It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite like Proscuitto de Parma, but it feels just as good rolling on the tongue…well, almost.

So after my years of desire and longing to create my own proscuitto, the time was finally nigh!  The cupboard was prepared…in that I put some cardboard down to prevent drips…aaaaand that was it, it was still just a cupboard.

Having endlessly read up on the interweb on this stuff, it was still very confusing – there’s a wealth of information but it’s all different…different amounts of salt, different times curing in the salt, different ways of adding the salt, different periods of hanging and drying…the interweb can be a confusing place (and I’m not just talking about the sexual practices).  So I kind of did an average of my findings…

I had bought some pink salt online – essential for stopping botulism…I’ve never had botulism…I don’t want it.  And off I went to buy the top part of a pig’s leg – it seemed a bit crazy to go the whole hog (see what I did there?) and get a whole leg, so I just got the top meaty part – bone still in, skin still on, make sure they don’t score it or anything – you need that shit smooth as a pigs bum cheek.  It cost me $8/kg for my hunk of pork – the cheapest proscuitto in my supermarket is about $50/kg

The big questions: how much salt to use and how long to leave it curing in the salt.  Yup, those questions filled my mind for months…and the minds of my friends…and strangers…anyone who would listen really, and a few who wouldn’t.  I used about a kilo of salt and left it in for 3 weeks.  Now that I’m 6 months older and maybe 2 months smarter, I think myself and my curing companion Oli have decided it’s not really about the amount of salt – there’s a minimum of covering the meat, but it’s really about the amount of time you leave it in for – too long and it gets too salty (yeah, obvious really, I know).  According to my book (I know, I should’ve just stuck with my book and forgot about the internet) it’s about 1 day per 500 grams of meat.  Not 3 weeks then.

Beyond that, there’s nothing difficult about this – you get some cling film, put your meat on top, rub a load of salt into every nook and cranny and then wrap it up.  Put it in some kind of container to catch the moisture that will come out (they always say a non-reactive container…no shit), put some weight on it and shove it in the fridge for a while.

Then you basically wipe all the salt off and hang it up in your cupboard…

Bosch!  6 months later you have proscuitto!  It’s as easy as that.  And it’s good proscuitto too…it’s glorious.  Mine was a touch too salty from leaving it in the salt too long, but for a first attempt – boom!  Winner!

Click here for the full recipe