Corned Ham - A Southern Holiday Tradition

[fifi]

. . . . .

Besides, come to think of it, I'm really curious about how the pan drippings are going to turn out, and seasoning would mess with that.

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Good point about the pan drippings. I hadn't thought of that. The drippings might get salty. I have had this happen with brined turkey and chicken. The meat is fine but the drippings get concentrated. Here is what I have done: Pour off fat and liquid (if any) and reserve. Gently rinse the fond in the pan with a bit of cold water, letting it sit a while. When I say gently, I mean that you are trying to leach salt out without removing the browned bits. For this to work, you need to let the pan cool before adding the cold water. You pour off that water and discard. If a lot of browned bits are coming lose, you can pour through a strainer and reserve. Add back some unsalted stock, reheat and stir to incorporate the fond. Taste for salt and add back any juice you may have reserved if you can. At this point, you can make a light roux with the reserved fat in a separate pan and use that for thickening if you like.

I have used that technique to salvage what looked like a lovely carpet of fond but was, alas, much too salty. The whole idea is that salt will dissove preferentially in the water. If you use cool water in a cool pan, you will lessen the amount of flavor components that leach out. This is a bit fiddly but is the only way I know to get a pretty darn good pan gravy out of salty fond.

YOIKS! I just checked the calendar. If you are thinking about this for Thanksgiving action begins next week in order to get two weeks corning time.

Nov 7-8 buy ham

Nov 9 in the fridge to corn

Nov 9-23 check on ham to drain and resalt where necessary

Nov 23 rinse ham and put in cold water in the fridge

Nov 24 (early am) put on to bake

[Ktepi]

I have used that technique to salvage what looked like a lovely carpet of fond but was, alas, much too salty. The whole idea is that salt will dissove preferentially in the water. If you use cool water in a cool pan, you will lessen the amount of flavor components that leach out. This is a bit fiddly but is the only way I know to get a pretty darn good pan gravy out of salty fond.

YOIKS! I just checked the calendar. If you are thinking about this for Thanksgiving action begins next week in order to get two weeks corning time.

Nov 7-8 buy ham

Nov 9 in the fridge to corn

Nov 9-23 check on ham to drain and resalt where necessary

Nov 23 rinse ham and put in cold water in the fridge

Nov 24 (early am) put on to bake

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Oh excellent, thank you -- I wondered about the salt and had figured that maybe I'd have to dilute the drippings with cream gravy, for instance -- but your technique is better.

I'm making the ham for Christmas, so I'm all set timing-wise -- I almost wish I were doing turkey for Christmas and the ham for Thanksgiving, so I could use the fat from the ham to rub the turkey with (Rosengarten's turkey uses prosciutto fat, doesn't it?). But it doesn't work out that way.

[budrichard]

Generally a lttle saltpeter (sodium nitrite) is added to keep the color from turning gray if using a wet corning method. -Dick

[fifi]

. . . . .

I'm making the ham for Christmas, so I'm all set timing-wise -- I almost wish I were doing turkey for Christmas and the ham for Thanksgiving, so I could use the fat from the ham to rub the turkey with (Rosengarten's turkey uses prosciutto fat, doesn't it?).  But it doesn't work out that way.

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Just save it to rub a chicken. Rosengarten also does roasted chicken rubbed with goose fat and a lot of salt that is spectacular. Pork fat can't hurt.

[Michael Ruhlman]

Generally a lttle saltpeter (sodium nitrite) is added to keep the color from turning gray if using a wet corning method. -Dick

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sodium nitrite is now sold under various names--butcher-packer.com sells it cheapest and best.

saltpeter is postassium nitrate, a different salt that isn't used much in the states anymore. Nitrates are required to prevent botulism in dry-cured sauages.

nitrite is not needed for this kind of pork preparation, but it will keep it bright pink and give the pork a distinclty hammy flavor.

Edited November 10, 2005 by Michael Ruhlman (log)

[fifi]

I would stay with the pure salt (NaCl) on this one or it doesn't sound like you will get the true taste of corned ham.

I haven't gotten any answers to my questions so I may miss my window for Thanksgiving. I have other plans for pork (smoking) for the weekend and I will run out of fridge room 'cause I need to brine my butt.

[jsolomon]

Photographs?

[fifi]

Photographs?

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My dear, you can bet that if I corn a ham, you WILL get photographs. Unless I get answers to the contrary, I intend to get one of the elegant pork hams from my Asian butcher and leave the porcelain-like skin on. Being concerned about salt penetration, I will carve slits into the skin in an artistic pattern with my Exacto Knives. The slits will be carefully calculated so that the entire structure will be stress relieved during baking, the final design will be pleasing, and will not shrink unevenly. Geometry was my favorite math subject and complex stress analysis was part of my previous real job.

