California Farm Parma Style Cured Ham

Name: How to cook California Farm Parma Style Cured Ham - cookcic.com
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 people, one year
Cuisine: Us

Introduce

Chef :

Hobby Horseman

California Farm Parma Style Cured Ham

This is a dry cured ham from fresh pork shoulderham with the shoulder blade removed, airdried after curing in Himalayan coarse seasalt and prague #1 salt and washed with white vinegar. Removing the bone allows you to tie the ham tight and slice the dried ham thin across the grain by hand or on a slicer.

Ingredient

Food ration :

2 people, one year

Cooking time :

Cure 16 days, airdry 12 months

9 pounds

Pork shoulderham, whole, skin on, bone in, dries to six pounds

2 pounds

Himalayan sea salt (900 grams), of which 70 grams will be absorbed when rubbed, rest can be reused

0.25

% of weight of deboned ham in Prague #1 curing salt to arrive at 156 parts per million sodium nitrate, USDA recommended level

2 cups

white wine vinegar to wash the ham

Cooking instructions

* Step 1

Wash the ham with vinegar, dry. Butterfly the shoulderham along the end of the shoulder blade where it is closest to the surface. Scrape meat off the bone with knife point. Use shoulderblade later to make bean soup. Wash ham again with vinegar, dry.

* Step 2

Weigh deboned ham on precision digital kitchen scale, use grams. This ham weights 3,805 grams, deboned, that is 8 1/2 pounds. The shoulderblade was 255 grams, half a pound. You need precisely 0.25% of ham weight in curing salt Prague #1, which is 10 grams, one teaspoon. Rub every inch of exposed ham meat with dry cure salt, inside and out. Rub skin with wet cure salt. When fully dried, this ham will be about six pounds.

* Step 3

Rub 1.75% of hamweight onto the ham in coarse Himalayan seasalt, that is 70 grams, 3 Tablespoons, rub dry salt on meat, wet salt on skin. Dry in fridge six days.

* Step 4

Put 1” thick layer of coarse himalayan seasalt in 2 gallon ziplock bag, slide ham on top with butterflied side down into the coarse salt, sprinkle 1” layer of seasalt on top, close bag. Put in bottom of fridge, 2 days per pound. Put flat rock on top of bag to press meat juices out of ham. Turn ziplock bag daily, do not drain the juices off.

* Step 5

Real Parma ham is taken from the hind leg and dried bone-in, 16 months. I am currently drying a shoulderham, bone in, and will post the results when ready. Maggots got into my previous attempt to dry a bone-in shoulder ham, and I know coat the exposed meat of the ham with salted lard, like real Parma ham is coated.

* Step 6

Salt cure the ham 4 days for every 1,000 grams of weight, fifteen days for a 3,850 gram ham. Not longer, or ham will get too salty. Take ham out, rinse salt off with vinegar, dry. Tie ham meat tight with butchers twine. Weight ham, note weight, should be around 3,500 grams by now. Grease exposed meat with salted lard. Hang to dry in cool dark closet, wrapped in bag made from fiberglass bug screen. (pictures below are from ham cured 12 months ago).

* Step 7

Boil salt mix of used Himalayan rock salt and Prague #1 curing salt in pan with water, cool. Pour off excess water, dry wet rock salt on cardboard in full sun till dry for reuse. Nitrates and nitrites from curing salt will have boiled off. Use for next ham.

Note: if there is a photo you can click to enlarge it