Curing Pork Virginia Style


  Recipe by: dgill@ccsinc.com Good cures start with good meat. We raise our
  own hogs and fatten them on a corn based ration supplemented by whatever is
  available - stale bakery products, household garbage, etc. Garbage should
  not dominate the ration as the fat will be soft. Top hogs weigh 220 pounds
  and yield about a 16 pound ham. We like to cure hams between 20 and 30
  pounds. Large hams with adequate fat layers age better and don't dry out as
  much during extended storage. Country cured hams will keep indefinitely but
  achieve their full flavor after about one year when "white flecks" appear
  in the muscle. We feed our hogs to 300 pounds or better but don't let them
  get too fat.. Some cuts may be slightly tougher with heavy hogs. Hams,
  shoulders and bellies may be bought from packing houses and can be ordered
  by butchers if you are not in position to grow your own. You may have to
  buy box lots but make absolutely sure that the meat is fresh and quickly
  chilled. Pork should be put in cure as soon as possible after chilling and
  trimming but, properly handled, it can  be a couple of days old. I once
  bought ten, 25 pound hams that had been two days in transit to the butcher
  and then were left in his cooler over the weekend. I lost the whole batch!
  Those hams had also been trimmed excessively leaving little skin and fat
  covering. As a result, I have gone back to raising my own so I know what I
  have to work with. I am supposed to talk about curing bacon and I will get
  around to it. As hams (and shoulders) are more valuable, demanding and
  risky, the entire process is keyed to the larger cuts.

  Curing and smoking facilities vary greatly. Traditional farm hamhouses /
  smokehouses are windowless wood frame buildings about ten feet square with
  a dirt floor. Wooden plank benches provide work areas for mixing the cure
  and salting down meat. Joists are within reach and studded with 20 penny
  nails for hanging meat. The dirt floor allows a higher humidity in winter
  and allows a smoldering fire to be built inside - both for smoking and to
  keep meat from freezing during extreme cold. Some hamhouses have external
  smoke generators - simply a firebox with a stovepipe stuck through the
  wall. This arrangement makes it easier to cold smoke for several days (or
  weeks) in the spring without exceeding 100 deg. F. and is essential if the
  smokehouse is made of wood and insulated. Either the eaves are loosely
  fitted or there are operable vents to allow for air exchange, especially
  during smoking, so that there is adequate fresh air and the smoke does not
  become stale and acrid. Openings are covered by fine screen mesh and the
  interior is kept dark to discourage skippers (larvae of a small black fly
  which also likes pork). My smokehouse follows the tradition except that
  the walls are poured concrete and the roof is metal. The thick walls store
  a lot of heat and smooth out daily temperature fluctuations. I have no
  smoke generator or operable vents  but there is plenty of air exchange at
  the eaves. In places where conditions are not favorable, curing and smoking
  chambers with temperature and humidity controls and a smoke generator can
  be easily fabricated or small cuts may be cured in the refrigerator.

  My dry cure is mixed by the "pour 'til it looks right" method. My daddy
  showed me how. There was a request from a pork eater in Israel to provide
  metric measurements. Unfortunately, I don't know how to convert the SAH
  (Standard American Handfull)!  I buy plain (not iodized) dairy salt in 50
  Lb. bags from a farm supply co-op and other ingredients from one of the
  warehouse retailers.

  To each 50 lbs of salt,  mix about 1 gal. of molasses (blackstrap if you
  have it), about 2 pounds of ground  black pepper,  about 8 oz.of paprika
  and 1 SAH (about 4 oz.) of red pepper or cayenne. I use molasses rather
  than brown sugar so that the mixture can be packed around the meat. Color
  should be light brown and texture should be friable: it should pack when
  squeezed in the hand but crumble easily; like good loam soil ready to be
  plowed. Proportions are not critical  and you can add whatever dry spices
  sound good. Just mix and dump until you have a mixture that looks like it
  will cure pork! Back when hog killin' was the norm, everyone had their own
  mixture. Some used plain salt or salt and pepper, others added refined
  sugar, brown sugar, or molasses and so forth. You can add some salt peter
  for added safety if you want to. I have never used it and have no idea how
  much to put in. If you have no sense of adventure, buy Morton's sugar cure.

  Spread a 1/2 inch layer of cure on the bench,  place meat skin side down
  and cover all surfaces with about 1/2 inch of cure. Force cure into the cut
  shank ends of hams and shoulders. I prefer laying all of the pieces out
  separately so I can see when  cure gets thin, but you can pile it all up and
  overhaul more often. During the phase of rapid cure uptake, a lot of fluid
  is drawn from the meat. That is why you use rough wooden benches with the
  planks not too tight - dirt floors help too. Of coarse, never use treated
  wood in contact with food. Check the meat every few days at first then not
  as often as salt absorption decreases. Overhaul several times by moving the
  pieces around, making sure they are covered with cure (it won't stick to
  the dry skin on hams so don't worry about it).

  Bacon, at last! As a rule of thumb, smaller pieces such as bacon should
  stay in cure for 1.5 days per pound. This usually coincides with the time
  that the fresh sausage runs out. At this point I usually slice some to try.
  It should be salty but not too salty to eat without soaking. When you are
  satisfied with the cure, brush the salt off and hang. I like to let them
  hang for a couple of days before smoking but it is not necessary. Use cold
  smoke (less than 100 deg. F.) unless you plan to use it or freeze it within
  a few days. I use 2 fairly green hickory logs about 12" in diameter. Once
  burning on the dirt floor I  adjust the distance between the logs so that
  they smolder actively but don't flame. Hickory will keep going like this
  for a day or so with minimal tending. I just check it every few hours and
  make adjustments. Smoke does not need to be thick and heavy to flavor meat
  and adequate air volume is important when using green wood. I believe that
  smoke should enhance, not overwhelm.