You’d think, with every supermarket, every butcher, every corner store and every sandwich shop selling a version of ham, and often prosciutto as well, there’s very little point in learning how to make it yourself. Until you’ve tasted properly cured and smoked pork leg, that is.
Ham, prosciutto and pickled pork all come from pigs’ legs. You can, of course, make ham from a small cut from the shoulder (the scotch or neck), but generally, a cured part or whole leg is the aim. It’s best to start with small cuts and build up from there. As always, choose meat from as good a pig as you can afford. We’re lucky enough to have pigs from Matthew’s and Ross’s farms, both Wessex Saddleback and Berkshire breeds, that live happy, free-range lives. You may not have access to your own pasture-raised pork, but you’ll be wasting your time trying to turn a poorly raised animal into something sublime. Curing and smoking can’t restore what wasn’t in the meat in the first place.
