Home › The Principles of Cookery › Ham, Cured with Hot Pickle

Ham, Cured with Hot Pickle

Rub a ham weighing about eighteen pounds with an ounce and a half of pounded saltpetre, and an ounce and a half of brown sugar. Leave it until the next day, then make a hot pickle, by putting one quart of strong beer or porter into a saucepan, with two pounds of salt, half a pound of brown sugar, an ounce of black pepper, an ounce of allspice, and a small piece of sal prunella (purified saltpetre). Pour this, when boiling hot, over the ham, and let it remain for three weeks, rubbing in twice or three times every day. Drain and dredge it, and, if possible, smoke it for a fortnight. A ham cured in this way has very much the flavour of a Westphalian ham. Probable cost, 1s. per pound. HAM, ESSENCE OF, FOR GRAVY. (See GRAVY, ESSENCE OF HAM FOR.)