I present to you: mocetta. It was my first-ever dry-cured ham, and it does not come from a pig. This is venison ham.
Mocetta (MOE-chet-uh) is a Northern Italian air-dried goat ham that, I’ve discovered, works well with venison, too.
I wish I could tell you I have an old recipe handed down by the nonnas from Alto Adige, but that’d be a lie. A good lie, yes, but a lie nonetheless. Actually making mocetta became something of a detective job. I can read Italian well enough to read recipes, so I turned Google onto it and read scores of accounts about mocetta, product descriptions in Italian online catalogs, references to it in books, etc.
What I found is that mocetta always has “Alpine herbs and spices.” Um, what the hell does that mean? I decided to go with a piney, aromatic mix of juniper berries, rosemary, bay leaves, black pepper and garlic. Most of these ingredients are mentioned in someone’s mocetta description, so I figured I was close enough.
Why make mocetta? Because it’s a skinless ham. Skinless hams cure easily but are tougher to age well because they can dry out fast. But since we all skin our deer, it’s what you can do.
I do the standard two-step cure many of us use with big hunks o’meat: Rub half the cure mixture on the meat, put in the fridge for several weeks, then rinse and repeat. Yes, you will need to have a leg or two lurking in your refrigerator for the better part of a month. Get a big Tupperware or just deal with it…
Once it’s time to hang the mocetta, you will need a curing space with high humidity and pretty low temperatures. I started mine at 80 percent humidity and about 55°F. As the meat ages, the humidity needs to go down and the temperature needs to go up. At the end, my goat hams were at 60 percent humidity and 60°F.
Mocetta is not cured for very long, relatively speaking, precisely because it is skinless.
Why? Because originally the Italo-Swiss who made it used wild ibex that lived in the Alps — not easy to haul a wild goat out of the mountains with skin on, only to scrape the fur off to preserve skin like you would a real prosciutto. I was very glad to hear that even in Italy, where some of their best products are massive pains in the asses, they took the “easy” way out on this one.
Still, mocetta needs 2 to 5 months hanging. Better than the 12 to 18 months for a real prosciutto, but long enough to begin to develop those mysterious esthers and flavors that a truly old ham gets. Funky yet aromatic.
Make no mistake: I do not think my venison ham tastes anywhere near as good as real jamon iberico.  But sliced thin, it is excellent: Good color, firm but still supple, meaty, fatty and with an aroma that is just this side of goaty. I like it a lot with a husky red wine.
A note on salt. You will need to weigh your meat in grams and then weigh out 2.5 percent of that in sea salt or kosher salt, then another 0.25 percent – that’s one-quarter of one percent – in cure no. 2, which contains sodium nitrate. I use Instacure No. 2.
Mocetta, Italian Venison Ham
Ingredients
- 1 small hind leg of a deer, about 5 pounds
- Instacure No. 2 (see above)
- Kosher salt (see above)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 25 grams garlic powder
- 10 grams juniper berries
- 12 grams black pepper
- 5 grams dried thyme
- 12 grams fresh rosemary
- 15 bay leaves
Instructions
- Grind the juniper berries, black pepper, thyme and bay leaves together until fine. Mince the rosemary. Combine all the spices with the salts and mix well. Divide this mixture in half. Put one part of the cure away in a sealed container.
- Carefully rub half the mixture into the goat legs, making sure to get lots into the ball joint that had connected the leg to the pelvis; this is where leg cuts often spoil. Massage the spices and salts into the meat.
- Put the legs into a large container and refrigerate for 2-3 weeks. Drain off any liquid that seeps out of the meat. You will know it’s about done when the meat has firmed up quite a bit.
- Rinse off the cure and pat the legs dry. Repeat Step 3 with the second half of the cure.
- Let the legs cure in the fridge for another 7-10 days. The longer you go, the saltier the meat will be — and the longer it will last without spoiling.
- When you are ready, rinse off the cure again and soak the legs in fresh water for an hour. This relieves a little of the saltiness and results in a moister cure — you needed to cure with so much salt for so long to make sure it penetrated all the way through to the bone. The water soak removes some of that salt so it won’t be overpowering when you ultimately serve the mocetta.
