Air Dried Hams Prosciutto Style

Following previous pig harvests we have tried a number of methods for making air dried hams, some more simple than others. At its most basic, the ham is dry salted for a period and then hung in a dry draughty and cool place to mature and lose moisture. In Italy, the traditional time of year for harvesting the family pig is January. Not only does this tie in nicely with the running down of the Autumn stores but also gives a period of cool weather in which to cure your pig. We've successfully air dried hams in the winter months but it does get somewhat more patchy towards the end of spring as ambiant temperature rises. The ideal environment would be a steady 10-15 degrees centigrade and 85% humidity. Fridges are normally too cold and too dry. Personally I wont be making air dried hams this May but others might. I know Bod did well with his last spring (air dried a la mode du Clapham) and Rob had success with his cellar-cured Dorking parma.

On with the recipes.
I can put my hand on three recipes for prosciutto but I know there are countless more.

The HFW.
Hugh describes a very basic but fairly successful prosciutto recipe in the River Cottage Cook Book. Find an old wooden wine box or any other non-metal container with a porous bottom. Pack the bottom inch of the box with salt, preferably not table salt (anti-caking agents). Drop the leg into the box and pack salt on top. When covered, add a flat board and some weights totalling around 2.5 times the weight of the ham. Leave in a cool spot for around 21 days. The longer you leave it in salt the more potent the cure and better preserved. The less time you leave it the more acceptable the taste. Its a fine line between the two.
Once cured, remove from the box, wash off the salt. Wash the ham down in white wine vinegar and hang in a cool draughty place for a few months. As it loses moisture the ham will harden. If it loses moisture too quickly, a hard outer layer will form trapping the moisture inside and possibly causing it to rot. To slow moisture loss you either need a more humid environment or you can cover the ham in lard and back pepper.
There are two point of contention with this recipe, aside from the obvious lack of predictable results. Firstly, there are no nitrates or nitrites. While this didn't trouble the Romans when they made hams it does leave the door open to botulism and some other nasties. Secondly, there is a constant dilemma as to whether to remove the bone before curing. Leave it in and the bone can start to rot before the cure reaches it. Cut the bone out and you leave a void for stuff to start growing and you invariably introduce bacteria in the cutting process. One possible solution is brine injection but I've yet to experiment on this. Hugh says take the bone out, his chef Gill says to leave it in.

Prosciutto Toscano Kyle Phillips-- Tuscan Prosciutto
This recipe of old Italian origins was reproduced on a ham enthusiasts' forum. It allegedly comes from a book, Etruschi il Mito a Tavola, by Giuseppe Alessi. It isn't vastly different from the HFW but has a more authentic feel and is a little more specific on the detail.

A very fresh ham from an animal that's just been butchered, cut free from the carcass by an expert butcher, and which hasn't been refrigerated; it should be well fleshed, with the central vein well drained (have the butcher do this for you, squeezing out all the blood, because if any blood remains the prosciutto won't cure properly), and weigh between 26 and 33 pounds (12-15 k), or even more if it's from a sow.
12-15 cloves garlic, peeled and ground in a mortar together with lightly moistened fine sea salt, abundant peppercorns and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; you don't want them to overshadow everything else). This is an indicative quantity; you could find yourself needing much more. In any case, lay the prosciutto on a surface that won't absorb liquids and rub it very well with the garlic mixture. Let the prosciutto rest for 3 days, wiping up any liquids it may give off, then message it again with more of the garlic mixture and salt it well with fine-grained sea salt. Repeat the process again after five days and salt it abundantly. Leave it flat on the surface to absorb salt and give off moisture for 30 days, then shake off the excess salt and leave it lie for another ten days.
At this point it is salted; rinse it with a mixture of equal parts warm water and vinegar, and hang it up to dry in a dry place that's impervious to flies (they're drawn to prosciutto at this stage) for 2-3 months. Stucco the flesh side of the ham with rendered lard and hang it to age for 7-8 months.

ParmaHam - Franco Style
The proprietor of the online curing and sausage making store sausagemaking.org has set out some excellent instructions for using his own brand of parma ham cure. It is a more thourough and more modern recipe that makes use of nitrates/nitrites and a probiotic.
http://www.sausagemaking.org/parmaHam.html