Brine time for small ham

[ben]

First time brine curer needs assistance...

I've tried to figure out the answer to this from the numerous posts already here, but having trouble coming up with a solution (groan)!

I'm going to cure a small boneless ham (say about 2-3kg), just immersion curing not injecting etc. I've got the plain brine cure from here, but don't know how long to cure for. I've emailed for help, but thought I'd see if anyone had any experience of it here.

Oddley's 2 parts meat: 1 part brine recipe (presuming the brine mix I have is equivalent) suggests 10 days per kilo, which would make 20-30 days, surely too long?!

Cheers
Ben

[Oddley]

Hi Ben, read this .pdf file it should answer your questions.

[wheels]

ben

Welcome

If it's the plain brine cure from the shop, it may be worth giving them a call.

Phil

[ben]

Thanks for your replies - I've had an email back from the shop suggesting 1 week per kilo of meat, which agrees with the 3.5-4 days per lb in the Oklahoma doc from Oddley, although I guess the shape may have a role to play too. I reckon I'll give 1 week/kilo a go and see what happens!
Cheers
Ben

[wheels]

Yes, that's what I'd do. Please let us know how it turns out.

Phil

[ben]

Just a ham update: I ended up not using the 2:1 ratio, as this didn't work with the containers I had. Still, I checked with the shop and they suggested that the meat just needed to be covered in the brine without any specification of amounts. So, I ended up with 2kg meat and 2.5kg plain brine cure made up as per the instructions. This had 14 days in the cure, then a day or so drying off in the fridge. Boiled it up, and it turned out pretty good - very nice texture. It wasn't too flavourful though - not very salty, and the flavours of the aromatics were very subtle. I added a few bay leaves, 10 peppercorns, 6 juniper berries and a crushed up nutmeg to the cure. Next time I think I'll pulverise these before adding the cure, might help the flavour a bit.
Overall, not a bad start to my brine curing career but plenty of room for improvement!
Thanks for the advice.
Cheers
Ben