Burgers’ Country Ham Curing based on centuries – old process
Burgers’ Smokehouse dry cured country hams are preserved in much the same way as they were centuries ago before the advent of modern refrigeration. Still followed are the four basic steps: curing, drying, aging, and smoking, but on a larger scale. Much larger, as in an estimated 705,000 hams cured this year. And, in most cases, environmentally controlled rooms provide the cooling and heating that once were dependent on the natural Mid-Missouri seasons.
(Chester Fewins is surrounded by hams in a curing room in this photograph taken in the 1950’s)
The dry cure is a mixture of salt, brown sugar, spices and nitrates, essentially the same as the one brought from Germany by Hulda Burger, mother of the founder, E.M. Burger. “We buy salt by the trailer truck load here,” explains Morris Burger, “and sugar virtually by the truck load, too.”
When the fresh hams come into the plant they are trimmed to Burgers’ specifications. After the dry cure mixture is rubbed on, the hams are wrapped in paper and placed in netting. “Curing is normally done in the last few day of the week so that we get fresher pork that does not lay over the weekend somewhere,” say Burger. “We prefer to have the slaughtering done Monday or Tuesday and to us the next day or so.”
(Hams are aging in this part of the 1964 building that is four stories high)
The hams are hung on wooden racks and placed in a curing cooler until the cure is absorbed. The cooler is known as the “Wintertime Room” because it simulates the cold of winter that farmers used years ago to prevent the hams from spoiling as the cure penetrates to the center. When the cure is absorbed, the hams are taken from the cooler and the paper is removed, a process known as shucking. Then the hams are re-netted to go into a drying room. This process is usually done the first couple of days of the week to balance out the workload.
Since the early ‘70’s, the hams are placed on moveable ham racks instead of the original fixed racks. In this way the entire rack can be moved from room to room with the aid of machinery instead of having to move each ham individually, thus saving a lot of backbreaking labor. There are about 3,000 such racks in the plant.
(Raymond Ford(left) and Bill Vogel are making sure that the hams are top quality by probing them with a thin boning knife and checking the aroma.)
“Springtime Rooms” are where the hams dry in mild temperature and moving air. Higher heat in the “Summertime Rooms” slowly ages the hams to perfection as it pulls out the grease and intensifies the flavor. Old-timers called this part of the procedure the “June sweat.” Finally, the hams are smoked.
Not all country hams are the same. Shorter or longer times of aging and smoking create different types and tastes. Burgers’ produces three basic types and sells five types: