# put lard on dry cured ham?



## seadog92 (Apr 1, 2015)

I put a couple hams into salt dry cure in November. They were smoked 40 hours, and left to hang in the smokehouse. Today i scrubbed the mold off and will re-sock to hang again until September. I've seen pictures where some processors coat the exposed end with a thick layer of what looks like lard. First, is it lard, and second, should i do the same? These are the 2nd and 3rd hams I've done. The first one just got washed and is being soaked for Sunday. I didn't put lard on that one.  Any ideas? I don't get too much hot summer heat here in Washington state if that makes a difference.


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## themule69 (Apr 2, 2015)

Happy smoken.

PS


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## seadog92 (Apr 2, 2015)

Sorry, you're quite right of course.













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__ seadog92
__ Apr 2, 2015


















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__ seadog92
__ Apr 2, 2015


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## atomicsmoke (Apr 2, 2015)

Beautiful.

Why do you soak them?

Indeed ...lard is great to prevent drying of the ham during 2nd stage of curing....so laed away. I understand the Italians add some salt to lard before applying.

Do you have pics before the wash?


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## seadog92 (Apr 2, 2015)

In every recipe I've found for preparing country ham, it says to soak the ham, then boil, then bake.  Here's a picture before the ham was scrubbed of the mold.













ham.jpg



__ seadog92
__ Apr 2, 2015


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## atomicsmoke (Apr 2, 2015)

Great ham there.

I see. I was assuming you will serve it raw. Do you plan to cook the 2nd and 3rd as well? I cook black forest ham too but these are dry hams - I would eat them just like that sliced thin.


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## cdn offroader (Apr 4, 2015)

I followed a "southern recipe" for cooking my country ham. Even after a fair bit of soaking, boiling then baking it was still pretty salty(but not inedible) here is the recipe I followed from Chow hound


> It takes a couple days.
> 
> Take ham out of the bag and throw it in the sink and scrub the outside throughly with a stiff bristled brush and warm running water to remove the mold and other things. Get down into all the cracks and crevases.
> 
> ...


Anyways it turned out well, but to answer your question about the lard, I did add a  light coat of lard, then added a layer of red pepper flakes(apparently it keeps bugs away) but it added a good flavor to the outer cuts. Also did up a batch of red-eye gravy and biscuits. good stuff.


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