- Hang for 2-5 months. You want a temperature between 40 and 60°F (colder at the beginning, and warmer near the end), and a humidity starting at about 80 percent and slowly decreasing — say, 5 percent a week) until you are at about 60 percent humidity.
- Once it’s ready, you can cut the meat from the bone and slice thin, or slice bone-in. Serve at room temperature with cheese and a husky red wine. Wrap closely and store in the fridge, or seal it and freeze it.
Good morning Hank
Have a curing chamber built amd my son shot a small whitetail buck a week ago. Has been dry aging in my refrigerator for that week. I want to try this with the hinds, do I need to “skin” them again as they obviously have the layer of dry meat now?
Thanks
Jared
Jared: Yes, if you want to make this ham, you need to start with fresh meat, so you’ll need to remove the rind.
Is this doable with bear? Or do I need to worry about trich? I’ve always been unsure on dry curing bear. Yeah or nay?
Scott: It is. The salt level is high enough, and the cure time long enough to “deactivate” the larvae, if they are present. That’s a technical term for saying that while still alive, the larvae can no longer hurt you.
I don’t mean to be contrary, but do you have a source for that information? All the cautions I’ve read and been told about trichinella, especially the species that commonly infect bears, is that freezing and curing do not reliably kill/deactivate it. If you could point your readers to where you found this, it would certainly help me (and I assume others) feel confident I was making a well-informed decision.
Read this: https://honest-food.net/on-trichinosis-in-wild-game/#:~:text=As%20it%20happens%2C%20the%20trichinae,trichinosis%20in%20all%20of%20America.
So sorry to bring up an old thread. Do you have a link to the refrigerator converted to keep Temp/ humidity for the venison Mocetta? I’m in the Deep South so humidity is easy but temperatures are never constant in winter or fall. Any help would be great.
Hank,
Buck Buck Moose recommends starting with 90% RH, and here its suggested to start of 80% RH. Which one do you recommend?
Also,
Do you inoculate with Mold 600 or just let it go natural in the curing chamber? We do cheese in the same fridge so a little worried some mold might get going if I don’t inoculate with something that will outcompete.
Dave: If you have good humidity control, start at 90% and ratchet it down as you go.
Hank,
I used Maldon smoked salt on second seasoning and left in refrigerator for full term them rinsed washed in fine Japanese whiskey & dried for two days, then greased with organic vegetable shortening to hold further drying while hanging.
slicing is closer to soft jerky with
Great depth in flavor.
I’m so excited to come across this post, because I have a couple small hind quarters from a wild pig in my freezer, but we skinned them out when we processed them. This recipe is sort of exactly what I thought to do with them, but I didn’t know if they would dry too fast. I had thought of doing more or less exactly what you described in regard to coating with some sort of fat to slow the drying. You’ve given me the confidence to try it. Thanks for your input!
I have a venison roast (given to me by my nephew). Would this be ok to cure?
Mark: Probably. Weigh out 2% salt + 0.25% cure no. 2, vac seal it and let it sit in the fridge for a week or so. That’ll cure it, but the drying will be dicey. You will need to suspend the meat to age it, maybe with a netting or you can truss it. Keep the humidity up high in your chamber, like 80% for the first couple weeks.
Hi Hank,
Greetings from the Netherlands. Soon i want to try your recipe to make mocetta. My question to you is: can i use the hind leg of a roe deer (calf) too? And if so…do i need to change the ingredients or time of curing/dry. Because there is no fat on roe deer. With kindly regards
Anita
Anita: Yep, you can use a roe deer hind leg. And there is no fat on our deer, either. My advice is to weigh the meat and use 2.5% of that weight in salt, plus 0.25% in sodium nitrate, which is Cure No. 2. That is a better cure than what I have in the recipe.
Couple questions:
1) How much of the outer silverskin layer do I want to remove? I assume all of it down to bare muscle so the cure will sink in easier? That said, if it will penetrate all the other layers of silverskin surrounding the inner muscles maybe its best to leave it all on?