You can darn well bet that if I go to all of that trouble, YOU WILL GET PICTURES! . . . And you can't stop me.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Ktepi]

The most complex stress analysis I've ever done was figurin' out how much gum I was gonna need to quit smoking, but I'll try to take photos when I do mine at Christmas. The Missus may take the camera when she visits her family, though.

I'm figuring on leaving the skin on, but I've always had trouble getting salt to stick to pork skin, so I'll wind up checking it and making sure the salt's still there more often than's probably necessary.

Another corned pork fat idea: I'm making duck confit for New Years, I could add it to the duck fat there. Hell, it'd probably make good cornbread, too.

(I'm thinking about curing bacon for that week as well, and am going to be ordering chaudin and tasso from Poche's, so this is shaping up to be the porkiest Christmas ever.)

[jsolomon]

I'm figuring on leaving the skin on, but I've always had trouble getting salt to stick to pork skin, so I'll wind up checking it and making sure the salt's still there more often than's probably necessary.

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Smaller crosshatches on the skin, grasshopper.

[Varmint]

Sorry about not keeping up with this discussion. Bill Smith of Crook's Corner is currently on a mini-book tour, but when he gets back into the kitchen and is ready to prepare a corned ham, I'll join him with camera in hand. I have not made a corned ham before, so I can't offer any advice. However, I don't think it's all that difficult.

I would stay away from any curing agent other than plain old salt -- this pork does not have a true "ham" flavor, but just a much more intense pork taste. It's a bit salty, but only to the extent that it enhances the porkiness (one of my favorite words).

As far as it being pork crack, I must confess that I may be guilty of hyperbole, as pork crack is the uber-crunchy skin that has been cooked on the whole hog for 18 hours and turned to a brittle, intense snack. In fact, my friend Malawry called this treat "pork brittle." It looks like a hard, crunchy caramel, but it tastes purely of pork.

[budrichard]

Generally a lttle saltpeter (sodium nitrite) is added to keep the color from turning gray if using a wet corning method. -Dick

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sodium nitrite is now sold under various names--butcher-packer.com sells it cheapest and best.

saltpeter is postassium nitrate, a different salt that isn't used much in the states anymore. Nitrates are required to prevent botulism in dry-cured sauages.

nitrite is not needed for this kind of pork preparation, but it will keep it bright pink and give the pork a distinclty hammy flavor.

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You are indeed correct as I read the label on the 6 oz pharmalogical grade bottle I have had for about 20 years. I add a little to everything we corn to keep the color and it works quite well. -Dick

Edited November 11, 2005 by budrichard (log)

[Michael Ruhlman]

don't add too much. if it's old you might want to buy DQ Curing Salt from butcher-packer.com, costs $1.50, sodium nitrite, works better and is more reliable.

[woodburner]

Is DQ curing salt similar to Morton's Tender Quick?

woodburner

[fifi]

WAIDAMINIT! I thought we are doing corned ham, not ham ham! so what is all of this talk about nitrites, nitrates and other nefarious materials that would adulterate the sacred pork?

[Varmint]

WAIDAMINIT! I thought we are doing corned ham, not ham ham! so what is all of this talk about nitrites, nitrates and other nefarious materials that would adulterate the sacred pork?

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Exactly; find your own discussion for damn ham.

Seriously, corned ham is not pretty. It is not pink. It is not "hammy." It's all about the pork.

[budrichard]

don't add too much.  if it's old you might want to buy DQ Curing Salt from butcher-packer.com, costs $1.50, sodium nitrite, works better and is more reliable.

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Sodium Nitrate is a compound that if kept in a suitable container, dry, will basically last forever. It is mined from geological deposits that are millions of years old, like salt. -Dick

[fifi]

The lovely man in brown (UPS) just delivered my latest Amazon order that included my copy of Bill Smith's book, Seasoned in the South, Recipes from Crook's Corner and Home. His write up does confirm that you leave the skin on. But, here is a trick. . . He takes the skin off at the end, lays it aside in the pan and lets it crisp up. He also says he likes to cook it to the "fall apart" stage so I feel vindicated.

This is a very cool book, BTW. I have already spotted a handful of must try recipes as well as some variations on our own family favorites. Woo Hoo!

[Ktepi]

The lovely man in brown (UPS) just delivered my latest Amazon order that included my copy of Bill Smith's book, Seasoned in the South, Recipes from Crook's Corner and Home. His write up does confirm that you leave the skin on. But, here is a trick. . . He takes the skin off at the end, lays it aside in the pan and lets it crisp up. He also says he likes to cook it to the "fall apart" stage so I feel vindicated.

This is a very cool book, BTW. I have already spotted a handful of must try recipes as well as some variations on our own family favorites. Woo Hoo!

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Just wanted to add that I got my copy of the book today; this thread is a great advertisement for it. (I love that he's such a fan of duck, too. Duck and pork. That's Christmas right there -- nuts to your frankincense.)

