how to make prosciutto ham?

Question

Is the salt applied to the meat and the skin? After the salt is applied, do you place the ham in a pan or do you hang it? Should the ham be refridgerated while it is salted?

Answer 1

How To Make Prosciutto

During ancient times some unique and ingenious methods were developed for preservation of meat. In Europe pork is the meat of choice, producing a variety and acquired taste throughout the regions.

Prosciutto is one of the best known and widely used as appetizer in most of the gourmet restaurants. It is sliced paper thin and served with variety of foods such as cheese, pickled vegetables, smoked sausages etc. It is commonly used as party favorite when serving wine or other alcoholic beverages.

Simply put, Prosciutto is cured, smoked ham. To make Prosciutto start with fresh, whole pieces of ham. The bone should be taken out, but not necessary, as it will be easier to slice the finished product. The traditional method can take anywhere between 8 months up to 2 years for proper curing and drying. Smoking the ham is done in certain regions to provide added flavor as well as curing the meat faster.

There are basically 3 steps when making Prosciutto.

1. Brining
Place the pieces of ham in a large plastic container. Top it up with salt water, meat being submerged 2”-4”. The amount of salt you should use is 2-4 cups per gallon of water. Make sure to use sea salt or pickling salt only. Do not use the table salt as it contains Iodine. The temperature should be 32- 40 F (0-5C). If the outside temperature is warmer, place the container in the refrigerator. Leave the meat in this solution for approx 3-4 weeks. Mix the ham occasionally to equilibrate all of the ingredients.

2. Smoking
After 3-4 weeks rinse the ham under running cold water. Pat dry, and insert “S” hooks or piece of twine for hanging the meat in the smoke house.
This method is for cold-smoking of meats. There should be very little heat, and lot of smoke being produced. Hot smoke is not desired for this process.
To make a smoke house take 4 sheets of 4’X 8’ plywood. Make a box making sure to cover the top. Cut the bottom 3’ of one side using it as a door for the fire pit. Near the inner top secure a rod, broom stick will do, for hanging the meat. If added air circulation is needed drill some 1”-11/2’’ holes near the top.
Each day for 7-10 days start a smoldering fire in the pit. Use any type of hardwood you desire. Excellent flavors are obtained from fruitwood such as apple or cherry. You can use hickory, maple or oak wood. Just remember you do not want heat, only smoke.
Once the color is golden brown, or the smoke flavor is sufficient, stop with the fire.

3. Drying and Curing
This process takes the longest time. If the outside temperature is cold enough you can leave the meat in the smoke house for the drying. Cool fruit-cellars will suffice as well. The trick here is to have enough air circulation to dry the meat over 4-5 months.
Once the meat is completely cured, consistent color throughout the ham without any red showing, it is ready to eat.

Bon Appetit

Answer 2

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Answer 3

When making prosciutto ham, the salt is applied all over the meat. You place the ham in a very cold area, but not refrigerated. It should be hung up to cure. I would not try making your own prosciutto because it can become very toxic because if you had not applied the salt enough, then bacteria will be able to penetrate and then get to the meat and it will not cure properly.

Answer 4

believe me, it is much easier to purchase prosciutto ham than to make it, unless you are in the business then I would suggest that you find a nice Italian man who knows, then who knows what will happen!!!

Answer 5

Home Cured Prosciutto
In the early days in Sonoma County every Italian house had a basement where a lot of action took place. Children played there. On rainy days the laundry could be hung to dry. In the summer the canning could be done where it was relatively cool (there was always a second stove in the basement.) Some people made wine there. The very well equipped homes also had cellars. Cellars were little storage areas where wines were laid down, apples and potatoes could be stored for later use and Prosciutto could be hung to cure.

We don't have basements or cellars in our homes anymore so if you wish to make prosciutto do it in the winter and hang it from a rafter in your garage. You won't get arrested if you hang it in your kitchen either if you have a place. It does need to hang someplace for six months with air around it. After that it will keep nicely in your freezer. Modern conveniences make the preparation of prosciutto a snap.

Ingredients

1 fresh leg of pork about 10 to 12 pounds (have the butcher remove the ball joint leaving the rest of the leg bone in)

several large heads of garlic

1/2 pound of peppercorns

3 pounds of salt

large plastic bag big enough to hold the pork and a pan
Directions

Grind garlic in food processor. You need enough garlic paste to spread generously over the whole leg of pork. Grind peppercorns in food processor. Dry leg of pork with paper towels. Spread a thick layer of garlic paste over pork leg on all exposed surfaces. Next pat the pepper thickly into pork leg over the garlic. Finally pat the salt the over the pepper. Be generous with all three applications especially the salt. You want the pork completely encased with the salt as thick as possible. Now you will have to put your leg of pork under refrigeration while the salt draws out the moisture for the curing process. Put the leg on a rack such as is used to cool baked goods and put the rack into a pan. Place the pan and pork into a plastic bag that you can close tightly and put the whole thing into the refrigerator so that the juices drip from the pork into the pan. Keep the pork on a slant propped against the refrigerator wall so that all the juices drain away. Check and drain pan if necessary. Keep the pork under refrigeration for about 32 days. Remove pork from plastic bag. Lay pork on a counter in a pan and cover and press with a very heavy weight for four or five days. Naturally every one who comes into your kitchen will ask what you are doing and will be very impressed. Don't worry about the pork spoiling as it has already been cured by the salt. It is now an Italian ham.

After five days, wash the meat very carefully in several rinses of cold water. Wrap in cheesecloth and hang to dry for about five days. Grind more garlic in the food processor. Grind more peppercorns and place in a separate dish. Cover all exposed surfaces of pork with garlic paste. Next add a layer of pepper. Wrap meat in cheese cloth and tie or sew it neatly so that it can be hung for about six or seven months (the longer it hangs the better it is.)

After hanging, unwrap your prosciutto and debone it. Remove the skin and as much of the fat as possible. It can now be cut into a couple of large chunks be stored wrapped airtight in plastic (double bag it with aluminum foil) in the freezer until you need it. Slice with a slicing machine or serrated knife using a sawing motion. Incidentally do not cut it so thin it tastes like cardboard as is the deplorable custom since the invention of the slicing machine. Prosciuto can be used as an appetizer, not only with figs as in our previous recipe, but with papaya, avacodo, asparagus,melon.and sandwiches. Bring it for picnics with some home made sour dough French bread. Use it to accent main dishes.

Answer 6

This is a delicate ham that can be eaten raw as a starter (hors d'ouevre), or cooked. Dice it or slice it thinly and cook in butter and eat it with whatever you like.

Answer 7

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