend.
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on January 01, 2010, 11:31:14 AM
Quote from: NePaSmoKer on January 01, 2010, 11:04:23 AM
Quote from: Tenpoint5 on January 01, 2010, 09:04:47 AM
guess I will have to order some.
If you need cure #2 i gots some.
when do you plan on doing this? i will have to get mine from the freezer.
Cool if you wouldn't mind sending some. Looks like once we get everything together probably start towards the end of January. Mine is in the freezer as well. I seen that link you posted they dont give a lot of specifics on measurements. I didn't read it all that well at 4am but I will reread it later need to take a quick nap. Have a surprise B-Day party tonight for a friend.
Ok i will get some in a vac bag for you. You need anything else? dextrose, msg. dont have much eca left
I'm good on the Dextrose and MSG Thanks
Sorry I'm late in the discussion.
I've never did one of these hams, but looking at the post from 3rensho, this is not a dry cured ham. Therefore the curing method you use for the other hams you make should work fine, with cure #1. There are a couple of things you should keep in mind; saltpeter is a very slow acting cure and always requires longer curing times then cure #1 (sodium nitrite), which is a very fast acting cure. So that could account for the long curing time of that recipe. Also this recipe does not pump the brine into the meat, pumping accelerates the curing process.
If I were to make this at home, I would use the recipe from 3rensho; substitute cure #1 for saltpeter, but add the cure #1 in the amount I would normally use for that amount of liquid. If using cure #1, I would cut the curing time to 7 - 10 days; depending on the size of the ham. Also I would not add the cure until after boiling and allowing the brine to cool down.
It sounds like an interesting project. I can't wait to see how it comes out and, and which method you used to cure the ham.