BEST CUT OF PORK FOR CURING A HAM

[Slow42]

Does anyone have an opinion on what the best cut of pork is for making a cured ham. One that make take a brine better than another, one with the least amount of fat, one for a beginnr? From my experience the Boston butt vs picnic seems to be the better cut for more meat and less fat. Not sure about flavor between the two but I think the picnic might be a tad better. I also only roasted them never smoked one. I can get any fresh cut from the butcher shop. Opinions welcome.

 

[DanMcG]

How about a fresh ham. They might even be on sale for the holiday, they are here.

 

[Slow42]

Thanks danmcg but I really don’t know what a fresh ham is. Is that a ham already cured? What cut would it be?

 

[DanMcG]

no Slow it's an uncured rear leg, where the ham would normally be made from.

 

[JckDanls 07]

yep... Dan's got ya covered.. just ask for a fresh uncured ham ..

 

[Slow42]

Thanks but that would be much to large for me to work with on my first one. It also has to fit into a MES smoker and refrigerator.

 

[DanMcG]

you or your butcher could break it down into individual muscles and make mini hams

 

[pops6927]

ham slice, showing parts; would be the same for a fresh hind leg. Meat cutter could seam it out for you to do smaller pcs., freeze the rest and do later, injection would be required, however ( each pc. over 2" thick).

 

[dernektambura]

if you have access to butcher who can cut fresh meat than ask him to de-bone fresh pork hind leg... what you will get is 3 boneless muscle pieces... if you want to make prosciutto tell him to leave the skin on ...

 

[Slow42]

Thanks dernektambura I talked to my local butcher and the smallest fresh hams he gets are 25 to 30 pounds, $1.99 pound. He‘s more than willing to debone the ham but the pieces are still going to be very large, at least for me. I want to start with a smaller cut for my first time project. Maybe I should check with another butcher for a smaller ham or are they all about that size?
Anyhow would a picnic or Boston butt work?

 

[smokerjim]

Thanks dernektambura I talked to my local butcher and the smallest fresh hams he gets are 25 to 30 pounds, $1.99 pound. He‘s more than willing to debone the ham but the pieces are still going to be very large, at least for me. I want to start with a smaller cut for my first time project. Maybe I should check with another butcher for a smaller ham or are they all about that size?
Anyhow would a picnic or Boston butt work?

they do make good hams, the picnic usually has less fat then the butt. but the fresh ham is the leanest. would your butcher just sell you a small 1/2?. picnics usually comes with the skin on it , if you were going to go with that I personally would take the skin off before brining and smoking.

 

[fullborebbq]

Are you looking to do a ham for a holiday roast? or make ham for sandwiches as a luncheon meat? Boneless pork loin makes good sandwich meat.

 

[Slow42]

Looking to do a ham, cured, roast and or sandwiches. I’ve tried the boneless loin and it’s to lean for my taste but great bacon.

 

[mosparky]

Several here have made Hams from Picnics and from Butts with reported great results, verified by other members who copied the attempts. I'm almost one of them. I have a 6 lb butt ham resting in the fridge right now. I nipped off a marble sized nub to sample. If that nibble is any indication, it lives up to the hype and then some. The hardest part of the whole process is letting it "rest" 3 days or so for the smoke and flavor to mellow. It's killing me !!
Articles of interest :

Picnic HAM, cold smoked... Injected using my method... MONEY... sliced..

Lookin' pretty good to me.... ............... For this ham, I decided I would cold smoke it for approx. 12 hours over a few days to see if the smoke flavor penetrated deeper.... 4 hours this afternoon... 4 hours tonight and 4 hours tomorrow... I'm gonna try and get 3-4 hours breaks...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Buckboard Bacon and Pulled Cured Boston Butt Ham

Bear, this looks absolutely amazing! I actually just looked up what BBB actually is, I never knew. Now I want to do both of these. Three questions for now. 1. I see that when slicing the bacon you trimmed it for slicing. Since it's already cured could you just eat those trimmings without...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

In regards to the second link, for a slicing ham, cook to 152-165 deg IT.

 

[chopsaw]

If you're looking for smaller , bone out a pork butt and save the larger whole muscle for ham . I use the method by Dave Omak that Mo sparky posted above . Here's a pic of the one I did a few weeks ago . About 3 pounds .

I've also used the same injection on pork loin . More like ham than bacon .

 

[Slow42]

Thanks for all the response. I miss a lot of your responses until I sign in as I don’t get email notifications for some reason. Very good information gives me something to think about. Three pound pork butt looks good to start. Chopsaw is that 3 pound ham a whole piece of meat or did you tie it together from the deboned butt? I have a hard time determining size from photos and that ham looks must bigger anything I could get from a Boston butt.

 

[chopsaw]

Chopsaw is that 3 pound ham a whole piece of meat or did you tie it together from the deboned butt?

It's the whole muscle ( not rolled or tied ) from a pork butt . I take the fat cap off , trim the bone out use the trim and fat for sausage , and cure the larger muscle to ham . About the size of a football .