Cooked ham recipe by aunt Natalia

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds of raw ham
  • 1 ounce curing salt

Brine

  • 1/2 gallon of water
  • 1/3 of a glass of plain salt mixed with the Vegeta seasoning for meats
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon of herbal pepper (cayenne pepper could be used as substitute)
  • 1/2 tablespoon of black pepper
  • 7 cloves of garlic
  • 6 pieces of allspice
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

Preparation
Rub curing salt into ham and keep it cool place for 48 hours.
After this time, wash excess salt from the ham.
Put the ham into boiling brine.
Cook for 30 minutes.
Let the ham cool down in the brine.
Then remove the ham and boil the brine.
Put the ham back in, and cook  for 30 minutes.
Cool in the brine again.

Krystyna’s remarks
Buy a slightly larger piece of meat, because pieces will fall off a bit during trimming.
Ham should weigh 2 pounds or just a little more, otherwise it will not
fully marinate. It is better to buy a larger piece and split into small pieces.
When smoking the ham, I do the following:
48 hours curing, washing excess salt, smoke for 3 hours at 225 F.
Cook once in brine, but only 10 – 15 minutes. Cool down in brine. This should create a juicy and tasty ham.