~5 days from Picnic to Ham....

[daveomak]

I use non enhanced picnics... enhanced is OK but I cut the ingredients in half (1/2), to accommodate all the stuff processors add...
Gently heat 10% the weight of the picnic, of Low Salt Vegetable stock, to about 100F.... 9# picnic ~400 grams of stock....
Once warm, ADD IN ORDER and dissolve......
Then cool in the refer prior to injecting...

for a 9# picnic or other hunk of meat add to the stock....
1. phosphates and dissolve... 0.4% STPP.... ~16 grams of STPP...
2. sugars, proteins and dissolve... 1% sugar.... ~41 grams white sugar
3. salt and dissolve.... 1.75% Kosher salt.... ~71 grams kosher salt
4. cure and dissolve.... 0.25% cure#1.... ~10 grams cure#1

You will need to make about 40 injections at ~10CC per injection to get complete coverage inside the meat...
Start injecting around the bone and joints.. Make SURE you thoroughly cover the bone and joints to avoid bone sour...
Then inject the remaining portions of the meat.... inject ALL of the mix....
Put into a 2.5 gallon zip bag..... on a sheet pan..... refer and turn daily...

I smoke the meat with a 40-40-20 mix of pellet dust... Corn cob, Pitmaster's Choice and Mesquite... 2 full AMNPS trays..... about 5 1/2 hours per tray.....
Smoker temp ~100-120 for 12 hours or so ...... Exhaust wide open on my MES 30....
Then up the smoker temp ~160F and close down the exhaust to about 5% open... Closing the exhaust stops the meat from cooling due to evaporative cooling effect from a draft... and reduces the case hardening effect also.... Do this ONLY after all the smoke has been added.... I cooked the below ham to ~137F and held that temp for over an hour in my smoker.. See the pasteurization table at the bottom of the page....

To make pellet dust, add 1 cup Corn Cob, 1 cup of Pitt Choice or Alder or Apple, and 1/2 cup Mesquite to a SS bowl and add hot tap water to cover.... add more water.... In about 15-30 minutes the pellets will have expanded and are no longer pellets... Decant the water.... Squeeze out any excess you can.... Place pellet stuff on parchment or foil on a sheet pan, in the oven at 275F until dry... about 3-4 hours or so....
I find the mild smoke flavor does NOT interfere with the pig flavor I'm trying to enjoy....




ADDITIV ES at Craft Butchers' Pantry

STPP at CRAFT BUTCHERS' PANTRY
Evan Brady is the owner and a member here.....

STPP....


Cure#1...


I prefer the syringes that comes with Tony's injectables...



My MES 30 set up...


My AMNPS set up...


Use the pasteurization table so you DO NOT have to overcook the ham to make it safe to eat....

The pasteurization times for beef, lamb and pork are listed in Table C.1. Table C.2 lists the pasteurization times for chicken and turkey.
Temperature... ....... Time.... ....... Temperature... ........ Time
°F (°C) (Minutes) °F (°C) (Seconds)
130 (54.4)........... 112 min
131 (55.0) ......... 89 min...........
132 (55.6).......... 71 min............
133 (56.1).................. 56 min............
134 (56.7).................. 45 min...........
135 (57.2).................. 36 min............
136 (57.8).................. 28 min...........
137 (58.4)................. 23 min............
138 (58.9).................. 18 min...........
139 (59.5).................. 15 min ...........
140 (60.0).................... 12 min............
141 (60.6).................. 9 min..............
142 (61.1).................. 8 min.............
143 (61.7).............. 6 min
144 (62.2).................. 5 min
145 (62.8).................. 4 min
Table C.1: Pasteurization times for beef, corned beef, lamb, pork and cured pork (FDA, 2009, 3-401.11.B.2).


It's time to enjoy some really good ham.... I prefer picnics to hind leg hams... they taste better I think....

Dave

...

 

[sawhorseray]

Beautiful color throughout Dave, cured to perfection and a nice piece of work, Like. RAY

 

[chopsaw]

Great thread Dave . I like the Tony's injectors also , easy to handle and they have the indicator on the plunger .
Ham looks great , picnics have the best flavor .

 

[Sowsage]

That picnic looks perfect! Nice write up! very clear and easy to follow step by steps. This is the perfect go to thread for someone looking to make a picnic ham . very nice job!

 

[motocrash]

Another great looking ham Dave.

 

[daveomak]

Then the trim.... Fat, that's full of smoke along with the case hardened meat layer that's full of smoke... Goes into bags for beans later and into today's pot of beans....
Dave grew up on Lima beans and ham... and he's growing old on them too....





