Several years ago I wet cured a 15# ham that turned out wonderful but unfortunately I lost my notes. Now I am curing another ham for the holidays and would like someone to look over the recipe that I used.
11# Picnic Roast with skin on one side
1 gallon plus 1 cup or 4000 g, Water
1.5 cups, or 350 g, Morton course Kosher salt.
2 cups, or 335 g, Light Brown Sugar.
1/2 cup or 52 g, Mrs. Wages Pickling spice.
7 tsp or 33 g, Prague Powder #1.
I mixed all ingredients together with 2 qts of water except the Curing salt and heated on the stove. I cooled the brine then added the remaining water and Cure #1 and stirred till dissolved.
I scored the skin side of the picnic roast in a square pattern and injected with the brine along the bone, through the scores and on the non skin side of the roast. I then placed it in a food grade bucket and poured the brine over it, placed a plate on top of the future ham to keep it submerged and into the fridge.
I was going to brine it 1 day for every 2#, this is meat and bone, so 5.5 days Then soak it in fresh cool water for 4 hours and cook it in the oven.
This is a start for me and any guidance on what I have done would be much appreciated. My end goal is to understand the wet brining process so I am confident and safe in what I am doing and understanding equilibrium brining, but for now I need to keep it simple. Thank you in advance
A pic of my first cured ham, The comments at the table were "So this is what ham is suppose to taste like".
11# Picnic Roast with skin on one side
1 gallon plus 1 cup or 4000 g, Water
1.5 cups, or 350 g, Morton course Kosher salt.
2 cups, or 335 g, Light Brown Sugar.
1/2 cup or 52 g, Mrs. Wages Pickling spice.
7 tsp or 33 g, Prague Powder #1.
I mixed all ingredients together with 2 qts of water except the Curing salt and heated on the stove. I cooled the brine then added the remaining water and Cure #1 and stirred till dissolved.
I scored the skin side of the picnic roast in a square pattern and injected with the brine along the bone, through the scores and on the non skin side of the roast. I then placed it in a food grade bucket and poured the brine over it, placed a plate on top of the future ham to keep it submerged and into the fridge.
I was going to brine it 1 day for every 2#, this is meat and bone, so 5.5 days Then soak it in fresh cool water for 4 hours and cook it in the oven.
This is a start for me and any guidance on what I have done would be much appreciated. My end goal is to understand the wet brining process so I am confident and safe in what I am doing and understanding equilibrium brining, but for now I need to keep it simple. Thank you in advance
A pic of my first cured ham, The comments at the table were "So this is what ham is suppose to taste like".