Greg’s Ham

Greg Gunthorp from Gunthorp Farms posted this great Ham recipe on The Salt Curing Pig. I give you his recipe and three classic videos showing a pok leg being deboned.

Prepare brine:  salt, brown sugar, and cure. Close to 2% of each and close to 200 ppm of nitrites.

Trim:  Removed the aitch and femur and shank bone.

I add three iconic clips on deboning pork leg.

Greg does not remove the femur, but I suggest we remove the bones, form it in a mould and tie it back together with TG.  Back to Greg’s recipe.

  • Inject.
  • Vacuum tumbled,  for 8 hours at a very slow spin. (~2 rpm?)
    Cured for 10 days in a curing container in cover brine for at 4 degrees C.  Notice that the old Westphalia Ham recipe calls for 4 weeks curing.
  • I will personally do another 15 minutes in a paddle mixer at a very low speed – no vacuum, meat temperatures < 5 deg C.
  • Dry:  Nett and hang on for two days prior to smoking.  I will also do the netting tighter than Greg.  The Westfalia recipe calls for four days drying.
  • Smok light and intermittently for 20 hours (7 days) over hickory and apple coals.
  • After smoking, I also suggest a maturing stage for 7 days following smoking.

Greg insists that the taste is not overly smoky.

Greg's Hams.jpg
Photo from Greg.  The hams look delicious!

For more information, go to Artisan Meat

To comment or contribute, mail Eben at ebenvt@gmail.com


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