21 Month Cured Mangalitsa Ham

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If there is a pinnacle of charcuterie’s creation, it is a dry-cured ham. Known as a country ham, prosciutto, šunka, jambon, schinken, jamon, or pršut, it’s all – relatively speaking, of course – a similar product of a dry-cured and aged for a year or two (or three) hind leg of a decently raised and breed pig. Here is mine, made from a mangalitsa hog. The quilibrium curing allows to develop a product without over or under salting.
The process of creating this masterpiece started with 8.6kg of ham from a free-ranged in North-Central Oklahoma – where plenty of nuts and acorns to be found by a sensitive nose of any self-respecting hog – mangalitsa. The ham went through 37 days of equilibrium curing in vacuum with 3.5% sea salt, 0.25% cure #2, and 0.5% Black Pepper. I’ve massaged some rosemary extract into the ham as well for a measure against fat rancidity. Afterwards, the ham was washed, dried, rested for a day in cold, and sent to the “curing chamber“ for 21 month. The sugna – combination of rice flour with lard – was applied 3 month after the dry-curing begun to prevent over-drying.