Home-made pršut, step by step
Interactive lesson: air-dried ham from leg to probe — cold salting, pressing, cold smoke, maturing and weighing, plus dry-cured loin and bacon on the scale.
Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Pršut, cured loin and bacon module. Already bought? Unlock
This lesson is general guidance, not professional training. Local regulations and expert advice always take precedence. Read our disclaimer.
The whole lesson as text
1. Safety and rooms
Pršut is eaten raw, so its safety comes from salt, cold, smoke and time.
- Trichinella result — Pork only with a negative Trichinella result. Smoke, salt and drying don't kill Trichinella.
- Salting at 2–5 °C — The leg is salted at 2–5 °C (36–41 °F) and stays below 5 °C until the salt has reached the bone, roughly 6–8 weeks from salting.
- A fridge for mild winters — If winter isn't cold enough, salt in an old fridge set to 3–4 °C. One 200–250 L fridge holds two legs.
- Measure and write down — Keep the salting room at 80–90 % humidity. Write temperature and humidity in the log; don't assume.
Why: A ham spoils from the inside, along the bone, if the leg was warm at salting or was salted in mild weather. Outside it looks fine, but along the bone it's sour and stinks. You only see it half a year later, when it's too late.
- Pregnant women, small children, older and sick people don't eat raw cured meat. For them the ham is cooked or fried in a dish.
- A min-max thermometer and a hygrometer cost little and show at once whether the "cold cellar" really is cold.
2. Choosing and preparing the leg
A good ham starts with a heavy, cold leg without bruises.
- A heavy, cold leg — A leg of 10–14 kg (22–31 lb); under 9 kg it dries out. Before salting it must be below 3 °C deep inside.
- Fat on the leg — A fat layer of 1.5–3 cm. The meat dark pink, firm and dry, with no bruises or blood spots.
- Shape the leg — Remove the aitch bone and trim the skin and fat in a half-moon, so that meat is exposed only on the inner face. The trotter stays on.
- Press out the blood — With your thumb and palm, press along the main artery and veins, from the trotter towards the open face, to squeeze the blood out of the vessels.
Why: A light leg dries out, and thin fat lets it go hard. Blood left in the vessels is where a ham most often spoils.
- The best leg comes from an older, heavier pig of 130–160 kg with firm meat.
- Don't cut into the meat along the bone when you shape the leg.
3. Salting and pressing · Locked
Buy the Pršut, cured loin and bacon module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
4. Rinsing and cold smoke · Locked
Buy the Pršut, cured loin and bacon module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
5. Maturing and the probe · Locked
Buy the Pršut, cured loin and bacon module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
6. Dry-cured loin and bacon · Locked
Buy the Pršut, cured loin and bacon module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.