Best preservation of parma ham

If it is a country ham, meaning salt-cured then you need to boil the salt out of it. I may get flamed for this, but that article is not how I process my ham. So here is what I do.

I get a lard tin, I usually have to cut off the hock to make the ham fit but since yours is split you may not have to. If it is not a salt cured ham, and is a city ham it may not be fit to eat if you do this, you could make ham soup maybe.

Anyway put the ham in the tin fill it full of water bring it up to a boil let it boil for about fifteen minutes then bring the heat down to medium-low for about 1/2 an hour then let it cool down enough so you can take it off the stove, but just barely cool enough. While it is cooling down get blankets and spread them out on the floor, one or two thin ones should do, then get some newspaper and spread that in the middle of the blankets put the tin in the middle of the newspaper and wrap the tin with the newspaper then wrap the blankets around it and then push it over into a corner overnight.

The next morning pull the ham out of the water give it a rinse and pat it dry, it will still be warm-to-hot. (I rotisserie ham hocks and small hams I get from my butcher but I have never done a full size ham I would imagine the amount of drippings would make a mess though.) Next I get my big roasting pan put the ham in it and pat it down with brown sugar, medium or dark is up to you. Then I cover it with aluminum foil, making sure I tent the foil so it doesn't touch the ham, and let it cook usually between four and five hours for a good size ham at about 325. The last half hour I take off the aluminum foil and if I feel it is necessary I add more brown sugar and let it caramelize.

I have been cooking ham this way for as long as I have been cooking and the process is passed down from my mother and her father before her. Farther back than that I cannot confirm or deny. :)

Here is a great article on country hams and other hams, just to make sure you do have a country ham, and gives other great suggestions on how to cook a ham, although they do it differently than I do.

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/zen_of_ham.html

The official answer is generally only a few days for meat in the fridge ...

Ham can be different, as it's salt cured, so depending on the salt content can last longer without freezing it.

As for freezing it, it really depends on how you plan to use it:

• It's most convenient to cut it up in the same way that you're going to use it, so that you can just pull it and use it easily
• For maximum storage time, the less surface area (larger pieces) the better. Diced ham will get freezer burnt much faster than just bagging a 1lb chunk.
• As with freezing most meats, you want to double wrap it to prevent moisture loss (and freezer burn).

So, I'd go ahead and ask yourself how you envision using it up, and how quickly. For instance, if you think you'll make a pot of ham and black bean soup in the next month or so, go ahead and dice it now and freeze it, and you can just pull and dump it when it's time. If you like ham steaks, slice them up, wrap and freeze those -- you can always chop it up further to fold into a casserole once it's thawed, if you have to. If you have so much that you think you're going to get sick of ham and need a break, freeze it in a large chunk ... but you'll want to give it a day to defrost in the fridge so you can actually cut into it when you want to use it.