The very finest pork must be used for these hams. Mix together an
equal quantity of powdered saltpetre and brown sugar, and rub it
well into the hams. Next day make a pickle in sufficient quantity
to cover them very well. The proportions of the ingredients are a
pound and a half of fine salt, half a pound of brown sugar, an
ounce of black pepper and an ounce of cloves pounded to powder, a
small bit of sal prunella, and a quart of stale strong beer or
porter. Boil them all together, so as to make a pickle that will
bear up an egg. Pour it boiling hot over the meat, and let it lie
in the pickle two weeks, turning it two or three times every day,
and basting or washing it with the liquid. Then take out the hams,
rub them with bran and smoke them for a fortnight. When done, keep
them in a barrel of wood ashes.
In cooking these hams simmer them slowly for seven or eight hours.
To imitate the shape of the real Westphalia hams, cut some of the
meat off the under side of the thick part, so as to give them a
flat appearance. Do this before you begin to cure them, first
loosening the skin and afterwards sewing it on again.
The ashes in which you keep them must be changed frequently,
wiping the hams when you take them out.