Black Forest ham

The cure comes off before the smoke goes on, and the outside only goes black in the weeks after that.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 1 boned pork leg, about 3 kg
• 150 g coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons juniper berries, crushed
• 2 tablespoons coriander seed, crushed
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns, crushed
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• conifer sawdust, for cold smoking

Method

1. THE CURE COMES OFF BEFORE THE SMOKE GOES ON, AND THE OUTSIDE ONLY GOES BLACK IN THE WEEKS AFTER THAT. Its Preparation is a sequence of four separate waits: RAW HAM IS SALTED AND SEASONED WITH GARLIC, CORIANDER, PEPPER, JUNIPER BERRIES AND OTHER SPICES; AFTER CURING FOR TWO TO THREE WEEKS, THE SALT IS REMOVED AND THE HAM AGED AN ADDITIONAL TWO WEEKS; IT IS THEN COLD-SMOKED USING LOCAL CONIFERS AND SAWDUST FOR SEVERAL DAYS; IT THEN RIPENS IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM FOR SEVERAL WEEKS.
2. SO THE COLOUR IS NOT THE SMOKE, WHICH IS THE THING EVERYBODY ASSUMES. The article puts the darkening in the last stage, the ripening, BECOMING ALMOST BLACK ON THE OUTSIDE AND ACQUIRING MUCH OF ITS DISTINCTIVE FLAVOR. Smoke for a week and you get a brown ham.
3. AND THE SALT IS TAKEN OFF HALFWAY THROUGH, not left on to the end. Two to three weeks under salt, then the salt goes and the ham rests two more weeks with none. That second fortnight is what lets the salt even out through the middle instead of sitting at the surface.
4. COLD SMOKING IS NOT COOKING AND MUST NOT BECOME IT. The chamber stays under twenty-five degrees. Nothing is attended, nothing is turned, and the ham simply hangs in the smoke for days.
5. CONIFERS, WHICH IS UNUSUAL AND IS IN THE ARTICLE. Fir and spruce sawdust rather than the oak or beech most cured meat is smoked over -- resinous, and it is where the flavour comes from.
6. RUB THE SALT AND CRUSHED SPICES OVER EVERY SURFACE and into the hollow where the bone was. The article says boneless, so that cavity is the part most likely to spoil if it is missed.
7. WEIGH IT DOWN IN A COOL PLACE AND POUR OFF THE BRINE AS IT COLLECTS. Left sitting in its own liquid it pickles instead of curing.
8. WASH THE SALT OFF, DRY IT, AND HANG IT FOR THE SECOND FORTNIGHT. A skin forms, and smoke will not stick to a wet surface.
9. THEN THE SMOKE, THEN THE LONG RIPENING, somewhere cool and damp. The article's figure for the finished ham is ABOUT ONE-FIFTH FAT.
10. SLICED THIN AND SERVED AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, which the article specifies, on rye bread or with fruit. What you make at home is the method, not the name: since 1997 the term has been a protected indication in the EU and the ham has to be made at least partly in the Black Forest itself.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes