Delicious homemade Jambon ham - a recipe for how to cook ham in French.

How to make French Jambon ham at home.

To prepare very tasty meat according to this recipe, it is best to use the front and rear legs of the carcass. Meat usually starts to spoil near the bones. Therefore, care should be taken to remove the bones so as not to affect the cartilage. You don’t have to remove the bones, but then you need to lightly separate the meat from the bones with a wooden spatula, and fill the resulting hole with salt. Then the meat needs to be salted. This is done by salting in solution or dry salting.

Dry salting of meat for making ham.

The meat is rubbed with sugar mixed with saltpeter. For 1 kg of meat we take 2.5 g of saltpeter and 5 g of sugar. After this, the meat is sprinkled with salt. For 1 kg of meat we take 60-70 g of salt. After this, the meat is placed in a wooden tub, and a layer of salt is poured on top so that the meat does not come into contact with air. The salted ham is kept for 10-15 days (temperature 3-4°C).

Salting meat for ham in brine.

First prepare the brine.Dissolve 50 g of sugar, 30 g of saltpeter and 1800 g of salt in 10 liters of water. Boil the solution, removing the foam. Place the ham in a wooden tub, fill it with cold brine and press it down with a board. The ham is kept in brine for 6-8 days. Check the brine concentration with a fresh egg. Place the egg into the liquid cooled to 10-15°C. If it floats, there is enough salt; if it sinks, then salt needs to be added. The salted ham, pulled out of the brine, is immersed in cool water and kept for 2-3 days (the water is changed 2 times).

After salting, the meat is washed and smoked for 2-3 days until the surface of the ham turns red-brown. Smoking temperature 25-30°C. For smoking, dry branches of beech, hornbeam or ash are used. You can use shavings of deciduous trees. You need to add nut or almond shells little by little to the fire so that the ham acquires a specific aroma.

The smoked Jambon is rubbed with red pepper and placed in a paper parchment bag. French smoked meat is hung in a cold, well-ventilated area.

Homemade Jambon ham is very tasty and can be stored for a long time. It is served on the table cut into thin slices. This is a wonderful gourmet snack and a healthy meat dish.