Admittedly, I ignored the hams for too long during the cure equalization phase after taking them out of the fridge from the salt cure. We'd put them downstairs in the larder, which is also our well pump room—a cinder block room in the basement that stays a pretty constant cool temperature. The hams had gotten a bit moldy in their paper bags, as they will do with the aging process, just as cheeses do, for instance. This week, I brought them upstairs, scrubbed the mold off and finished with the final rub before hanging them. I mixed together some salt, black pepper, brown sugar and molasses and rubbed all the hams down, and they look pretty dang good. Afterwards, I put them in fresh brown paper bags, sealed them, and wrapped them all in muslin to hang. After aging a few months, the first ham will be ready to soak and cook overnight with my grannie's recipe for cooking a country ham. Then, it's on with ham and cheese buscuits. Mmmmm, nothing better.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Country Cured Hams
Admittedly, I ignored the hams for too long during the cure equalization phase after taking them out of the fridge from the salt cure. We'd put them downstairs in the larder, which is also our well pump room—a cinder block room in the basement that stays a pretty constant cool temperature. The hams had gotten a bit moldy in their paper bags, as they will do with the aging process, just as cheeses do, for instance. This week, I brought them upstairs, scrubbed the mold off and finished with the final rub before hanging them. I mixed together some salt, black pepper, brown sugar and molasses and rubbed all the hams down, and they look pretty dang good. Afterwards, I put them in fresh brown paper bags, sealed them, and wrapped them all in muslin to hang. After aging a few months, the first ham will be ready to soak and cook overnight with my grannie's recipe for cooking a country ham. Then, it's on with ham and cheese buscuits. Mmmmm, nothing better.
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2 comments:
Grape jelly is our favorite. We always sell our muscadines; I dont thin we'd like them in jelly anyway. You made so much! awesome. And the counrty hams... one of my favorite things on earth.
We were just listening to Little House in the Big Woods last night. Lots of cured hams and food put up for a long winter. All that hard work will pay off when you have wonderful meals come fall and winter.
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