Monsieur Ude's Receipt, Hams Superior to Westphalia

Ingredients

• 2 hams hams
• 1 lb. common salt
• 1 lb. coarse sugar
• 2 oz. saltpetre
• 1 bottle good vinegar
• 1 small handful bran

Instructions

1. As soon as the pig is sufficiently cold to be cut up, rub the hams well with common salt and leave them for three days to drain.
2. Throw away the brine that collects.
3. For two hams of fifteen to eighteen pounds weight each, mix together two ounces of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar, and one pound of common salt.
4. Rub the hams in every part with this mixture, lay them into deep pickling-pans with the rind downwards, and keep them for three days well covered with the salt and sugar.
5. Pour over them a bottle of good vinegar, and turn them in the brine.
6. Baste them with the brine daily for one month.
7. Drain them well and rub them with bran.
8. Hang them for one month high in a chimney over a wood-fire to be smoked.