2) Should I leave the shank on and do the whole leg or just the last joint up?
I was hoping to chat with you at your Old Major dinner about this recipe and a couple others in Denver but you never made it to our table. I didn’t want to be rude and interrupt you while you were chatting around. Thanks for your help, your knowledge has done wonders for me in the kitchen.
Zach, sorry I missed you in Denver! I really try to get to everyone, but that was a huge night. I know I missed some people, and I am sad you were among them.
As for your questions, I remove the thickest layers of silverskin, but not all of it. And yes, remove the shank, as it will not improve in this process. I had to learn that the hard way!
Interesting. I have been corning beef and venison for years, just never dried them. I have an underground cellar, I think it is time to try Mocetta.
I also debone during butchering, so I am planning making a “string bag” using butcher string like the ones used for prosciutto.
Isn’t there a gland in the rear legs of deer that you remove when processing or they can get a bad bitter taste? Do you remove that before curing or cut around it when you’re slicing the finished product? Thanks,
Tim: Sorta. Yes it’s there, but it’s normally removed long before you get home. It’s at the last joint between the shank and the hoof. And it’s only nasty when the deer are rutting.
Hi Hank:
I am enjoying reading and using your recipes. I just returned home to the central CA coast with an antelope. I am thinking of trying the Mocetta idea. When I travel, which since relocating here from better hunting and gathering country up north, I do a lot, I almost always bone out my animals for the trip home (2 antelope fit in a 72 qt cooler this way…). My question: I assume doing this boneless will work?
John: Sure, but you will need to rig up some way to hang it.
Hey Hank – I have a really nice whole leg from a 1.5 year old Iowa buck, so it’s big. Just shot it 2 days ago and want to try this. What could I use for a container to do the initial dry brine in? Would a garbage bag work or does it need to seal? Then wondering about porportions… you just increase by double if it’s twice as big as the ham you describe, etc? Thanks! Love your books and recipes.
Nick: Doesn’t need to seal. I use a big tupperware tub. And yes, increase in proportion to the weight in the recipe. Also, I no longer keep the shank on for this. I remove it and only cure the main part of the leg.
Just started two whitetail legs down the mocetta path!
Hi Hank,
Awesome site! My kids have been pushing me towards making salami, etc. and eventually prosciutto… … … I was considering making a climate controlled cantina in my basement, but your used refrigerator contraption will fit the bill nicely to start. The reason I’m commenting is that you said you read Italian well enough to figure out recipes, and that you have used Google successfully. Have you tried Google.it, the Italian Google? I use it for authentic Italian recipes all the time. A quick search for Mocetta turned up lots of results! Hopefully I’ll be posting in a month or so with the results of some of your recipes.
So I would like to try this with antelope in the fall (if I am lucky and get one). I am nervous though because I would hate to have something go wrong and waste the meat. How would you recommend the average Joe deal with humidity? Short of buying a humidor I don’t see a straight forward way to control this.
Would you recommend another style if humidity control is an issue? Say a prosciutto. It might not be as good because of the reasons listed being lean and so forth but my main concern is not ruining a entire leg.
Stephen: Humidity control is vital here. I’d buy a humidistat to check the ambient humidity in your basement. Or, you can set something up easily in a spare fridge.
Hank- sorry for all the questions but just want to give myself the best chance of success so who better to ask then the master. When not using the lard paste do you still wrap the hind in cheese cloth?
Steve: I don’t.
if I decide not to do the lard paste should I follow your humidity control in this article or would you suggest something different?
Steve: I’d use my humidity schedule. It has worked for me.
Would you recomend another way other then the lard paste?
Steve: You can skip the fat paste, but if you do you will need to keep the humidity very well controlled so the outside does not dry out too fast.
Hi Hank. I am in the salting process right now with a hind quarter from a young deer. My question to you is do you do a lard paste on the hind for the curing process like is done with pork?
Steve: You certainly can. I have only done it once, though. It worked fine.
