Method:
Salt box the deer hind quarter. This is as simple as it sounds- put the ham in a container and pour salt over it. Turn the ham over, and pour more salt on it. Rub the salt into all surfaces of the venison. Continue rotating, pressing and adding salt until the hindquarter won’t take on any more salt.
Put the salted hindquarter in a non reactive container. Pour a layer of salt on the bottom, add the venison and cover with a little more salt. Place a cutting board or similar flat object on top of the venison and weigh the board down with something of equal or greater weight to the venison. Place in the refrigerator. Drain off liquid daily and add more salt as needed.
Cure the ham like this for around 1.5 days per pound of meat.
At the end of this stage, the ham should feel firm and look darker in color. If it hasn’t firmed up, add salt and continue to cure for 1-3 more days.
Now, rinse with cold water and rub off excess salt with a clean brush or rag. Pat dry.
Weigh the ham again (use grams, not pounds) and record the weight somewhere you won’t lose it. Hang in a curing chamber for 6-12 days (~70% humidity) until the exterior feels slightly dry but still a bit tacky.
Once that stage is over, remove from the cure chamber. Using room temperature lard, mixed about 50:50 by weight with flour, cover the ham completely. This is called a strutto, and it allows for the ham to dry evenly. Make sure to cover every surface of the ham, like a cheese wrapped in wax.
Hang for 6-12 months in a cure chamber. You’ll need to check it periodically for mold issues, and weigh it to check for doneness. Remember that weight you wrote down? Take that weight and figure out approximately 30-40% of that number. That’s how much you want to lose in water weight in the cure chamber. We pulled ours at 9 months when it reached ~35% weight loss. The longer you let it hang, and the more moisture loss there is, the more concentrated and funky the flavors are.
Note: the strutto will most likely get moldy. This is fine, keep an eye out for dark molds and scrape off as needed.
When you have achieved the desired weight loss, scrape off the strutto with a butter knife and vac seal to equalize. Store in the refrigerator for at least a month.
Scrape off any remaining strutto, trim the rind, and slice paper thin to serve.
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