Lawrence's Cider Cured Ham Recipe
Dec 05, 2024
Holiday Ham for your Holiday Table!
Approximately 5 lb fresh ham roast. Pasture-raised whey-finished pork, off the bone and trussed
Honey
A good dry English Mustard (Colemans dry powdered mustard)
The Brine
4 pounds salt
2 tsp or 12 grams saltpeter or curing salt #1 (optional)
4 quarts pressed apple juice
4 cups strong dry hard cider
2 quarts water
2 pounds honey (2 cups) *Can replace both honey and molasses with equivalent amount of demerara
2 pounds black molasses (2 cups)
30 juniper berries
¼ cup black peppercorn crushed
10 bay leaves crushed
10 cloves
10 Allspice berries
Boil all brine ingredients and leave to cool. Place in brine tub and place brine in fridge or outside until well chilled. Place ham in brine. Submerge completely and weigh down with plate. Place brine vessel in fridge for 2 days.
Pull ham from brine and soak in fresh water for 12 hours or overnight. This will ensure even saltiness through your ham and keep the exterior from being overly salty/inedible. Remove from water.
Place your ham in a pot and submerge in fresh water. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer gently for 2 to 4 hours depending on the size. *Make sure you do not boil the ham, a GENTLE simmer is critical to success. If the water taste overly salty after the first hour, pour half of it away and replace with fresh boiling water. When the fat starts to separate from the meat remove it from the water.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the ham dry and let it dry off on the counter for 30 minutes. Aiming a fan on your ham at this stage can help move things long. No fan, no problem. Let time do its thing.
Remove the trussing (if your ham is trussed) at this point and score the fat in a diamond pattern press your knife into the fat but not so deeply as to go right through the fat to the meat. Mix 1/3 cup honey with 2 tablespoons dry English mustard and smear it over the scored ham. If you’ve got a whiskey or a brandy bottle handy slosh some over the top of the ham. Push a handful of decorative whole cloves into the fat. Place in the oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour until caramelized. The glaze should be a dark, golden-brown, with a bubbling crust. Serve hot, ideally over poached figs with a side of parsley sauce.
