a.lee.hagen

The room I used to air dry the hams was about 65-75 degrees

Of my first two, I have cut into one and am using it. The other is still hanging, it will be interesting to see if the flavor mellows out or if it intesifies...

You could try to brine it before hand...

I've had a simple knife skills test, then a basic proficiency w/ sauteing those vegetables that I just cut.

This was essentially how I did it... Although after salting I went straight to larding and hanging. I did not do the additional hanging in the walk-in for 6-8 weeks. I did just start two more hams 2 weeks ago, this time I cold smoked them each for 2 hours w/ cherry wood.

I do, I'll get them up soon, they are on my phone, gotta link up first.

I wasn't particular about it at all, I didn't want to spend a lot on the legs in case something went wrong or it didn't come out for some reason, I would have much rather paid $1.69 a pound and thrown it out if something got screwed up.

So back in October of '09 I, after quite some time going over the "what-if's," decided to make my own Prosciutto, or air dried ham. I had to buy two from my proveyor so I went ahead and did both. After sitting in a mountain of Kosher salt for 21 or so days, and checking them each week, they were washed off. I then rubbed them down with bacon fat and sprinkled them heavily with black pepper to discourage flies from congregating around the beauties. Then I wrapped them up in cheesecloth and hung them in my dry storage area(the servers HATED looking at them and bumping into them!!) Withinn the last two weeks I cut into one and was able to put it on my menu with some freshly made Porcini lavasch, fresh mozzarella and a little Mesclun w/ oven dried grape tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon. The second one is still hanging as it can hang for as much as 3 years, I'll cut into it when I need it. This last week I bought two more hams to start a second round. Oh, and when u are ready to cut into it, shave off the hard outter skin and fry it up, the best pork rinds you ever had!!! The quality, I think, is better than any "prosciutto" I could buy from Sysco. Aside from the time it took, I'd much rather bring a craft to my town that is otherwise not practiced, than pay the high price of the Parma hams. I recently constructed a "true" cold smoker and may hit the next two with a few hours of cold smoke before drying... not quite sure yet. Any thoughts, questions or comments would be appreciated.

My new favorite is "Old Chub" Irish style Ale, 8% and so smooth you'd never know it... Try it out.