My first pork to ham (picnic) ala Pops wet cure...

spoolinaz

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Apr 23, 2012

173

16

Hanover, PA

• Oct 8, 2012

• #1

I finally made the time to cure some pork into ham! Started with a fresh shoulder picnic, rind on. It was about 8 lbs. Using Pops' recipe and procedure, I placed it in about 1.5 gallons of curing brine and pumped about 6 injector fulls of solution around the bone. Topped it off with a water weight and into the fridge for 14 days. Pulled it out and did a fry test, very good and hammy. A tad salty, but I knew that based on my cured turkey. Did up a batch of BBB this weekend and cut the salt back to 3/4 cup instead of a full cup. We'll see how that turns out. I then cut the rind off and stuck it into the smoker at 150 with a tube full of pitmaster blend. Ran that for 3 hours to pre-smoke and dry the ham. After deep scoring the fat side, I applied a glaze consisting of corn cob/brown sugar jelly, black strap molasses, pepper, garlic, salt, clove, ginger and paprika. Back into the smoker at 250 with the remainder of the tube and hickory chunks. Took it to an IT of 148 and let it rest for 20 minutes. Carved and had a great meal rounded out with fresh cut frozen sweet corn, taters and dinner rolls. Don't know if I'll ever buy another ham again! the flavor in this one was outstanding. Tastes nothing like I am used to, it was still hammy, but the pork also came through. Thanks to Pops again for sharing his knowledge!

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diggingdogfarm

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Jun 23, 2011

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Southern Tier of New York State

• Oct 8, 2012

• #2

Good job!!!


~Martin

 

jrod62

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• Oct 10, 2012

• #3

Looks great Thumbs Up

 

smokinhusker

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• Oct 10, 2012

• #4

Nice job!

 

scarbelly

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• Oct 10, 2012

• #5

That really came out nice - congrats 

 

harleysmoker

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Dec 8, 2011

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Naples, FL

• Oct 10, 2012

• #6

Looks good, one of these days I'm gonna give it a try.
 

 

chef jimmyj

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• Oct 11, 2012

• #7

Awesome!...JJ

 

roller

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• Oct 11, 2012

• #8

There you go...HAM   looks great !

 

daveomak

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• Oct 11, 2012

• #9

Adam, morning..... Great job on the ham.... It looks so good.... I haven't put a ham on my "list to do".... But now..... I have to do a ham.... Thanks for the incentive....  Dave

 

spoolinaz

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Thread starter

Apr 23, 2012

173

16

Hanover, PA

• Oct 11, 2012

• #10

Thanks for the encouragement all! It was actually super easy, but don't tell anyone that... Using a shoulder picnic makes it an easy decision. They are always pretty cheap, and being a smaller piece of meat, are done curing quicker.

 

humdinger

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Jun 27, 2012

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Shelby Township MI

• Oct 11, 2012

• #11

Mmmm, nice job Spoolinaz, I love me some good ham. How does it compare eating cold vs warm? Have you tried it both ways yet?

 

pops6927

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• Oct 11, 2012

• #12

Fantastic Qview of the process, well documented start to finish!  Thank you so much for the cudos, hopefully the process will live on long after I'm gone so others can enjoy it too!  It's easy, it's flexible, it gives great results, and thank you so much for trying it!

 

spoolinaz

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Thread starter

Apr 23, 2012

173

16

Hanover, PA

• Oct 11, 2012

• #13

Humdinger said:

Mmmm, nice job Spoolinaz, I love me some good ham. How does it compare eating cold vs warm? Have you tried it both ways yet?

Click to expand...

Thanks! I have. I think it's more tender than store ham cold. more like a roast beef luchmeat texture than ham lunchmeat, if that example works for you...

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2012

spoolinaz

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Thread starter

Apr 23, 2012

173

16

Hanover, PA

• Oct 11, 2012

• #14

Pops6927 said:

Fantastic Qview of the process, well documented start to finish!  Thank you so much for the cudos, hopefully the process will live on long after I'm gone so others can enjoy it too!  It's easy, it's flexible, it gives great results, and thank you so much for trying it!

Click to expand...

Thanks Pops! You are an invaluable resource!

Don't know if you saw it, but I did turkey breats too. They are a new favorite for me. Just had some cold sliced turkey breast sammies on tuesday for lunch, so good! And I have some BBB going as we speak!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/128427/cured-turkey-breasts#post_867023

 

humdinger

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• Oct 11, 2012

• #15

That example works. I see what you mean. Good to know. thanks.

 

fagesbp

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Oct 23, 2012

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South Lousiana

• Nov 2, 2012

• #16

Looks great! I'll definitely let one of mine go for much longer. 

 

spoolinaz

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Thread starter

Apr 23, 2012

173

16

Hanover, PA

• Nov 2, 2012

• #17

fagesbp said:

Looks great! I'll definitely let one of mine go for much longer. 

Click to expand...

You'll be happy you did! BTW, take a look at all the links in Pops' signature, There is so much knowledge in there!