I'm figuring on a mess of hash with the leftovers, maybe bolstered with some home-cured bacon, and probably some Filipino adobo with a bunch of kale tossed in. (It sounds like I'm making up for the lack of seasoning in the initial product by complicating the leftovers, but it's a 20 pound ham, after all!)

[fifi]

Well, Elmer Fudd is now resting in the fridge in a blanket of salt. I had to name such a lovely thing and the Valkyrie thing kept wafting in my head. (Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!) That started because my kids and I were having a discussion about how most of their cultural training is a waste land. They associate most classical music with cartoons or ads. But . . . I digress.

I procured a little shank portion, a little over 11 pounds, from my Asian grocery with a real butcher shop. First you find a butcher that speaks a little English. Then he hauls out the whole quarter and a long discussion of where to cut it ensues. After I describe what I am going to do with it, a couple of the other butchers get curious and chip in. After about 10 minutes of discussion, argument and translation, the decision is made. The piggy is cut and I haul the beautiful pork with the porcelain skin home with me. That is why it needs a name.

I cleaned and dried it. Then it took me a while to find my Exacto knives. Then I had to study it to see how to slit the skin for optimum stress relief when cooking. This will also serve to get the salt in better as I only have about 7 days for it to corn. (I lost track of the date. Yikes!) I think that will be long enough as this is smaller than what is in the book. I chose to go with a "chrysanthemum" pattern.

Elmer is resting in the big enameled steel pot that was my grandmother's jam pot.

I would have taken a picture but you really can't see anything of the pattern yet. More later. With pictures.

[Ktepi]

Mine's been in the fridge for I guess about a week now -- with no Exacto knife, no stress analysis, and mildly defective hands, I don't anticipate a particularly pretty porcine pskin. But the ham -- nameless, anonymous -- seems to be coming along well. It gave off a lot of liquid in the first few days, which washed so much of the surface salt away that I added more than I had anticipated adding ... hopefully not too much.

For the overnight soak, I'm going to have to use the heavy-duty cooler with some ice in the water -- I'm using a 20 pound ham and just don't have anything I can submerge it in, much less room in the fridge for such a hypothetical thing if I had it. I don't drive and the Missus is gone for the rest of the year, so I can't go get a bucket or something -- the cooler will have to do. It's kept sodas cold for four days, and it's what I use to brine turkeys -- I'm sure it can handle a ham.

In the meantime I've been making bacon according to the Ruhlman recipe in the NY Times article that had been linked on some thread and have been flavoring the cure with whatever I can think of, maybe to make up for the simplicity of this ham.

I wish I had given in to the impulse to buy pork ears -- it truly would be Porkmas.

[fifi]

Just an update. Elmer Fudd has been rocking along nicely. I didn't have to add much more salt. I got about three or so basters full of liquid a day . . . not really a lot. After a bit more than a day, I did notice a distinct change. The beast was no longer "squishy and floppy" but had become a really firm hunk-o-pig.

I will take it out tomorrow morning, rinse and put in cold water. It will have been corning for 8 days. I think that will be all right since he is just a bit over 11 pounds, shank portion, and has cut surfaces at both ends and the slits in the skin. It goes in the oven early on Sunday for Sunday afternoon serving. We will be cooking it to pulled pork stage so I will be dropping the baking temperature, maybe push it to 275F, and relying on the remote thermometer.

It is a good thing that I checked the recipe in Bill Smith's book. Originally, I didn't catch that it is cooked covered, then the cover removed to brown at the end. We have one of those big Magnalite roasters at my sister's house, where Elmer meets his final glory, so that seems pretty fittin'.

Pictures later.

[Ktepi]

My cooler has sprung a leak, so I'm soaking the ham in the sink, which is just barely barely big enough to contain it. Does anyone with a better handle on food chemistry know if this will make a difference, given that rather than soaking it in the same water for 24 hours I'll be draining the sink periodically in order to keep the water cold?

[jsolomon]

If it's completely covered? If the sink is a fairly standard kitchen size, I think it ought to be changed hourly or so for the first 4-6 hours. Every two-ish hours for the next 6-8, and then the final one, change when it occurs to you.

If it's a larger sink, one approaching the size of your cooler, I would not worry too much about changing the water.

[Ktepi]

If it's completely covered?  If the sink is a fairly standard kitchen size, I think it ought to be changed hourly or so for the first 4-6 hours.  Every two-ish hours for the next 6-8, and then the final one, change when it occurs to you.

If it's a larger sink, one approaching the size of your cooler, I would not worry too much about changing the water.

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Yep, completely covered -- the sink's not huge, but it's big enough, although I had to maneuver the ham a bit to keep this one inch from sticking out of the surface. I was worried about the water staying cold enough, but the tap water is so cold today that that hasn't been an issue at all. If anything, I think it may be colder than it would be in the fridge.