So I plan on curing a venison ham and would like to age it as you mention. Not sure how I would set the humidity as you detailed. Would it be possible to keep it in an otherwise empty fridge and possibly add something to get humidity to the right amount? Sorry if this is a dumb question, first timer here
Hoosier: It’s pretty important if you want to get it right. Important enough to buy a humidifier and put it in the fridge. I would not try this recipe without a way to set humidity.
Started the aging on January 2nd. Set temp to 50°F and 90% RH. Dropped the humidity to 85% and raised the temp to 51°F after the first week. Is a drop of 5% RH per week too rapid do you think?
Also, I used a mold starter culture to add an extra level of protection against drying out too quick. Just checked it today and it has a really nice layer of pure white mold.
Hank: Could you do this with the back leg/ham from an adult doe? Could I remove one of the larger muscles from the leg and cure the remainder?
Dave: Yep. But be very careful about humidity. You want it pretty humid so the meat does not develop a hard crust on the outside.
Hank gave it a try with two 10lb wild hog hams. They have turned out fabulous as did the lonzino that I made from the same boar. Thanks for posting such great and easy to follow recipes. Curing meat is no longer a mystery to me. Thanks again.
How about the small pig ham?
Ernest: Give it a go. Should be fine.
Hank would a deer shoulder or small wild pig ham work?
Ernest: I would not do it with a shoulder, but yes, a deer ham would work.
Thanks. I’ll closely follow the recipe (first timer) and see how it goes on the principle of knowing the rules before breaking them.
Hi Hank,
Thanks for the recipe. I have mocetta piccolo (goat) curing right now, based on this recipe. I am wondering about the second cure though…I have done a few pork prosciutto/jamon serranos and they only called for one round of salting for a similar duration. They are also much larger and seem to have a higher volume/surface area ratio, as well as skin (my goat leg is skinless). I am guessing that makes it harder for the salt to reach the interior of the hog leg. Is there a reason specific to goat/deer or mocetta that your recipe includes the second round of salt (and a relatively long duration)? Also, am I wrong to fear that a water soak will also leach out some of the flavor? Right now, the leg is giving off very little liquid after just a week in the salt and herbs. I often struggle with the salting, as over salted charcuterie tastes like a salt lick, but under salting seems risky. Please share your thoughts if you have a minute. Thanks!
Matt: A water soak won’t leach out too much flavor, but it can take out a lot of salt. Salting is an art, so you just need to do it a bit. Keep testing the leg by squeezing it at thick points: You want it to be firm throughout, like bacon, not like raw meat. It can take a while for the salt to reach the center, but it’s important, especially with bone-in hams — if the salt doesn’t get all the way to the bone, the meat can sour where it touches bone.
Hi Hank, would you have any reservations about curing meat that has been in the freezer? Thanks!
J
James: I do it all the time.
We don’t have juniper berries in South Africa.
What can I use in the place of Juniper Beries
Paul
Paul: Just skip them.
Hi Hank I assume you could do this with a leg of lamb perhaps?
Greg: Absolutely.
How large were the legs? I have two that are quite small (just under 2lbs a piece) that I just took out of the freezer, Should I alter the recipe? seems like I should be using about 4-5 grams of instacure 2 and scale the rest accordingly? Am I on the right track?
Eric: Whoa. Teeny. Yes, your calculations sound about right.
Thanks for your read. I’m going to start one next week.
I just tried my first attempt. I used a refrigerator with the humidifier. and had the temp about right but had a hard time with the humidity–I travel for work and the humidifier would run out of water while I was gone and the humidity would drop.
The taste was awesome. It was pretty dry but had some mold fuzz growing on it. I brushed it off and rinsed it under tap water, patted dry and stored them.
Thanks for posting. Next time will surely be better and I think I might try the same cure but smoke one for a couple of days.
I love this recipe! I made it last year from a small doe and had My nephew take it to a fine dining place he works at to have it sliced. I guess the staff and owners commandeered a sample and agreed it was hands down better than the prosciutto they were being sourced. I tend to agree. I’m in my kitchen preparing this years hams. Thanks for the knowledge and making me look good!
