how is pork cured to produce ham?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, a ham is the haunch of any animal. But Americans restrict the use almost entirely to the cured hauch of a pig.

There are two basic ways of curing - wet cure and dry cure.

In the wet cure, the meat is either immersed in a seasoned brine solution or the brine is injected into the meat. This is the most common way, as it is the quickest.

In the dry cure, salt and a variety of spices, often including sugar, are rubbed on the surface of the meat and it is allowed to dry and age with the occaisonal addition of more spices.

Very often both cures are followed by some kind of smoking - allowing the meat to hang in the presence of a smouldering smoke, such as is produced by burning moist wood chips. Increasingly, however, the "smoke" flavor is just another seasoning added to the brine solution.

Answer 2

There are two processes that have traditionally been used to cure pork products - salt cured and smoked. The salt cured is just that - it is packed in salt to extract some of the liquid then hung in an airy dry space to cure. Smoked is - well hung in a smoke chamber and slow processed to cure.