How to cure a ham

For next week's dinner I've got pork neck ham as one of the starters; neck is an unusual cut to use but I love it as it looks great once finished and has lovely seams of fat running through the muscle. The Italians use this cut for Capacollo or coppa di Parma although both of these are dry cured and hung for months to air dry and develop their full flavour. I will use a wet cure and cook mine.

Firstly I start by making a brine, which is basically salt, sugar, water and spices. You can use what spices you like to your taste but I chose fennel seeds, peppercorns, clove and chilli.

Once I'd boiled and cooled my brine to fridge temperature I submerged the trimmed meat for 4-5 days and left in the fridge. 

The next stage is called 'equalizing'. Remove and wash the ham well and leave in the fridge for 3-4 days uncovered. This stage allows the concentration of the meat to become uniform and will mean that the centre of the meat has the same salt content as the edges.

Now for the poaching of the ham. Remove ham from the fridge one hour before cooking to come to room temperature and put a large pot of water on to boil. Take the meat and wrap firmly in cling film, (it might take quite a lot as you want a good seal and tight wrap). Tie the loose ends of cling film with string to seal and shape the ham. 

All that remains is a gentle poaching for about one hour or until the centre temperature is 63 C. Remove from pot and wrap more cling film to shape the ham straight. Cool immediately.

Once it's cool then it's ready to slice and enjoy, maybe with anchovy mayo and parsley. You'll just have to come along and check it out!!

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A fine ham for a feast in the 'Fine City