Recipe: Salt Cured Leg of Lamb (Spekemat)

Hello Kent, I found this recipe in Morten's recipe collection and it originates from: "The Old World Kitchen - The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cooking" by Elisabeth Luard, ISBN 0-553-05219-5 Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 7/92. If it isn't what you're looking for, please let us know. - Betsy

Salt Cured Leg of Lamb (Spekemat)
(6 servings)

3 lb Salt
4 qt Water (less if the leg is smaller)
1 tb Sugar
8 lb Leg of lamb

You will need a large saucepan and a large crock. Dissolve the salt in the water to make a brine. Add the sugar. Put the leg of lamb in a large crock and pour enough brine over it to cover it completely. Put a weight on top to keep it underwater. Leave to take the salt in a cool pantry (not below the freezing point, or the salting process comes to a halt) for 2 weeks for a leg weighing 8 lbs (roughly 2 days per pound of meat.)

Take the leg out after the allotted time and rinse thoroughly so that you do not get too salty a rind. Hang it out to dry in a well-aired cool pantry, wrapped in a loose bag of cheesecloth or muslin to protect it from flies. It will be dry, delicious, and ready to eat in 2 to 3 months.

Serve, sliced very thin with a sharp knife, as part of an indoor picnic meal, with sweet butter, fresh hard-boiled eggs, a sliver of 'geitost' (the Norwegian sweet brown cheese), and flat bread or potato pancakes to wrap around each morsel. A bowl of sour cream and some fresh raspberries can follow as a replacement for Norwegian cloudberries.

Yield: 3 to 5 lbs dried meat. Allow 1/4 lb of dried meat per person. Time: Start 3 months before you need it; 20 minutes