prosciutto

[lakeshoremunster]

Has anyone tried to make there own, if so how did it turn out and what was your process of making it.

Thanks.

[reinhard1]

i could be wrong but not too many of us have the proper equipment to make prosciutto or even hard salami for that matter. this ham is dried cured and left under certain temps and humidity for up to 2 years. i know that hard salami is kept at around 80 degrees for up to 2 months or more [and proper humidity] if i remember right.

i do have a "kimchie refrigerator". now that may not mean much to most but i did some research on this unit. it has the capability to not only refrigerate items in various degrees of temps but also circulates the air so constant temps are kept. i will look into it further and may make hard salami at some point. problem with the unit is that every function is in Korean. i have asked that an english manual is sent to me. it was given to me by my daughters.

so maby someone out there has made it at some point. for me it's too long of a proccess anyway and i'll stick to regular hams . good luck.

[thirdeye]

The process is pretty involved, one of my buddies back east started making duck prosciutto as an experiment and he liked it. Duck breast only takes 7 to 10 days. He hung his in a corner of his basement in Boston as the tempes were ideal there. He was talking about moving up to a pork leg, not sure if he got that far or not. Like rienhard1 mentioned, a ham can take from 4 months, to a year or more. Many folks opt to start with a high end leg from a Berkshire hog or other organic one.

Curing meats which are then cooked (smoked fish, bacon, ham etc.) have some special steps and timetables that must be followed.... but once you venture into a more advanced project, making dry cured products that don't require cooking (like salami, prosciutto etc.) you have to pay close attention to details, and you have to accept some things that might seem odd, like long cure times and things like mold.

The bright side is, most forms of charcuterie has been made at home for a long, long time. And it's getting kind of a trendy following, so in addition to specialty meat stores and restaurants, there are some good books and online sources dealing with charcuterie out there. I recommend "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman as a good starting place. Ruhlman also has a blog, HERE is the procedure my buddy followed for the duck breast.

[reinhard1]

thanks Third Eye, great stuff as usual. i remember a few years back, a customer bought a southern dry cured smoked ham. it was covered with mold and was very expensive. the person gave me a few slices for me to try. it had a very nice smokey smell and looked great. he said he soaked the slices for awhile to draw out some of the salt. of course he scraped the mold off also . but the meat was still a little too salty for me. it is a long proccess like you said. good luck.

[thirdeye]

Heheheee. You're right about the additional "work" after all the curing time is done. I've had a couple of country hams and first they need to be soaked for a day or longer, then scrubbed and rinsed.

I was like you and did not care for the saltiness of country ham. I have a lot of history with corned beef, pastrami, lox, cured fish, turkey, hocks and so forth and so on....but part of my cure technique is usually a soak-out step. So, when it comes to ham, I guess I'm just a city ham kind of guy. I have a weakness for the smoked shanks I see in the store and will usually pick up a pack if they are really meaty, then do a second smoke on them.

On another subject, have you Buckboarded a loin yet?

[reinhard1]

i bought whole boneless pork loins when they were on sale for 2 bucks a pound and didn't pay attention to them until i remembered about the "enhanced" part of the proccess. so i didn't dare to use the cure pack on them [being reminded by you that they may mess up the cure proccess]. so i'm going to get a whole boneless loin from sam's next week on my next run to use it primarily for the buckboard.

i showed the packets of buckboard to my brother and told him i will be making some in time for opener. so i'm excited about it, plus i got a Masterbuilt Smoker last week finaly and i'm getting exited for it's use all year long. thanks again for the packets of buckboard. last time at sam's they had non enhanced pork loins, not for 2 bucks a pound but reasonable compared to the other stores. i will follow your instructions you gave me. thanks again. good luck.

[Dark Cloud]

A buddy of my dads makes a pork loin proscutto that is awesome. I got a quick rundown the other day on how he does it. He only makes it in the fall and winter in his heated garage that he keeps in the 40 degree range I believe. It also involves a few day salt bath. Then the loins go into a press he made from pvc pipe cut lengthwise. After a few day squeeze they go into a cheese cloth sack and get hung to dry. He then dries them till they get the right firm-ness. Then he puts them into a fridge set to about 34 degrees for a bit and slices them paper thin on a comercial slicer. Hes got it down to quite the science.

We trade him his prosciutto and wine for perch fillets, apples, and homemade jellies... but this next year im going to buy some loins and learn the process.

[reinhard1]

i can realy appreciate the efforts of your dad's buddy's art of making his version of prosciutto. it's got to be good stuff for your trade of goods. never stop learning being involved in what i call "the art of smoking" and now proper curing. i would of never tried dry curing if it wasn't for Third Eye for example. hope you get it down. great knowledge to pass on. good luck.

[thirdeye]

Dark Cloud... I'm guessing the press is for blood/moisture removal? I've heard the term "press" in articles about curing a ham. I like the idea of experimenting with a smaller piece of meat like a tenderloin. (or the duck breasts my buddy does)