REG O POK

Catsmokinpot

I have wanted to make prosciutto since my uncle in-law brought back a leg of it 10 or 15 years ago from Italy, I went to buy some cheese cloth to make clarified butter and thought **** it, I'm gonna make some prosciutto as well.

I'm looking for a full leg of pork, how much would one cost and do they still sell it on the bone? I heard somewhere that they stopped selling some meats on the bone although I could well have been dreaming it.

I'll post Pics of my progress as I'm going along.

the beer revolu

Any decent butcher would sell you a leg of pork.

Do let us know how you get on as this is something I've often thought about doing.

duckworth

You can get a leg of pork from most decent butchers - but you will have to order it in advance. Just ring around your local places and they'll do it for you.

If you are considering making prosciutto though - be warned that this is an art form, and some people spend decades trying to get it right.

This book is amazing - "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman - most people who are into making their own hams and sausages swear by it.

There's also a large community of home charcuterie makers at the Egullet website, which you can google.

Catsmokinpot

I'll look into that book thanks guys, i know it will be hard but its a food i love and i think i have the patience to get it right, will post my progress.

The Hill Billy

OP - why not edit your thread title? You may get some more decent advice if people knew what the thread was about.
I only took a look because I thought it was a troll thread.

CJhaughey

Quality of meat is all important when you make cured meats, the best Jamon is veeery expensive stuff purely because the meat/fat is so good.
Buying a leg from a landrace is almost guaranteed to disappoint you because they won't have enough fat.
Unless this is just a trial and you plan on getting better quality pork for another attempt?
You ideally want a rare breed that has been fattened on proper food, not just pig ration.
The other thing is that the right balance of humidity/temp is hard to get here in Ireland for dry cure hams, it's generally high humidity here and you end up with mouldy hams which is heartbreaking stuff.

aidan24326

Take Hillbilly's advice and change the thread title. REG O POK is gonna slide into oblivion very quickly.

the beer revolu

CJhaughey wrote: »

Quality of meat is all important when you make cured meats, the best Jamon is veeery expensive stuff purely because the meat/fat is so good.
Buying a leg from a landrace is almost guaranteed to disappoint you because they won't have enough fat.
Unless this is just a trial and you plan on getting better quality pork for another attempt?
You ideally want a rare breed that has been fattened on proper food, not just pig ration.
The other thing is that the right balance of humidity/temp is hard to get here in Ireland for dry cure hams, it's generally high humidity here and you end up with mouldy hams which is heartbreaking stuff.

All the above is true.
I did, recently, however, taste some AMAZING Irish produced and reared cured ham from a guy in Wicklow who runs the Stone Age Pig Farm.
This really was as good if not better as any Jamón ibérico or Parma ham I've tasted.
This guy has really solved the humidity/temp problems.
Not sure if he's actually tried to sell any yet or what kind of money it will go for but this is a top notch product.