The Process

The process of curing meat is, at its core, very simple. You put meat in salt (or salt on meat) for a period of time, and then let it dry for a period of time. I had made prosciutto before, and was amazed at the simplicity, but I really didn't understand what was going on chemically - it just seemed like magic. I wanted to know more about that, as well as find out what other meats I could cure and learn more about the history of curing (I'm kind of a history geek). 

This is a blog, so you're reading it on a computer, so you can easily find all the detailed information you want about basically anything. I have done this (I'm kind of a computer geek). But if you like books, as I do (I'm kind of a book geek), you should get a copy of Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. They go into the chemistry, as well as explaining the breakdown of a hog. They also include several recipes and some great travel stories. 

The basic goals of salt curing are (1) to reduce the amount of water in the meat and (2) to lower the pH of the meat (make it more acidic). These two changes make the meat less hospitable to bacteria such as Clostridium (the source of the toxin botulinum). Now, when I made prosciutto, I used the "salt box" or "excess salt" method, in which you bury the meat in rock salt for a long time (a month in my case), with a bunch of weight on top (400 lbs. in my case) before hanging it to dry (for at least six months in my case). This is the recommended method for big, bone-in cuts, but I was interested in smaller, boneless cuts, starting with lonzino. For this I'll be using the "equilibrium" method. 

The idea of the equilibrium method is to use only as much salt as is needed to accomplish these two goals, without making the meat too salty. Smarter people than I have determined that the ideal amount of salt is 2.5% to 3.5% of the weight of the meat. It's much more scientific than the salt box method - in fact, I'm not even sure what, if any, math really goes into the salt box method; I was just told (approximately) how much salt and weight to use, for how long, and how long to let it dry. I now know that for boneless cuts, you should let the meat dry until it loses 30-35% of its weight, but I do not know what the guideline is for prosciutto. I'll look it up next time I make one. 

One more thing I should mention: smoking. After curing, but before drying, you can also cold-smoke the meat. This adds another layer of flavor (and safety, as smoke is also a curing agent). My friend Vladimir smoked the two prosciutti I made a couple of years ago. I might eventually set up a cold-smoking apparatus, but I have to ease into stuff like that – wives only have so much capacity for gadgetry…