How To Cure Ham
A delicious brine recipe for curing ham without sodium nitrite
Ingredients
- 2 cups salt
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup fennel seed
- 1/2 cup mustard seed
- 2 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary or 1 sprig of fresh
- 1 tsp dried thyme or 4 sprigs fresh
- 6 bay leaves
- 1 onion cut into quarters
- 4 stalks celery coursely chopped
- 25 whole garlic cloves lightly crushed
- 2 gallons filtered water
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a large container/pot/tub/5 gallon bucket, whatever you have. Stir it up.
- Place the meat in the container. Be sure the meat is entirely submerged before replacing the lid. If necessary, place a plate or other weight on top of the meat to keep it covered with the brine.
- Place in the refrigerator and let it cure for 3 days.
- Take the ham out of the brine and rinse well with cool water to remove all trace of salt; lightly pat dry with a cloth towel.
- Allow the ham to continue to air-dry in the refrigerator on a rack for another 24 hours before cooking or freezing.