2 litres of water (a little more than 2 quarts)
3/4 cups of kosher salt
1 cup of turbinado sugar
1/4 cup of molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 teaspoons Insta Cure No. 1 (Ruhlman’s recipe calls for more, but my butcher insists that this is all you need.)
1 litre water 1.2lt
0.375g 3/8 cup salt 200g
½ cup sugar ½ sugar
2 g curing salt 2 tsp
7 cloves
4 juniper berries
1 bay leaf
20 pepper corns
1.8 kg pork suitable for roasting
Place your ham in the plastic container that you’ll be using to cure it and fill it with water until the ham is covered. Remove the ham and then measure how much water is left in the container—this is how much water you’ll need for your brine.
Based on how much water you have, use this ratio of salts and sugars to water.
Stir into your plastic container water the salts, sugars and pink salt, and place your ham into the brine. If any parts of the ham bob above the surface of the brine, place a ceramic plate on top to weigh it down.
Place the container in the fridge, and keep it there for a span that equals one day per every900g(for this quantity of meat 4 days). Halfway through the brining process, turn the ham over so all parts of it will be submerged.
After the brining is done, rinse the ham and let it soak refrigerated in clean water for 24 hours.
To cook the ham, bake it in a foil-lined roasting pan at 150 degrees for 30 minutes per 500g or until the internal temperature is 65 degrees. (I recommend not doing it on a rack as I did because it leaves strange impressions on the meat.)
When done, slice and serve. When figuring what size to buy, I’d say about a pound per person, though that is still a lot of ham!
Notes: Your butcher may have Insta Cure No. 1 and may sell you some. You can also order it online at Sausage Maker. http://www.sausagemaker.com