Venison Ham

[dpgoldman]

Hello,

I am new to the site but have been working with a variety of unique foods for a while. I am hoping for some advise on venison ham. On Dec 21 I hunted a deer and hung it for around 10 days. I cut the deer down and decided to make boneless hams out of the large cuts on the hind-quarters, peperoni out of some of the smaller cuts, pate out of the organs and ate the rest. I am relatively new to charcuterie so I quickly ordered Nitrates and other supplies. I had to freeze the meat while I waited.

When I got the supplies I defrosted the meat and started to follow the recipe realizing that according to the salted air-dried ham recipe in the Ruhlman and Polcyn book I don't need Nitrates. I have now salted both cuts thoroughly and both are in the refrigerator.

My questions are:

1. Is there any reason I need to use nitrates for venison ham?

2. Was it a mistake to remove the femur (creating a cavity through the ham that could potentially become anaerobic)?

3. Now that I have removed the femur should I cut the ham open to expose the inside to oxygen?

Thanks!

David