Home Curing

Home Curing of Bacon and Hams

An introduction to the course

Designed for those lucky souls fortunate enough to be able to keep pigs of their own, or that have access to good quality, well kept and well fed pork, this course was prepared some ten years ago in response to what seemed to be an ever increasing demand from farmers, smallholders and other country dwellers.

It is a course for the country carnivore; the gourmet who wishes to enjoy the epicurean delights of the pig; tastes, flavours and aromas completely lost in this world of fast food and supermarkets, with the ready sliced, pre-packed pap that is extraordinarily, (and legally!!) described and sold as bacon and ham.

It is not a course for the town or suburb dweller. You need attitude. One that only comes from country living, a love and respect for animals that is practical, down to earth and unsentimental. You also need time, patience, a roomy kitchen and a large, cool larder (or a clean cool outbuilding). You can cure half a pig in a centrally heated semi in anytown, we have students that have done it, and successfully too, but such an enterprise is fraught with problems and compromise and, although many think it worthwhile, we don’t recommend it.

Pig curing today is a combination of age old skills, modern practices, chemistry and hygiene which produce bacon and hams to die for, together with a selection of delicious by-products that are virtually unobtainable otherwise.

So, if you really want bacon that cooks in its own fat without sticking to the pan and oozing awful white gunge, if you want real ham, brawn, haslet, delicious pates, pork pies, lard and ‘real’ sausages ~ read on ..........

A Summary of the Course

Module 1 The Pig 1

What is meat? Composition, nutrition and preservation, why cure pork? Breeds and breeding; horses for courses. Feeds and feeding. Handling, care, transport and slaughter.

Module 2 The Pig 2

Proper storage and hanging. The carcass, handling, cutting and appropriate jointing. The chemistry of curing, dry cures, wet cures and pickles. Essential equipment, tools and facilities.

Module 3 Dry curing

Preparing the meat, bacon, hams, shoulders and other joints. The processes involved, ingredients and additives. Essential equipment and the recipe for success. The importance of timing, aftercare, problems and pitfalls.

Module 4 Brine curing

Brine, wet cures and pickles. The processes involved, ingredients and additives. Essential equipment. Replenishment, replacement and timing. Bacon, hams, pigs heads, trotters and tongues. Recipes and local variations. Aftercare, storage and troubleshooting.

Module 5 Bacon, hams and by-products

Boning out bacon. Dealing with hams. Slicing, packing and storage options. Brawn; Recipes and storing. Tongues; recipes, pressing and storage. Haslet, recipes and storage, Pates, recipes and storage. Lard and suet. “Proper” sausages; recipes, filling and storage. Pork pies, recipes and storage. Smoking pork, pork products and other meats.

There is a tutor marked assignment and optional projects at the end of each module.