MUTTON HAMS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3927, 16 July 1937, Page 2

MUTTON HAMS

AMERICAN INNOVATION The commercial tryout of a new meat product being conducted by one of the mid-west packers may be the forerunner of better utilisation of a oomparative drug on the live-stock market—the ewe two years old or over. To test public reaction this packer nas been marketing in a limited way what is termed mutton hams, states an American journal. Cured and . smoked, these hams—although smaller than the porcine variety—make an appetising picture on the meat counter. In taste the mutton ham is something new. It has little or no mutton flavour as one is used to in chops or roasts. Neither does the smoking and cure give it a ham flavour, although some tasters hold that it is nearer to ham in taste than it is to fresh mutton, Some prefer it to ham, since it has much less fat. The fact that it weighs several pounds less than regular ham should tend to make it popular with the small city family that buys in small quantities. One brine recipe for mutton calls for 71b of salt, 211 b of sugar, 2oz. of saltpetre, and 41 gallons of water fet every 1001 b of mutton. After being boiled to mix the ingredients the brine should set a day to cool off. Any cut of mutton can be cured, but the legs and shoulders should go in the bottom, with the small cuts on top. Three days’ cure is allowed for every pound of leg or shoulder, a 101 b leg taking 30 days. After getting the proper cure the cut is taken out of pickle and is ready for the smokehouse. To smoke mutton the temperature should not be allowed to exceed 125 deg. F.' The mutton cuts, ham or shoulder, are smoked until they have a good chestnut colour.