Prosciutto; was Time to make Gravlox!!!

[Guest guest]

Is this the book " The American Frugal Housewife " by Lydia Child?

[Guest guest]

All this Gravlox talk got me back into my " Frugal Housewife " book ...

one of the recipes is to make a " ham " by rubbing the meat with

molasses, then salt (the salt sticks to the molasses) for two weeks,

then smoking it.

I'm doing this with a beef roast for an experiment. It's only been

a few days, but I cut off a piece ... and wow! It is proscuitto! The

water leaches out, goes to the bottom of the pan (the roast is

set on a plastic freezer container, to keep it out of the liquid), and

the roast gets dryer and more solid by the day. I have it in the

fridge (to avoid flies: the recipe didn't say anything about heat

or cold, and with that much salt I don't think it matters).

This is one of the old recipes for making bacon too. If it works,

it sure is easy ... zero nitrates.

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

Heidi Schuppenhauer wrote : <<All this Gravlox talk got me back into my " Frugal

Housewife " book ... one of the recipes is to make a " ham " by rubbing the meat

with molasses, then salt (the salt sticks to the molasses) for two weeks, then

smoking it.>>

Heidi,

Could you post more detailed instructions for this 'recipe'?... do you know of

similar techniques to produce a similar result without having to resort to

smoking? [lack of smoking facilities/appliances]

TIA

Dedy

[Guest guest]

>Could you post more detailed instructions for this 'recipe'?... do you know of

similar techniques to produce a similar result without having to resort to

smoking? [lack of smoking facilities/appliances]

>

>TIA

>

>Dedy

First, to answer , yes, it is by Lydia Child. The section on curing meat

is on page 40.

Second, the instructions really aren't much more detailed than that. The book

has very, very brief mentions of a lot of stuff. Also she seems to contradict

herself a lot. The instructions I was inspired by say (page 41):

-------------------------------------------

The old fashioned way for curing hams is to rub them with salt very thoroughly,

and let them lay 24 hours. To each ham allow two ounces of salt petre, one quart

of common salt and one quart of molasses. First baste them with molasses: next

rub in the saltpeter, and last of all, the common salt. They must be carefully

turned and rubbed every day for six weeks, then hang them in a chimney, or smoke

house, four weeks.

They should be well covered up in paper bags, and put in a chest, or barrel,

with layers of ashes, or charcoal, between. When you take out a ham to cut for

use, be sure to put it away in a dark place, well covered up, especially in

summer.

-------------------------------------------

Third, I don't think you really need to smoke it, except for flavor.

I don't have a cold smoker (yet) so I just rubbed in a little liquid

smoke (which really is " real " smoke, it's not some weird

artificial compound). Mine isn't done yet, I just cut off a little

piece to try it. It is translucent and sweet/salty, a lot like

prosciutto only it's a BIG prosciutto. Smoking makes meat

keep better (halts oxidation so the fat doesn't go rancid) but

a freezer does that nicely too.

The FH instructions use salt petre (sodium nitrate), but other old instructions

just use salt. Salt petre makes the ham more " red " I think, otherwise it turns

grey or brown. However, the molasses turns it brown anyway. The recipe given by

the book makes a really dry smokey ham, which would be wonderful, but part of

the idea is to be able to keep meat thru the heat of the summer (no fridges).

For us, who tend to keep meat in the freezer or fridge anyway, it doesn't have

to be soooo dry. Packing the ham away in ashes probably prevents mold from

growing on the outside ... my Mom had " country hams " when she was a kid and said

they were always moldy on the outside.

Anyway, MY instructions are:

1. Rub the meat with molasses (honey or sorghum would work too, I think).

2. Sprinkle salt on the sticky surface, rub it in a little.

3. Let it set in the fridge til the next day, then repeat the process.

4. Keep going til it has the desired dryness.

I set the meat up on a plastic container so it doesn't set in a puddle

of juices. A lot of juice comes out of the meat during this process.

