Italian ham

The famous Italian ham and its cooking process are invariably shrouded in mystery. Special cooking technologies are passed down by craftsmen from generation to generation and are reliably protected. Parma ham is even stamped with a special sign – the coat of arms of quality. And the fact that a special breed of pigs is grown for its preparation makes one wonder whether it is really possible to cook something like this at home. And why not, what do we lose in the end? Eating homemade ham is not prohibited anywhere, so let's call our recipe Italian ham and get ready for a long work.
Ham is essentially a smoked ham. Before smoking, we must salt the ham. It is preferable to use wooden dishes for this.
Carefully rub the ham with a mixture of salt and sugar. We put the meat in a special dish, sprinkle salt on top and keep it under pressure in a cool place for 5 days.
After 5 days, we swap the pieces and fill them with brine. To do this, boil salt, saltpeter and sugar with water. Cool the brine before use.
Pork should spend a month in brine! And who said it would be easy? During this time, we need to swap the pieces several times and top up the brine if necessary. Now we turn to smoking. If possible, give it to a frequent smokehouse, and if not, smoke it yourself. I will not tell you the device of the smokehouse, we are only discussing the recipe. In short: apply hot smoking for about 12 hours. As soon as the surface of the meat turns brown, you need to boil the ham in a suspended state over a large vat. The water should reach the shank. After 1.5 hours of continuous boiling, lower the ham into the water entirely. Such difficulties are necessary so that the meat is cooked in different places in the same way. Cook for another 1.5 hours. The ham is ready.
You hang the cooked product in a cold closet.
The shelf life of ham is no more than a month, so you really try to eat during this time.