A while ago I was tucked up on the sofa enjoying watching Hugh Fernley Whittingstall’s River cottage program. In the last series he had gathered together a small group of neighbours and got them started on the road to self sufficiency. They cleared a patch of land to grow vegetables, fruit, keep chickens and then pigs and one of the group was then given butchery lessons so they could get the best from their pork.
One of the things they did with the pork was to cure one of the legs. It looked reasonably easy and I was really keen to try it out. I couldn’t really afford to get a whole pork leg and for two of us it might have been a little on the gluttonous side so I had part of a boned leg of Gloucester old spot, just over a kg in weight.
Here is the recipe I used. It took seven days to cure mine, then I boiled it and roasted it with a sugar, mustard and clove glaze. It was so delicious it only took 1 day to eat. Next time I will get a bigger joint but I will have to find something big enough to brine it in.
It really is worth the effort. Graeme said it was possibly the best ham he had ever tasted. Give it a go.
Tags: brine, Christmas, Cure, food, ham, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, pork, recipe
MrC has done some of the HFW hams, wiltshire and air-dried. We had the wiltshire one with the glaze you’ve done and it too tasted fantastic. Looks great.