Our ham is on the way

[Geoff_S]

Having seen our wives safely off to their daily activities, we started a very busy and productive day.



1. The first stage was to visit our friendly local butcher and get him to cut up half a pig as per the supplied instructions. Buried in this
    pile is the leg to be sorted.



2. This is going to be cured in a salt box and so loads of salt was needed.



3. And here is one I made earlier.



4. And so the burying of the leg commenced.



5. And the burying continued. A trip was needed to the supermarket to get more salt.



6. The leg was finally buried and one of the culprits was caught on camera!



7. Four weeks later, the exhumation commenced



8. Much digging was required but all was eventually revealed.



9. And the now much drier leg was found



10. The leg was then soaked and cleaned in water. This was followed by a cleaning with white wine vinegar.



11. And finally wrapped up in muslin for at least a year hanging. Mind you, his arm is going to be a bit sore!



12. Well I say finally, there was of course the celebratory beer and complimentary scratchings to be consumed.

      Roll on the next meeting !!

[Quarlow]

Looks great but what a wait. You got more patience than I do. I would say I will follow this close but with my CRS I won't remember this even 2 weeks from now. LOL

[Geoff_S]

Yes it is a long time to wait. But there was of course the rest of the pig which has ended up as sausages, bacon and pulled pork to munch on.

[SiFumar]

Hope I'm around in a year to see it! ;D

[squirtthecat]

Old school...   Wow!

And quite a wine selection you have...   ;D

[SiFumar]

Old school...   Wow!

And quite a wine selection you have...   ;D

Heck how did I miss the wine!? lol

[devo]

Wine selection???? That is a fricken liquor store where I come from  ;D ;D

[beefmann]

very nice

[Habanero Smoker]

Nice setup. I don't use that much salt, maybe that is where I'm going wrong.

[Geoff_S]

Oh yes, the wine. A photographer once told me to focus on the object to be taken in a picture .... and then look around it. The wine
is another hobby, so what sounds better? Most of those bottles are empty or most of them are full? I just get a buzz knowing that the revenue
ain't getting a penny.

As for all the salt, I neglected to mention that before putting the leg in it's box it had a good rubbing of premixed salt and saltpetre cure. I'm just a bit
paranoid about it going off, that it then seemed a good idea to completely pack it with salt to ensure that it was covered as much as possible. The salt doesn't get wasted
because I then use a lot in brines for salmon.

[ExpatCanadian]

Looks great... !  I like your salt box, I'm just about the build one myself.  Like Hab, I only used the amount of salt prescribed in the recipe for the weight of the leg...  but your way certainly makes sure enough is present.  Not sure the Saltpetre will even matter in this case, as I suspect with that much salt drawing liquid out of the leg initially it probably won't get much chance to penetrate...  but that's just a thought, no idea.

Well done...  we're practically neighbours by the way...  I'm in Hackney, London.

[Geoff_S]

Well done...  we're practically neighbours by the way...  I'm in Hackney, London.

Excellent !! We've started a ham region !!