Prosciutto Crudo; Any Tips

[JoeKitchen]

So I came home from the Middle East and jumped right back into cooking and decided to try my hand at charcuterie, so much so I now have the spelling of that word memorized. 

Anyway, I attempted to make a Prosciutto Crudo and ended up with a rotten 25 pound pork leg.  However, I will not be deterred and am giving it another go this coming Friday.  I think I identified my mistakes, but if anyone has any other advice that would be great. 

Given the international range of this forum, I figured this might be a good place to get opinions.  Any Italian or Spanish charcuterie masters on here?   

Anyway, this time around I am: 

1.  Getting my pig leg from a local small farm that handles all of their slaughtering, so the leg will be three days past kill when I get it.   This last time I bought the ham from a local butcher and had no idea how old it was.  Apparently you need to make sure it is not more then 5 days past kill and probably it was.

2.  The leg will be coming from a heritage hog, Berkshire.  This will have better tasting meat and more fat, which is important for keeping the rate of drying slow.  More then likely the ham I ruined came from an Yorkshire breed and too lean anyway. 

3.  The pigs at this farm are pastured and allowed to forage for food, in addition to their feed.  They also are grown for 18 months.  This is better for the health of the pig, lowers bacteria exposure, produces better meat and a higher fat content.  Hope this helps. 

4.  I will be leaving the salting chamber uncovered and refrigerated during the first 5 days with only 8 pounds of weight on the leg.  This is what I think my main mistake was.  I covered the salting chamber, not allowing for excess moisture to evaporate out, and placed the full press weight on the leg, forming a fold of meat where moisture was able to build up. 

5.  I will be incorporating a second full salting at day 5 discarding all salt from the the first salting. 

6.  I also will be going full traditional using just salt.  This last time I tried to be fancy and added garlic and shallots.  However, this smell masked the initial rancidity until it got real strong. 

Hopefully I can make it past day 15 this time around.  If anyone has any other tips, that would be awesome. 

BTW, I do know to remove the aitch bone, bleed the femoral artery as much as possible and really pack in the salt at the ball joint.  I also will be using just sea salt. 

[Robert Roaldi]

I won't be much help but my father used to make it at home and I distinctly remember him leaving it uncovered after first salting, so I think that's right. However, I can't remember for how long he left it uncovered nor how he judged it time to wrap up. He did this in a cold in-house garage in Montreal winters so it was cold in there but not freezing, in that snow and ice would melt off the car into the drain overnight, making it a cold humid atmosphere. He was not scientific about it.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I have full confidence that you will succeed, Joe.

(But if you don't I think you'll have to change your name to something other than Kitchen!     )

[JoeKitchen]

I have full confidence that you will succeed, Joe.

(But if you don't I think you'll have to change your name to something other than Kitchen!     )

I'll be sure to make a note for the epitaph before my first taste.   

[JoeKitchen]

I won't be much help but my father used to make it at home and I distinctly remember him leaving it uncovered after first salting, so I think that's right. However, I can't remember for how long he left it uncovered nor how he judged it time to wrap up. He did this in a cold in-house garage in Montreal winters so it was cold in there but not freezing, in that snow and ice would melt off the car into the drain overnight, making it a cold humid atmosphere. He was not scientific about it.

The more I read, the more I am convinced this is what did it.  What gets me though is I have been following an American charcuterie practitioner for a year now, building up my confidence in doing this.  In his video, he clearly left the chamber uncovered for the first salting but then covered for the 2nd, however never mentioned anything about it.  So I thought he perhaps forgot to cover it the first time. 

It was not until I started reading up on how Italian and Spanish masters make ham that I read of this importance.   

[JoeKitchen]

So, after 21 days of being buried in salt, I whipped this one out and my wife goes, "wow ... this one does not smell rancid!" 

Still not sure how to take that, but here's hoping this one goes the distance.  We'll see in two years. 

[Robert Roaldi]

So, after 21 days of being buried in salt, I whipped this one out and my wife goes, "wow ... this one does not smell rancid!" 

Still not sure how to take that, but here's hoping this one goes the distance.  We'll see in two years.

Not smelling rancid is a major step forward.

My father only let his age 4-5 months, I seem to remember, not 2 years.

[JoeKitchen]

Not smelling rancid is a major step forward.

My father only let his age 4-5 months, I seem to remember, not 2 years.

It will take about 4 months to dry out and loose 30% of its weight, or so I am told.  Technically that is when it is safe to eat.  However in Italy, at this point, they make a paste out of lard and rice flour, coating the exposed meat portion of the leg, sealing it.  This is what then allows you to really prolong the aging without it becoming completely dry, albeit how long is dependent on the breed of pig and how thick the fat layer under the skin is. 

That is what I plan on doing here.  Do you remember your father doing this step? 

[Robert Roaldi]

It will take about 4 months to dry out and loose 30% of its weight, or so I am told.  Technically that is when it is safe to eat.  However in Italy, at this point, they make a paste out of lard and rice flour, coating the exposed meat portion of the leg, sealing it.  This is what then allows you to really prolong the aging without it becoming completely dry, albeit how long is dependent on the breed of pig and how thick the fat layer under the skin is. 

That is what I plan on doing here.  Do you remember your father doing this step?

Nope, nothing like that. After that initial salting, I think he removed that salt, then repacked with salt and some pepper (but I may be confusing this with making lonza), wrap up in butcher grade paper and let it hang. By this point, he'd transfer from garage to a cool warm room where we stored wine.

After 5-6 months (or 3-4, I can't remember) we'd start eating it. I've asked my brother if he remembers the same but his memory is usually worse than mine. I'll pass on what he remembers.

[Robert Roaldi]

It will take about 4 months to dry out and loose 30% of its weight, or so I am told.  Technically that is when it is safe to eat.  However in Italy, at this point, they make a paste out of lard and rice flour, coating the exposed meat portion of the leg, sealing it.  This is what then allows you to really prolong the aging without it becoming completely dry, albeit how long is dependent on the breed of pig and how thick the fat layer under the skin is. 

That is what I plan on doing here.  Do you remember your father doing this step?

Sorry but my brother's recollections are no better than mine. This was at least 40 years ago and we were both concerned about other things at the time so never took any notes.

[JoeKitchen]

Sorry but my brother's recollections are no better than mine. This was at least 40 years ago and we were both concerned about other things at the time so never took any notes.

Thanks for looking into it.