Curing meat in the "danger zone"
 

I recently posted a topic to get advise on curing meat in temperatures
that are refered to as being in the danger zone where harmful bacteria
can easily form. Basically it was agreed that it was unsafe and risky
at best.

A friend has continued with curing anyway after much reading on the
internet that seems to say that such harmful bacteria do form but are
destroyed or renedered harmless during the cooking process of the meat
(tempuratures over 160c). He's working on the theory that proper
cooking will make the meat safe.

He put several hams in a large plastic drum of strong brine - they
smelled really bad after 2-3 weeks but that smell left after he skimmed
off the fat that had surfaced on the brine. He's now thinking maybe the
meat's OK and that the smell was just the fat exposed to the air and
out of the brine solution.

Sorry to be long-winded but does anybody know if the cooking process
indeed will make his hams harmless to eat. Or is he going to just
uncover some rotten meat in that drum.

Thanks in advance for any help.