Meats and Sausages
Baiona Curada
Baiona curada, also known as little ham (jamoncito) is made with boneless pork butt (paletilla) which is the upper part of a shoulder. It is somewhat similar to lomo embuchado in that both products are made from whole cuts of meat and they are stuffed in casings and dried. Baiona is most popular in the Spanish Basque country.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Pork butt | 2-3 kg | 4.4-6.6 lb |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| Coarse salt | as needed | |
| Cure #2 | 5.0 g | 1 tsp |
| Pepper | 2.0 g | 1 tsp |
| Sugar | 3.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Oregano, ground | 2.0 g | 1 tsp |
| Cumin | 1.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| White wine or vinegar | 30 ml | 2 Tbsp |
Instructions
- Trim off the skin from the butt. Using force rub in a generous amount of coarse salt (as needed) all over butt. The butt should rest in a suitable container on a layer of salt and be well covered with salt all around leaving no exposed areas. Hold in refrigerator for 24 hours.
- Brush off the salt, wash briefly in running water and pat dry with paper towels.
- Mix all ingredients with wine to form the marinade paste. Remainder: multiply the above ingredients per weight of butt. No more salt is needed.
- Apply the paste all around the butt. Hold in refrigerator for 48 hours.
- Stuff the butt into pork bungs that will tightly accommodate the piece.
- Ferment/dry at 22-24° C (72-75° F), 85-90% humidity, for 2 days.
- Dry at 15→12° C (59-53° F), 85→75% humidity for 2 months. The butt should lose about 35% of its original weight.
- Store at 10-12° C (°F), <75% humidity.
