More pictures to come still trying to figure how to upload and all that kinda stuff,
This is what I know from reading countless info and looking at countless videos on you tube
#1 Pork legs must be fresh , not frozen .
#2 Pork legs must be trimmed and ball joint exposed .
#3 Pork legs must be weighed after trimming, why ? because for every pound for meat u have it must sit in salt for 1 day
#4 Use Mortons sea salt , plus a little of the pink curing salt ( saltpeter) I use very little in my mix .
#5 Rub salt into every nook and cranny especially around the hock area and the ball joint.
#6 Place in a cool aerated area for 4 days then change salt and turn pork legs, I placed a fan nearby .
#7 After 7 more days, I replaced the salt again making sure each time that I did that, I also cleaned up the liquid .
#8 After 5 more days, I replaced the salt one last time, but this time I added black pepper to the mix , I also
constructed a device of which consisted of two all threed rods with nuts and big metal washers, drilled a hole
on either side of the wooden box and slipped the all thread thru and tightened two pieces of wood creating a clamp
type of a device to squeez the two pork legs, to release the moisture and also create that shape that proscuitto is known for .
#9 After 20 days in the cure, I removed the pork legs from the salt box and rinsed them off thouroghly with cold water, I then
wiped the pork legs dry and rinsed the pork legs with red wine ( merlot was my choice ) something to do with the acidity?
I then wiped the red wine off the proscuitto, took some lard,very little of it and wiped it all over the proscuitto,so that when
the pepper is applied it would stick on .
#10 Hang in a cool breezy area and keep ur fingers crossed , hahaha just got my two pork legs peppered and hung today i will wait till end of October
let you know then by the way i also sniffed the pork legs to check for any rottenness after 20 days the pigs smell great , hope that helps
I am a hunter also , let me know ow u do with ur thank s Geo