Prosciutto di Auburn

So we bought half a Berkshire pig from our CSA farm in Auburn, Washington. Lots of chops, but all the rest went into homemade bacon, ham hock, salame . . . and my first attempt at a home cured ham. The hock and bacon are mostly eaten, the salami is almost done curing, and I have about 6 months to wait for the ham.

The ham was supposed to be done curing at 18-20 days, but I had to extend to 28 because I hadn't made sure that the underside stayed thorougly coated in salt. Overall, curing the ham wasn't an involved or complicated process (much easier than making salame), but it sure did hog space in the frig.

The ham still in it's bag, in a pool of salty liquid:


Bag removed:


Salt cleaned:


Larded and wrapped for hanging:


Hangin' with the salame:

[Jenise]

How cool! You are becoming quite the pork maestro. I remember seeing sausages in your cellar last time we were down--you have no idea how tempted I was to just stick one in my pocket and run!

Interesting! I made a prosciutto-type of ham a few years ago with a friend. We did our initial cure without a bag - we just salted the hams and put them on a rack with a pan underneath to collect the juices that dripped out. You're right - a lot of stuff had to come out of the refrigerator in order to deal with those things.

Interesting! I made a prosciutto-type of ham a few years ago with a friend. We did our initial cure without a bag - we just salted the hams and put them on a rack with a pan underneath to collect the juices that dripped out. You're right - a lot of stuff had to come out of the refrigerator in order to deal with those things.

The recipe in Polcyn and Ruhlman's Charcuterie recommended covering the ham -- it sounds like yours was open-air, no? Did you put any weight on the hams?

I don't believe we weighted them. We were using a method my pal's mom used when she was growing up in Tuscany. The results were great as far as texture but too salty. I'm not sure where we went wrong on that count - my friend had earlier versions with better results.

I'm pretty damn pleased. Texture is great; flavor is good. Rather less complex than top Serrano or San Daniele, but that's only to be expected. I was afraid it might be too salty with the extended curing but that's not a problem at all. In fact the salt level is rather lower than my favorite serrano, which is quite good but so salty that I have a limited intake.


photo by bohemond_i, on Flickr


photo2 by bohemond_i, on Flickr

Wow - congrats, Lee! Looks great.

Ham-3 by bohemond_i, on Flickr

Can you tell me a little about conditions in the room that you hung your ham?

[Jenise]

Damn, Lee, that looks incredible. Did you weight it, by any chance, before and after? No particular reason to ask, just curious. Would expect 10% loss to be about reasonable.

I hung the ham in my underground garage in Seattle from November to July. General temp has varied from 50 to 65, with probably 7 more degrees variance for extremes. Pretty humid.

I kind of intended to weigh the ham but didn't. I'm sure that it didn't lose as much weight as the salami does; I would guess that 10% or a little more would be reasonable. But that's just a guess.

I hung the ham in my underground garage....

Thanks for these details, Lee. A restaurant I frequent hangs their ham in the wine cellar which has conditions not too unlike the ones you describe. Maybe I'll do the same.

A leg from here is quite pricey but utterly delicious.

Acorn fed, like the best Spanish hams.

http://laquercia.us/