Proscuitto Curing Problems

[suiosalt]

I recently pulled a 1 yr old proscuitto I had hanging in my chamber set at 59 deg and 65% humidity. I went to debone the leg and when I got to the center there was still some raw meat. The worst feeling in the world! after a year..totally bummed out! I have been curing sausages and coppa's for a while and all have been awesome...just couldn't wait and the leg had lost 30% of it's weight...Not sure what to do so I continued and removed the bone, cut out any super soft meat, tied it up tight and put it back into hang in the chamber. I did taste the it (the done area and prior to knowing what was inside) and it was ok. Not at the level of the coppa's I made from the same pig but good. Some vac time would help it aswell.

any thoughts? is re-hanging the right thing to do?

Thanks all...

[redzed]

I recently pulled a 1 yr old proscuitto I had hanging in my chamber set at 59 deg and 65% humidity. I went to debone the leg and when I got to the center there was still some raw meat. The worst feeling in the world! after a year..totally bummed out! I have been curing sausages and coppa's for a while and all have been awesome...just couldn't wait and the leg had lost 30% of it's weight...Not sure what to do so I continued and removed the bone, cut out any super soft meat, tied it up tight and put it back into hang in the chamber. I did taste the it (the done area and prior to knowing what was inside) and it was ok. Not at the level of the coppa's I made from the same pig but good. Some vac time would help it aswell.
any thoughts? is re-hanging the right thing to do?
Thanks all...

Hello suiosalt and welcome to the forum! If the area around the bone smelled fine then I'm not sure you have a problem. Do you have any pics you could post? But one of the reasons that the ham may not have dried evenly is your higher temp and low humidity. I know that some guys cure meats successfully under similar conditions, but 59F is on the high end of the scale and I would not cure under 75% RH. On the other hand, American country hams are cured at even higher temps and lower humidity. Maybe your ham was simply not ready after one year? How big was it? What type of pork did you use and how did you initially cure it?

As to boning it out and retying, that is probably not a good idea. The meat is quite firm by now an it's almost impossible to tie it in a way where all the air pockets and spaces will be closed. Hang it as is for a couple of weeks and then cut into smaller portions, vaccum pack and leave it in the fridge for a couple of months. You will then get better moisture distribution and the flavour will improve. Not all is lost!

[suiosalt]

I recently pulled a 1 yr old proscuitto I had hanging in my chamber set at 59 deg and 65% humidity. I went to debone the leg and when I got to the center there was still some raw meat. The worst feeling in the world! after a year..totally bummed out! I have been curing sausages and coppa's for a while and all have been awesome...just couldn't wait and the leg had lost 30% of it's weight...Not sure what to do so I continued and removed the bone, cut out any super soft meat, tied it up tight and put it back into hang in the chamber. I did taste the it (the done area and prior to knowing what was inside) and it was ok. Not at the level of the coppa's I made from the same pig but good. Some vac time would help it aswell.
any thoughts? is re-hanging the right thing to do?
Thanks all...

Hello suiosalt and welcome to the forum! If the area around the bone smelled fine then I'm not sure you have a problem. Do you have any pics you could post? But one of the reasons that the ham may not have dried evenly is your higher temp and low humidity. I know that some guys cure meats successfully under similar conditions, but 59F is on the high end of the scale and I would not cure under 75% RH. On the other hand, American country hams are cured at even higher temps and lower humidity. Maybe your ham was simply not ready after one year? How big was it? What type of pork did you use and how did you initially cure it?

As to boning it out and retying, that is probably not a good idea. The meat is quite firm by now an it's almost impossible to tie it in a way where all the air pockets and spaces will be closed. Hang it as is for a couple of weeks and then cut into smaller portions, vaccum pack and leave it in the fridge for a couple of months. You will then get better moisture distribution and the flavour will improve. Not all is lost!

Thanks Redzed, I untied it and re-hung it although it was super tight and didn't notice air pockets... I also tweaked my chamber settings to 45deg and 75% humidity. I'll keep and eye on it but smelt great when I pulled it out to work on it.

I'm going to invest in a horse bone only problem is finding one in stock!

thanks again.

[harleykids]

as far as the horse bone goes, you may want to try Evan at Craft Butcher Pantry, he had a small shipment of them from Italy a while ago, and may have one or two left. Or may know of one you could buy. I want to say they were USD $80 when he had them in stock a few months ago.

[suiosalt]

I've seen many different thoughts on a good cure temp and humidity setting. I had my setting at 59 Degrees and 65% Humidity but since my prosciutto issue I tweaked it to 45 Degrees and 75% humidity. Anyone have any thought on whats ideal or best practice?

[harleykids]

Ideal temp/RH would be around 50-55F and 80% RH

[Butterbean]

What we do here is cure hams in the fall. Once cured, we hang them and don't worry so much about temp or humidity but the ambient temp fluctuates between 30 - 60F but the average during day will be in the 50's and night will be in the low 40's. This lasts for about four months then things warm up and there are two thoughts at this point. Some hang in the attic where it gets blistering hot and others just leave in smokehouses (sheds). Hotter the summer the nuttier the ham. Some like that some don't. I'm in the latter but I've done it all ways.