Categories: Pork/ham, Londontowne 
      Yield: 6 servings 
  
      1    Ham (English hams weigh           1/2 oz Saltpeter (from the 
           -roughly 14 to 20 lbs)                   -drugstore) 
      1 oz Brown sugar                         2 lb Rough salt 
  
  The same method may be used for bacon.  A leg of pork severed from the 
  whole side is called a ham.  When the leg is left attached to the side, and 
  severed only after the cure, it is called a gammon. 
   
  You will need a salting pan.  Leave the ham unskinned.  Rub in the sugar 
  and the saltpeter first, paying particular attention to the bone ends. Then 
  rub on half the salt and put the ham to rest on slats in a slating trough 
  (best if it has a channel for the brine to drain out).  Rub in the rest of 
  the salt at the end of a week.  Leave the ham to take the salt for a total 
  of 3 weeks (depending on the size of the ham), turning regularly. Then hang 
  the ham to dry in a draft of warm air for a day or two.  If you would like 
  to smoke your own, you will need a barrel smoker or a smoking shed. Light 
  the fire with kindling first, then feed it with beech, birch, or oak 
  sawdust.  Smoke over the open end of a smoker barrel.  Keep the fire 
  smoldering constantly - it is not good for the cure to allow changes in 
  temperature. 
   
  Twenty-four hours in the smoke shoudl suffice for a ham; 6 hours is enough 
  for a side of bacon.  York hams are then hung to mature for 2 to 3 months 
  in a tgemperature and humidity controlled room. 
   
  Time:  3 weeks plus. 
   
  From:  "The Old World Kitchen - The Rich Tradition of European Peasant 
  Cooking" by Elisabeth Luard, ISBN 0-553-05219-5 Posted by: Karin Brewer, 
  Cooking Echo, 7/92