Salt Cured Venison Ham Food

MOCETTA, ITALIAN VENISON HAM

Steps:

• Grind the juniper berries, black pepper, thyme and bay leaves together until fine. Mince the rosemary. Combine all the spices with the salts and mix well. Divide this mixture in half. Put one part of the cure away in a sealed container.
• Carefully rub half the mixture into the goat legs, making sure to get lots into the ball joint that had connected the leg to the pelvis; this is where leg cuts often spoil. Massage the spices and salts into the meat.
• Put the legs into a large container and refrigerate for 2-3 weeks. Drain off any liquid that seeps out of the meat. You will know it's about done when the meat has firmed up quite a bit.
• Rinse off the cure and pat the legs dry. Repeat Step 3 with the second half of the cure.
• Let the legs cure in the fridge for another 7-10 days. The longer you go, the saltier the meat will be - and the longer it will last without spoiling.
• When you are ready, rinse off the cure again and soak the legs in fresh water for an hour. This relieves a little of the saltiness and results in a moister cure - you needed to cure with so much salt for so long to make sure it penetrated all the way through to the bone. The water soak removes some of that salt so it won't be overpowering when you ultimately serve the mocetta.
• Hang for 2-5 months. You want a temperature between 40 and 60°F (colder at the beginning, and warmer near the end), and a humidity starting at about 80 percent and slowly decreasing - say, 5 percent a week) until you are at about 60 percent humidity.
• Once it's ready, you can cut the meat from the bone and slice thin, or slice bone-in. Serve at room temperature with cheese and a husky red wine. Wrap closely and store in the fridge, or seal it and freeze it.

ROAST SADDLE OF VENISON WITH WILD MUSHROOM-CREAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
• Rub lard or duck fat on meaty side of saddle.
• Season the saddle generously with salt and pepper.
• Cover with ham slices and put on roasting tray and put it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
• Lower oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 3.
• Add wine and broth to roasting tray and roast for 10 minutes per 500g for medium-rare to medium. The temperature of the thickest part should 60-65°C/135-145°F.
• While that the saddle is roasting, saute lightly the shallot and mushrooms in butter on medium heat and set aside.
• When the saddle is ready, remove from oven and remove the ham and cover in foil, leaving for 20 minutes.
• Pour the juices and wine from roasting pan into a sauce pan on high heat.
• Mix cold water and starch and add to the sauce pan.
• Bring to a boil and allow sauce to thicken.
• After sauce thickens, put temperature to low, add cream and wild mushrooms mix and cook until warm.
• Crumble the ham into the sauce and taste and add salt and pepper as necessary.
• Serve with hot dumplings, potatoes or rice and a salad.

HOW CANADIANS DE-SALT THEIR HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees and trim the fat from the ham.
• Marinate in the Ginger Ale for at least 4 hours in the fridge, turning if needed.
• Place in foil lined baking dish.
• Mix together the beer, mustard and molasses, spread over ham.
• Cover ham with foil and bake 15 minutes per pound, then remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes.