Formed Ham - Picnic

Meats	Metric	US
lean pork meat, picnic, 97%	970 g	2.13 lb.
pork skins, 3%	30 g	1.0 oz.

Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat

salt	18 g	3 tsp.
Cure #1	2.5 g	1/2 tsp.
pepper	2.0 g	1 tsp.

Instructions

1. Remove skin. Cut meat pieces into 1” (25 mm) cubes.
2. Add salt and Cure #1 to meat and mix together. Pack tightly in a container, cover with cloth and leave for 3 days in refrigerator. Make brine adding 2½ tsp of salt to 60 ml (¼ cup) of water. This will make 40º SAL brine. No nitrite is needed for curing skins. Leave skins in brine for 3 days in refrigerator.
3. Poach skins in hot water (just below boiling) for 30 minutes. Drain skins, then cool them.
4. Grind skins through ⅛” (3 mm) plate.
5. Mix cured meat pieces with pepper. Knead meat hard until feels sticky. Add ground skins and mix everything well together.
6. Stuff mixture into cellophane bag whose size corresponds to the size of your ham press. Place the bag into the ham press and apply pressure to the cover.
7. Insert ham press into boiling water but cook at 176º F (80º C) until meat reaches 154-160º F (68-71º C). In a small ham press, for example 4” diameter and 4-6” high, that will take about 2 hours.
8. Place ham press for 2-3 hours in cold water to cool and then place overnight in refrigerator.
9. Remove ham from the press.
10. Keep in refrigerator.