What are your thoughts on doing this with an adult goat leg? Too strong a flavour?
Do you have an approximate starting weight for the meat you used? I was thinking of using one adult goat leg for the same amount of spice mix. Do you think that would work?
Is it supposed to get fuzzy during the curing phase with the salt rub?
Tina: I have a humidifier set up in an old fridge that has a temperature regular on it. Keeps the humidity to about 70 percent. Works like a charm!
btw~
what kind of setup do you have for hanging your hams? we have always had the problem of getting the proper humidity. a friend makes us a basque ham every year but it stays in the susanville area until around december so it gets proper humidity.
for a taste of your Mocetta, i will gladly share my deli-size meat slicer with you!
we’re just down the road a bit in the “nut tree” valley 😉
looking forward to giving this a try…i have a goat who keeps escaping….
Oh my God,
just discovered your site. I live in New Zealand and it is winter over here. Ideal circumstances for me to make ham and air dried sausages. The right temperature and humidity for at least three-four months of the year. I have just started this drying melarky and I am waiting eagerly for my first batch of Chorizo to loose their last excess liquid (200 ml to go) and they smell divine and my first batch of Prosciutto is just about ready to be air cured. I just found a great source for goat and just googled goat ham and you turned up. Also I googled Alpine herbs and spices and found this link. http://www.swissalpineherbs.ch/en/produkte/bio_kraeutermischungen.php. Hope it helps.
I’m sure am going to try your ham.
Cheers
Hank: Yeah, repeat what everyone else said about “hero”. The comments about higher humidity being *good* for the cure is making me reconsider whether I couldn’t do this in my apartment in San Francisco….assuming I can keep the temperature low enough.
The nitrate is critical to prevent botulism (IIRC) takeover, I assume?
Peter: Temp and humidity are pretty important here, and of the two humidity is the most important. You REALLY need to watch or the ham will dry out fast.
I would totally go halfsies on the slicer with you, but the whole mailing it back and forth thing might get cumbersome. My latest batch of duck prosciutto was so good that a guest also thought it was jamón. If only I had a basement I would be doing this right away. How exacting do you think one needs to be with temp and humidity?
Mark: If you wanted to, you could case the leg with warmish lamb or pork fat — spreadable, like butter — and then coat the fat layer with cracked peppercorns and coriander seeds. No flour. I just never got around to doing this, and the mocetta came out fine.
Could the goat ham leg not be “cased” in a mixture of flour, salt, spices, to prevent too much drying? I’m under the impression that prosciutto is cased this way, farmstead style.
yeah, hank, i think you’re my my hero too. your blog really teaches me new things. not many out there that do that. i would absolutely love to taste this. thank you for a wonderful post! and it sounds like you did a great job w/ the catering gig.
This sounds delicious. You’re lucky I’m on the East Coast (or on a different continent, for the time being), because I would turn up on your doorstep to find out what goat ham tastes like. 🙂
Matt: I am not really in the catering biz — I did this gig as a favor for a friend.
Scott: Pass on those speck recipes! I want to make some when the weather cools.
Josh: Nice Dorian Grey reference…
Rob: Definitely let me know — and wasn’t there a zucchini recipe you were going to get me?
Brady: Leave the fat on the alfalfa doe. No interior marbling on a deer, but that sweet alfalfa fat will carry things a long way.
Hank,
I am just thinking about the just barley “sans spots” whitetail I plan on taking this fall to use for this but have one question. What about the fat? I notice that your goat has some nice marbleing, I won’t have that on my venison, any problems?
Brady
My wife’s grandma is from Bedonia in Northern Italy. I will have to ask her when I see her next weekend if she knows of this ham.
Sounds really awesome. Do want.
Hank, you don’t know how old I am… I’ve got a portrait in my attic that is all wrinkly…
The old fridge sounds like a neat set-up, something I don’t have the ability to do right now (unless, God willing, I actually shoot something one of these days).
Super impressive, Hank. I’ve recently become obsessed with this region and it’s salumi recently. I’m trying to track down authentic Kamminwurz and speck recipes as we speak. Looks great, BTW.