You can also just pack the meat in a container of salt (which is how they

preserve fish, or used to). But the sugar in the molasses or honey adds

nice flavor and keeps the meat from being sooo salty or tough.

The thing about " salting meat " is that there just isn't much to it ...

it seems too simple. The instructions for salting hides for curing

are about the same ... sprinkle salt on the hide, let the water

drain off.

If you eat this before it is fully dry, it tastes a lot like lox ... same kind

of texture too. Alternatively, if you salt a salmon longer than it

takes to make lox, you end up with something like salmon prosciutto!

You should experiment on a little piece of meat, not

a whole roast, to see if you like the results.

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

From: Heidi Schuppenhauer <<You should experiment on a little piece of meat, not

a whole roast, to see if you like the results.>>

Thanks for the info. Heidi..

I'll have to pluck some courage and experiment :-)... when you say 'a little

piece of meat' what would that be in real life?... there's a vast cultural chasm

when it comes to food portion sizes between the US and UK :-)...

Also... do you use sea salt in this recipe?... would this technique be equally

applicable to beef as well as pork?...

My kids don't like prosciutto much, [understatement of the year :-)] but they

LOVE ham... so while I can get nitrate-free organic prosciutto from Italy here,

all the available organic ham contain saltpetre... they love roast beef when its

hot but refuse it flat out when served as thinly sliced cold cuts... sigh...

out-smarting their taste buds is the name of the game... have done it with

venison which they detested but now eat... maybe this one will work for them

too..!

Dedy

[Guest guest]

> Anyway, MY instructions are:

>

> 1. Rub the meat with molasses ...

Um... we talkin' raw meat here? Or is it cooked first?

[Guest guest]

>I'll have to pluck some courage and experiment :-)... when you say 'a little

piece of meat' what would that be in real life?... there's a vast cultural chasm

when it comes to food portion sizes between the US and UK :-)...

I have a vast cultural chasm between my freezer now and my freezer two years

ago too ... buying a 1500 lb steer does that! Typically a " ham " would be

a whole pig upper leg, which I didn't do ... I used a 5lb roast. But I

experimented first

on half a steak (say, 2 inches by 4 inches) that was mostly fat anyway.

(BTW I would guess you can buy a whole steer in the UK too ... I know meat

prices are high in Europe but I wonder what the wholesale prices are?).

>Also... do you use sea salt in this recipe?... would this technique be equally

applicable to beef as well as pork?...

I didn't use sea salt, but I did use non-iodized salt. Iodine turns things

black. Sea

salt would be good though, if you have it handy. I used beef, not pork,

mainly because I had some beef around and my family doesn't like

pork much (plus I don't have a good source for it). It works on any

meat though, including fish.

>My kids don't like prosciutto much, [understatement of the year :-)] but they

LOVE ham... so while I can get nitrate-free organic prosciutto from Italy here,

all the available organic ham contain saltpetre... they love roast beef when its

hot but refuse it flat out when served as thinly sliced cold cuts... sigh...

out-smarting their taste buds is the name of the game... have done it with

venison which they detested but now eat... maybe this one will work for them

too..!

Well, for " regular " ham, I found that soaking a chicken in brine (1 cup salt, 1

cup sugar, to one gallon of water)

and then smoking it made something that tastes a LOT like ham. I don't think it

would

have to be smoked ... just cooking it would do the same thing. It's the brining

that makes it taste like ham. Just make a brine and soak the meat (any meat),

then

cook it at a low temp. As for how long to brine it ... I think I did mine

overnight, but

it depends on the thickness of the meat and how salty you want it (ham is pretty

darn salty). You can add liquid smoke to the brine for more of a smokey flavor

(though investing in a smoker is worth it ... they aren't doable in some areas

though,

they really do pollute the air quite a bit).

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

>Um... we talkin' raw meat here? Or is it cooked first?

>

>

Yep, raw. When it is salted for awhile it doesn't LOOK raw, but

basically proscuitto isn't cooked AFAIK. (nor is lox).

-- Heidi Jean