Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

1 Ham (English hams weigh 1/2 oz Saltpeter (from the
-roughly 14 to 20 lbs) -drugstore)
1 oz Brown sugar 2 lb Rough salt

The same method may be used for bacon. A leg of pork severed from the
whole side is called a ham. When the leg is left attached to the
side, and severed only after the cure, it is called a gammon.

You will need a salting pan. Leave the ham unskinned. Rub in the
sugar and the saltpeter first, paying particular attention to the
bone ends. Then rub on half the salt and put the ham to rest on slats
in a slating trough (best if it has a channel for the brine to drain
out). Rub in the rest of the salt at the end of a week. Leave the
ham to take the salt for a total of 3 weeks (depending on the size of
the ham), turning regularly. Then hang the ham to dry in a draft of
warm air for a day or two. If you would like to smoke your own, you
will need a barrel smoker or a smoking shed. Light the fire with
kindling first, then feed it with beech, birch, or oak sawdust.
Smoke over the open end of a smoker barrel. Keep the fire smoldering
constantly - it is not good for the cure to allow changes in
temperature.

Twenty-four hours in the smoke shoudl suffice for a ham; 6 hours is
enough for a side of bacon. York hams are then hung to mature for 2
to 3 months in a tgemperature and humidity controlled room.

Time: 3 weeks plus.

From: "The Old World Kitchen - The Rich Tradition of European Peasant
Cooking" by Elisabeth Luard, ISBN 0-553-05219-5 Posted by: Karin
Brewer, Cooking Echo, 7/92

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