And this will be sliced for eatin'....



I'd start a voting thing to see who thought I needed a boning lesson on a picnic.... BUT... I know the answer... Hey.... it all eats.....


...

 

[indaswamp]

Looking good Dave! Adding that to the list, I have yet to smoke a full leg ham in my smokehouse. Like!
One thing I learned is that the tripolyphosphate does not dissolve very easily in cold water, so it's a good practice you have of warming the water first!

 

[indaswamp]

I'd start a voting thing to see who thought I needed a boning lesson on a picnic.... BUT... I know the answer... Hey.... it all eats.....

Gotta leave some for the beans!!! Right!!! LOL!!!

 

[daveomak]

One thing I learned is that the tripolyphosphate does not dissolve very easily in cold water, so it's a good practice you have of warming the water first!

The liquid must be "clean".... Certain contaminates will not allow STPP to dissolve.. That's why you dissolve it first.... or something like that....

 

[Nodak21]

Hi Dave! Will these instructions work for a bone in butt as well as a picnic? Thanks

 

[daveomak]

Hi Dave! Will these instructions work for a bone in butt as well as a picnic? Thanks

Nodak, morning.... Yep..... Inject around the shoulder blade first... then the thicker meat part last...
Injecting about 5cc's each injection will get you there.... guestimating is fine... All the mix will end up in the meat anyway and you will be golden....

I've used a couple different brands of injectable sauces and Tony's had the best needle couplers and the "rubber" on the end of the plunger did NOT swell up so it stayed usable for months... That could change when they get in new stock... Who knows... Not me, for sure... I find the needle has a much smaller diameter than the big SS "Meat Injectors" you purchase and the brine won't shoot out as easy, once injected...

 

[Nodak21]

Thanks Dave! You are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I appreciate it much and will post pictures at my first attempt hopefully within the next week or two.

 

[sam307]

I’m searching for the most recent posting of Daveomak injection cure for curing a ham. This is the only one I’ve found so far. I also came across a post by Diggindog who posted a calculator on curing. Can I use this for Daveomak recipe? Makes the math easy. I can only get frozen pork butts or picnics if this makes a difference. Thanks

 

[daveomak]

Yes you can use Diggy's calculator...


I use non enhanced picnics... enhanced is OK but I cut the ingredients in half (1/2), to accommodate all the stuff processors add...
Gently heat 10% the weight of the picnic, of Low Salt Vegetable stock, to about 100F.... 9# picnic ~400 grams of stock....
Once warm, ADD IN ORDER and dissolve......
Then cool in the refer prior to injecting...

for a 9# picnic or other hunk of meat add to the stock....
1. phosphates and dissolve... 0.4% (0.004) STPP.... ~16 grams of STPP...
2. sugars, proteins and dissolve... 1% (0.01) sugar.... ~41 grams white sugar
3. salt and dissolve.... 1.75% (0.0175) Kosher salt.... ~71 grams kosher salt
4. cure and dissolve.... 0.25% (0.0025) cure#1.... ~10 grams cure#1

It's my opinion, you do not have to adjust for the soup stock when calculating amounts... Everything is inside the meat..

Sam, morning, I'll do a short rundown on the calculation...

9# ham X 454 grams per # = 4,086 grams
4,086 X 10% (0.10) = 409 grams

 

[daveomak]

BE SURE to use only

Other veggie stocks do NOT have the same flavor profile and in my opinion, the ham SUCKS...

 

[daveomak]

HAM from fresh picnics.. update 10/21 ... MONEY ..

My neighborhood small grocery had fresh picnics, non enhanced, for $1.49... sooooo, 2 came home with me... Bride wanted these done with the hide on so that's what I did.... Many, many injections of a curing brine to make them hammy... around the bones and joints and along the hide from...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

HAM.... easy peasy... no mess.... DISCLAIMER.. MONEY...

I've been injecting hams to cure for some time... decided I needed a needle to get to all parts from one side... No flipping, no turning, here it its.... 5" , #14 gauge blunt/sharpened needle.. Found this picnic at w-m that has NOT been injected... The paper towel is sprayed with vinegar...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[sam307]

One more question. Can I skip the STPP as I don’t have any at the present.
Thanks for the quick response.

 

[daveomak]

NO...

https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=stpp+s...b_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_3_4&tag=smokingmeatforums-20

 

[sam307]

Thanks I like your blunt answer! I can at least use the left overs for laundry and toilet cleaning

 

[daveomak]

Sorry, leave it out if you so desire...

Yeah, along with the water you drink... Wash the car, flush the toilet.....