Okay, this is the small loin end bit (450g) I spoke about two weeks ago. Cured in the Vac bag. This is NOT the hams I moved to the freezer a couple of days ago.
I had ordered a Sous Vide, and it was delivered the other day. It got me jonesing for my ham, so I read up and sous vide for 3 hours at 60°C per my recipe.
I was surprised at the amount of water that cooked out of it. (adding a touch of phosphate to the next ham I start.
)
Flavor: Not a strong 'ham' flavor. (Mildly disappointing). Salt was good, needs a bit more sugar (will try upping to 1.5%), and had a rosemary presence at the finish (too much in my opinion. Cutting by half next ham) I will experiment with various other spices one at a time until I find something I like. Next up - clove.
Texture: It was not dry, but not exactly juicy either. Adequate mouth feel, but grainy just a touch when chewed and crumbled slightly on the edges when cut. Not tooo bad. I'm hoping the phosphate will help with the crumble, and with water retention (start at 0.1% and work up from there).
Also, going to try adding 0.2% powdered smoke to the next ham as well. I'm working on an outdoor kitchen/pergola, and until that is finished, I don't have a way to smoke. (Wife would 'literally' rip my temp smoker apart and stack the bricks neatly. "No beautiful!")
It is SOOO good to have a proper thick cut ham again. I didn't know how much I had missed it.
-sterling
I had ordered a Sous Vide, and it was delivered the other day. It got me jonesing for my ham, so I read up and sous vide for 3 hours at 60°C per my recipe.
I was surprised at the amount of water that cooked out of it. (adding a touch of phosphate to the next ham I start.
)Flavor: Not a strong 'ham' flavor. (Mildly disappointing). Salt was good, needs a bit more sugar (will try upping to 1.5%), and had a rosemary presence at the finish (too much in my opinion. Cutting by half next ham) I will experiment with various other spices one at a time until I find something I like. Next up - clove.
Texture: It was not dry, but not exactly juicy either. Adequate mouth feel, but grainy just a touch when chewed and crumbled slightly on the edges when cut. Not tooo bad. I'm hoping the phosphate will help with the crumble, and with water retention (start at 0.1% and work up from there).
Also, going to try adding 0.2% powdered smoke to the next ham as well. I'm working on an outdoor kitchen/pergola, and until that is finished, I don't have a way to smoke. (Wife would 'literally' rip my temp smoker apart and stack the bricks neatly. "No beautiful!")
It is SOOO good to have a proper thick cut ham again. I didn't know how much I had missed it.
-sterling
