SUGAR CURE HAM RECIPES

Steps:

• Double this mix as much as you have meat.
• Weigh down meat so that it remains covered.
• Be sure to boil plent of water day before so it is good and cold.
• Put your meat in wood barrels or vinegar stone crocks.
• Leave small boned meat chunks submerged for 2 days.
• Bacon submerged for 4 days.
• Cut hams and shoulders 14 days.
• Whole hams 21 days.
• Storage area must be extremely cold, but not freezing to prevent fermentation.
• After submersion, run thick thread through corner of meats and hang in smokehouse.

Steps:

• Place your ham in the plastic container that you’ll be using to cure it. On a stove, heat up the water with the salt, sugar, molasses, and ground clove, just until the salt and sugars have dissolved. Stir in the pink salt then pour over the ham, adding more water as needed to cover the ham by 1 inch. If any parts of the ham bob above the surface of the brine, place a ceramic plate on top to weigh it down.
• Place the container in the fridge, and keep it there for 3 days, or roughly 1 day for every 2 pounds. Halfway through the brining process, turn the ham over so all parts of it will be submerged.
• After the brining is done, rinse the ham and let it soak refrigerated in clean water for 24 hours.
• To cook the ham, bake it in a foil-lined roasting pan at 325° F for 30 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature is 150° F. (I recommend not doing it on a rack as I did because it leaves strange impressions on the meat.)
• When done, slice and serve.