Drying: Meat

Meat can be dried without salt if it is cut into thin strips or sheets. This may well have been how Attila the Hun and various barbarians reputedly dried meat under their saddles as they rode across the steppes (a proto-ready-meal). However, many dried meats include salt, often added mainly for flavour. The ‘dry-salting’ of large pieces of meat, such as some kinds of bacon or ham, is not really a drying procedure, since it relies almost entirely on the action of the salt. However, the best hams, such as Parma or jamón serrano, include very lengthy drying times after their initial cure, normally from six to twelve months.