There are a dozen of various muscles in the pork shoulder. Each one is characterized by its proper taste, structure and color. You know, the pork front legs are perfect for producing jamon.
For this recipe I used the meat of fat Iberian pork’s shoulder.
I prefer dry salting
Ingredients:
Salt — 2%
CUR#1 (Sodium nitrite)
Peppers mix — 0,5%
Brown sugar — 0.7%
Granulated garlic — 0.2%
Aromatic ground chili — 0.05%
Red ground pepper (paprika) — 0.2%
Coriander — 0.02%
Dried tomatoes, finely chopped for sprinkling
Thyme, fresh rosemary — add a couple of sprigs in a plastic bag.
The piece of meat should be sprinkled with mustard seeds, then thoroughly coated by peppers mix and finally packed in a bag (better sealed) to cool in the fridge for 4−7 days. I’d recommend turning the meat over and massaging it daily.
Before smoking you need to rinse the meat and necessarily dry it well.
I’d recommend drying it 2−3 hours under a powerful jet of air, like a ventilator, for example. In a smoking chamber if the meat is still wet and cold it will gather condensate and smoke’s soot. Obviously we don’t need any carcinogens. Dry meat will get a nice golden color and pleasant smoke flavor — exactly what we need.
You need to warm the smoking chamber well previously before placing a product.
The inside chamber temperature — 90−105C
Meat ready temperature — 72C
When the smoking is over the meat should be cooled down and placed in the fridge for 24 hours for balancing and other processes necessary but hardly possible to explain by one human being to another.
I prefer to cook a lot right away and freeze portioned pieces.
