Boneless Berkshire Fresh Ham

[Retired Spook]

140 is rare... 155/160 is well done ... I shoot for 145 ... The injection will keep it juicy no matter the IT (within reason)... Carry on ...

Roger that, sir.

 

[Retired Spook]

Follow your plan , I'll be watching for the results . Not pushing this on you , just something to think about if you don't like it at 145 .
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I admit that does look good.

 

[Retired Spook]

I must be halucinating - I can smell the thing cooking and I haven't even turned the oven on yet...

 

[chopsaw]

I admit that does look good.

It was . That was dry brined only . No injection .

 

[Retired Spook]

Brown sugar, garlic, a little salt and cloves and it is in the oven! Man them cloves smell sooooo good I flashed back to Grandma's house...

 

[dls1]

I read another recipe that specified 140-degrees, so I am a little perplexed. I do not enjoy over-cooked meat, at all.

Just read pork.org recommends 145 minimum so that is what I am going with. Gotta be juicy or I will toss it in the garbage.

I think 145 us a good idea. In a earlier post I said I did a fresh ham at155 that came out well, but that was quite some time ago. Thinking about that afterwards, if I were doing one today, I'd go with 145. You're going to hjave some carry over while it's resting after the cook that may take trhe final temp to 150+

I checked the Heritage Berkshire website a couple days ago and may get the same ham for Easter so I'm very interested in seeing how yours turns out.

 

[Retired Spook]

I think 145 us a good idea. In a earlier post I said I did a fresh ham at155 that came out well, but that was quite some time ago. Thinking about that afterwards, if I were doing one today, I'd go with 145. You're going to hjave some carry over while it's resting after the cook that may take trhe final temp to 150+

I checked the Heritage Berkshire website a couple days ago and may get the same ham for Easter so I'm very interested in seeing how yours turns out.

It is HUGE. I am cooking only about a third of it.

 

[Retired Spook]

145-degrees. I snuck a taste off a corner and man does it taste good. Its under foil, resting...

My stomach is ripping growling.

 

[Retired Spook]

Next time I would let it go to 150 but it tastes freaking awesome - pork tender and fantastic tasting - Grandma would be proud. iPhone is making it look much more pink than it is in real life - I cannot figure that out it - could be the "Camera+" app that I use makes colors more vivid by default, which it also did to the beef roasts I have cooked and posted. You can see a difference in the preceding photo just out of the oven, and this one the top is much darker. It's weird. It is right at the rare stage that pork.org illustrates.

I tend to go light on the salt because of blood pressure and I had to add a pinch of salt to the slices to really bring out the flavor but after I did that man I was back at Grandma's house - she must have added much more salt to the brown sugar rub than I did. I probably should up the salt in the injections I have been mixing up.

I am stuffed and cannot move - time for a nap!

 

[chopsaw]

Happy to hear it worked out for you . Looks great .

 

[gmc2003]

Looks just about perfect to me. Nice Job, glad I followed along.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[Retired Spook]

That Berkshire pork is worth every penny.

 

[TNJAKE]

Nice work on that

 

[Retired Spook]

I figured out the Camera+ iPhone app - it "saturates" colors. I am going to have to figure out how to compensate for that.

 

[Retired Spook]

This is not perfect but much more accurate.

 

[dls1]

Looks great, RS and sounds like you pretty much got the flavor profile you were looking for.

How long did you let the ham "rest" after cooking, Also, did you check the IT after the rest, and if so, what was the temp?

Nice job.

 

[Retired Spook]

Looks great, RS and sounds like you pretty much got the flavor profile you were looking for.

How long did you let the ham "rest" after cooking, Also, did you check the IT after the rest, and if so, what was the temp?

Nice job.

Thanks dls1 ,

I wanted to let it rest for an hour but I just couldn't handle it - it made it about a half hour and I was into it!

I didn't think to check the temp before slicing it - I was too focused on eating it! It smelled so fricken good while cooking I just can't describe, it really brought me right back to bein a kid. I would do a few things different next time; more salt in the injection and more salt in the rub - I go way too light because of blood pressure - which, paradoxically, has been amazingly low lately. And, I would slice the crisscross in the fat a little deeper so the cloves are easier to insert, and use a bit more brown sugar on the rub.

It tasted great - that Berkshire pork is something else!

 

[Retired Spook]

Fried up a couple slices with some eggs this morning - that Berkshire pork sure is tender and tastes very good, but it needed a little salt to get it to jump off the plate. BP is 119/77 so adding a pinch of salt isn't going to kill me.

Will be more generous with salt on future roasts and I might just try that Tony Cachere's roasted garlic injection on the portion I am planning to spit roast - and a nice brown sugar glaze just before I pull it off the spit.

 

[chopsaw]

I got in the habit of leaving an instant read therm in while resting . When that temp drops it's on . Lol .

 

[Retired Spook]

I got in the habit of leaving an instant read therm in while resting . When that temp drops it's on . Lol .

I was craving that ham so bad nothing was going to stop me from diving in! Been over 40-years since I had any at Grandma's...

[EDIT] Actually, it has been 50-years. Life just flies by...