Chicken ham in a ham maker
I received the ham maker as a gift. I've been wanting to try it for a long time. Today I had my first acquaintance with the unit. Overall I was pleased with the result. Of course, not without flaws. I'll write about them in the notes to the recipe. The ham turned out to be dense, cuts well, the pieces don’t fall apart, and they hold their shape perfectly. The taste, of course, differs from store-bought. This is where spices play a role.
Now for what to consider next time.
- The ratio of pieces and minced meat should be 1:2. There should be more pieces.
- Reduce the amount of salt slightly. It seemed a little salty to me. Although the men liked it.
- The minced meat needs to be compacted more firmly. The photo shows that there are many voids left.
- And let the finished ham rest in the refrigerator.
I’ll say right away that the process of preparing ham is long, but there is little active participation in it. Basically you have to wait.
Remove fillet from chicken breast. Cut the meat into 1 cm cubes. From one breast I got exactly 500 grams of clean meat. I took the minced meat from the thigh.
Combine breast pieces, minced meat, salt, nitrite salt and spices and knead thoroughly. While kneading, add ice water in several steps. We added a couple of tablespoons of water, waited until it was all absorbed, and added a little more.
You need to knead the minced meat for a long time. A mixer with hook attachments did a great job with this task. It is important that the minced meat does not heat up. Before I started kneading, I kept the mixer attachments and bowl in the freezer. Water too, by the way.
How do you know that the minced meat has already been mixed enough? It should become sticky and white “strings” should appear.
Next, the minced meat needs to mature. It is put in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours. I left it overnight.
In the morning, I took the minced meat out of the refrigerator and left it on the table for a couple of hours to warm up.
Assemble the ham maker, fitting the base and springs as required. Line it with a roasting bag.
carefully lay out the minced meat, tie the bag tightly
install the cover and tighten the springs. In this form we send it for cooking.
I cooked the ham in a multicooker. I poured water so that the ham pot was completely covered. Multicooker temperature 85°C, time 3 hours. I poured cold water.
After the time has passed, it is recommended to cool the ham maker in cold water for 5-7 minutes. Then cool completely in air and put in the refrigerator until ripe for 10-12 hours. Without removing it from the unit.
I honestly followed all the recommendations except the last one. The ham spent only 4 hours in the refrigerator. I really wanted to try it.
The ham is still slightly soft here because I did not chill it for the full recommended time.