Westphalian Ham

[Tenpoint5]

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!!!

[squirtthecat]

No need to ship!

I'll drive right up and trade you for a Virginia cured ham..   (whenever the UPS guy brings it) :D

[3rensho]

Here's a recipe I found on n Austrian site - 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.

[squirtthecat]

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?

[Tenpoint5]

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

[Tenpoint5]

I just found this Now all I need is for it to be translated into English for me.

[NePaSmoKer]

Hey Chris

Here is the ham i told you about. Maybe when the weather breaks i will do it.

[Tenpoint5]

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.

[squirtthecat]

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 says:

       
0.003 pounds = 1.36077711 grams


IMO, that's how I would read that..

[Tenpoint5]

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.

[squirtthecat]

From my uncooked (sitting in a UPS warehouse - somewhere) Virginia ham...     They used Sodium Nitrate.

[3rensho]

I'd definitely go with No. 2.

[Tenpoint5]

guess I will have to order some.

[NePaSmoKer]

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.

[NePaSmoKer]

This is what i found.

http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/Pages/westphalianham