Proscuitto

Ingredients:

  • Pig hind quarter

  • Salt

  • Sugna - 1 qt. lard, 1 qt flour

Method:

  • Take hind quarter from quartering the pig.

  • Remove the back trotter to help leg fit in curing tub

  • Remove pelvic bone above femur and below tail - will need to extract some meat to find it

  • Roll out pelvis bone and tail, leaving just the femur and the leg bones left in the leg.

  • Removing the pelvis opens up the femoral arteries, which we will work blood out of.

  • Skim any dry meat off of the leg until you have fresh, shiny meat that will aid in curing.

  • Round out the meat from the sirloin, and then remove any flappies, deep cuts, or anywhere water could pool.

  • massage leg on both sides with elbow until blood stops coming out of arteries by bone. Also massage back to the trotter, sopping up any blood until it stops coming out.

  • Use tub-in-a-tub curing setup, and put a thin layer of salt on the bottom of the tub.

  • Put leg in tub meat side down, and scrub skin with salt.

  • Flip leg over, and rub salt on both trotter end and meat end. Pack it in under any skin on the trotter end and work it into the meat on the leg side. Pack salt between where the meat/trotter touches the tub so it’s a full salt layer between leg and tub. You should have about a 1/4” layer of salt on non-skin surfaces.

  • After 7 days, re-apply salt to meat and trotter, for another 1/4” layer.

  • After 7 more days (14 total) take leg out of tub and wash with tepid water.

  • Take a 4-times folded over layer of twine, and tie around the back leg bone at the bend in the knee tightly with a surgeon’s knot.

  • Hang leg for 1 year.

  • After 1 year, apply the sugna to any meat surface - 1 qt lard and 1 qt flour mixed into a paste. This will inhibit prosciutto mites.

  • Hang for 1 more year before cutting into it.

Leg of PorkBethanee WrightComment