A process for producing a dry cured ham product

摘要

A process for producing a dry cured ham product comprises the steps of deboning, trimming and tenderising a meat cut, applying a dry cure mixture to the meat cut and curing the meat cut by storing the cut at a temperature of from 2-5{C for a period of from 3-5 days. The meat cut is then subjected to a two stage cooking process where the first stage involves cooking the meat at a temperature of from 60-70{C for from 5-10 hours and the second stage involves cooking of the partially cooked meat at a temperature of from 70-80{C for from 2- 4 hours to produce a high quality dry cured meat product. In a preferred embodiment the dry cure mixture comprises from 2-5 % of a preservative salt, such as sodium nitrite, 2.5- 4.5 % of sugar and 0.3-1 % of a colour preservative comprising ascorbic acid or an alkali metal salt thereof.