Making Parma ham



1 leg of pork

5kg of cooking salt

1 tablespoon cracked coriander seeds

1 Tablespoon cracked black pepper

White wine vinegar



And a large helping of patience



Cut the leg of pork as long as possible, you can either cure the full leg, with bone in and hoof on, however for beginners it is much less risky to bone the leg, prior to curing. By removing the bone there is less chance of the meat deteriorating during the process. I would also recommend that Parma ham is made during the winter months as the meat can go off in the summer heat.



To bone the leg, slit through the skin with a very sharp knife all the way to the bone. Do this on the inside of the leg, where there is less meat. Carefully cut along both sides of the bone, and then underneath the bone, until you can lift the whole bone out.



Take a hand full of salt and rub it in to the meat where the bone has been removed, ensure all the inside of the meat has a good rub, and salt covers the inside surface.



Reform the shape of the ham, use a sharp skewer to pierce the skin and stitch the leg back together using good quality butchers string. Ensure the stitches are tight. It can be a bit fiddly the first time.



Weigh the leg and make a note of the weight.



Pour 2 cm of salt in a wine box, or a plastic box



Sprinkle the coriander and pepper over the salt

Place the meat on top, meat or stitches side down

Evenly pour in the rest of the salt until the leg is covered by at least 2cm of salt.



Cover with a piece of plastic or wood that just fits inside your box. Put a weight on the board, the weight needs to weigh around twice the weight of the leg. House bricks or concrete blocks work really well. Leave the box in a cool dry place, a garage, larder or cellar.



Leave that ham in the box for four days per kilo.



When the ham has been in the box for the allotted time, remove the ham and was toughly with cold water, to remove the excess salt.



Rub the joint with white wine vinegar



Wrap the ham in muslin, double thickness. If you cant get muslin, we use an old clean pillow case.



Hang the ham in a cool draughty place, a barn, garage, porch…. Anywhere as long as there is a good air flow for ventilation and the ham is protected from rain.



Leave the ham for 4 to 6 months until it has air dried



Take down the ham and serve with wine or melon…. Or both!

Thankyou Tracey

I cannot wait to try it. Now they just need to grow

Kate