Hank,
When did you get into the catering biz? Is this going to become a more common occurence?
DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE? I’ve got a large capacity vehicle and a love for meat.
Matt
I am very jealous. One thing which we regularly have sent over from India, and which Blondie might try in “the Desert of So Cal” is known simply as kabab: You take 6-8 in. long by 1 in. wide and 1 in. thick “ropes” of goat meat, treat extremely liberally with salt, red chili powder, turmeric, and garlic-ginger paste. Hang it in very bright sun for about a week. Fry and eat alone or with rice and whatever as needed.
Hi! Quick question, I am ready to hang the ham to dry, but I was wondering, do I need to wrap the leg when hanging it?
Lorena: I do not wrap them when hanging. Just make sure that the leg hangs in a fairly humid place, like around 75% humidity, for the first few weeks before letting the humidity drop a bit. You always want it at least 50% humidity though.
Kindred Spirit: You bet it’d work with a small venison ham. I’d recommend using a doe.
Josh: You’re too young to be able to know that jingle. And I use an old fridge with a temp. regulator and a small humidifier.
Albert: I need to start digging a cave…
Matt: When you come over, bring some of Armandino’s lamb ham.
Scampwalker: I can cut thinner slices by hand than any electric knife I have yet seen or used. God bless Japanese knives!
Garret I second that, I dream of doing things so awesome, but then come back to reality and realize one: who would really appreciate the time and effort that goes into something so fabulous, and two: where in the hell does one find the time to create so many mouthwatering culinary delights.
Hank, I hope your friends realize how lucky they really are to be able enjoy your beautiful work.
Okay Hank, I’ve been lurking for sometime, but this post made me come out and comment! I don’t even eat goat and I am ready to make the 8ish hour drive from the Desert of So Cal. Just for a slice and perhaps to forage with you and Holly.
I have been wanting to get into charcuterie and I am curious where you cured your ham? (what “cave”) as this has been my biggest obstacle with attempting aged cheeses and cured meat.
Would have loved, loved to be a guest at that event – and can not wait to try… Salmon Cheeks! Who knew?
Gotta go, my mouth is watering so much I am choking a little.
~Blondie
Hank, I know it’s probably considered cheating, but I have great luck with using an electric handheld knife for slicing thin stuff (bacon, ham, jerky, etc). If needed, I firm the meat up in the freezer and go to town. I covet a slicer as well, but budgetary and space concerns keep me from making the plunge… this works well.
Plus, you can fillet a POTLOAD of fish with it!
Keep up the good work.
Great post, and a fantastic ham! Looks really, really good. Bravo, Hank! I liked it and I didn’t even get a chance to taste it. Thanks.
Hank, be careful about inviting people over to your house. You might have some unexpected visitors soon! Sacramento is not that far from San Francisco, and I would easily make that drive for charcuterie. Now, how to figure out where you live…
Hank that is SOO cool. I would love to try some. Too bad I have NO clue where to buy goat in my area….
Hank,
You need to get access to a cave somewhere that meets your curing criteria! That ham looks delicious! Which reminds me… my dad mentioned that in the years when the oak mast crop was greatest, the Jamon Iberico was also best. Might work here too.
Best regards,
Albert
Protect Yourself from Plagiarism: Part I
Protect Yourself from Plagiarism: Part II
I’m at your door right now.
Kidding. But, yeah, that looks really, really good.
As for the humidifying, was that in a fancy meat box?
And as for the jingle, all I have to say is: little amzee dizeys. A skiddle-ee-dizey doo!
I am getting in my car, and driving over right this second. This looks fantastic mate, love the color.
What a great story about the catering job too. I cannot believe you did anything but completely rocked it.
The lamb ham from Salumi is amazing. I just love the stuff. I haven’t had it in a while, which is a shame though.
Damn, that might be the first f-bomb I’ve ever seen here at HAGC – and I like it.
It seems like one might be able to get away with a small venison ham with this. Yes?
Hank, you are my fucking hero. This is awesome. Congrats on the catering event going so well!