Articles

Happy New Year to you! I hope you have had a good holiday season and recharged your batteries ready for the New Year. Here at Waterloo Cottage we are excited as the end of January is the time when we shall bring out our air dried ham. It has taken 12 mon ths to make, not including the breeding and growing of the pigs. The pigs that made this ham were planned for at the end of 2010. They were British Saddle back pigs, as we hadn’t brought Ginger and Warren into the herd at that time.

The pork legs and shoulders were cleaned, salted and left for about two months. During
this time, the ham was pressed, gradually and carefully, to avoid breaking the bone, and to drain all blood left in the meat. Next, it was washed several times to remove the salt, and covered in our lard and black pepper. It was hung in muslin in a dark, well-ventilated environment, a new room made when we extended our fridge at the start of last year. The surrounding air is important to the fi nal quality of the ham; experts in this fi eld have found that the best results are obtained in a cold climate, we have had no problems there this year. We then left the ham to dry. The amount of time this takes varies, depending on the local climate and size of the ham. We tasted the coppa (a shoulder joint) in November and, at fi rst, were really disappointed with the look of the ham when the muslin had been removed. It looked as if it was mouldy, with fl esh slightly green tinged and the fat waxy with black, white and pink blotches. However, we persevered and cut down through the meat to fi nd a translucent ruby red ham. It was sweet with a fabulous texture, just the thing to be savoured in front of a log fi re with a great bottle of red wine and a mature cheese. When the ham is completely dry, it is hung to air, either at room temperature or in a controlled environment, for up to eighteen months. By the end of January we shall be at 11 months and you our customers will be able to come and try some. Now that we know that we are doing it right we are putting more hams down each week. As usual it is a slow process but, we think, one worth waiting for.

Our goal is to emulate the quality of Proscuitto, Serrrano and Parma hams: exponents of air dried hams claim that the diet, breed of pig and the process all contribute to the quality of the fi nished ham.

Some of these people have been doing this for hundreds of years, I can feel a summer holiday exploring these producers is long overdue…

On the farm the lambing is starting. We have taken all the ewes up to Dale Farm, a hundred acre farm we rent from a neighbouring land owner. There is a large barn and a lean-to and with our increasing fl ock it would be good to be able to watch the ewes more carefully this year. Last year the spell of cold weather in April made it very diffi cult for our late lambs. So, the lambs are coming early this year and will be born in the barn. As soon as we are sure that they are fi t and feeding well they will be out into the fi elds.

In the shop we are using January to recover from a busy Christmas and plan ahead for the range of products we will be producing through the year. Our pie production tripled in 2012, with our Steak and Ale, Steak and Kidney and Chicken and Ham pies providing a wholesome meal, easily prepared at home for our customers with their busy lives.

Please remember our special offer for those of you who collected their Christmas meat from us. Come back just 4 more times in January and February, get your card stamped and we will give you a £10 meat voucher and one of our jute bags for life free.

We are now open:

Weekdays 8am-6pm
Saturday 8am-4pm • Sunday 10am-1pm
Waterloo Cottage Farm
34, Harborough Road,
Great Oxendon, LE16 8NA
Tel: 01858 467158
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.