trizzuth
Smoke Blower
I did not know that about hormones and pork! Thanks for the schooling!
I still think it will be tasty!
I still think it will be tasty!
It could be that the veins are just hidden.Hmm, kinda hard to see from your pics 13 and 14 but I guess I do see it a little bit.
As far as the short shank goes, the farm did ask us initially if we wanted any sort of special cuts, and had I known I was going to do this back then, or even known anything about smoking at all, I would have asked for a long shank, or even maybe with the foot left on (is one better than the other?) I'd think foot on leaves minimal chance of contamination.. Next year now I know!
When exactly can I do the stick and sniff test with the metal wire? Sure smells great on the outside at least..
He won't be tasting that sweet caramel colored baby for at least 6 months! So you better get that smoker built fast! or better yet, buy the ham and morton's curing salts and start the cure, then you have no excuse but to get the smoker working because the clock will be tickin...Mr T
Absolutely stunning looking ham , does it taste as good as it looks ?, wow I must get my smoker built lol
I am all hungry and salavanting at the mouth , save my a slice my friend
Geo
Thank you Spartan. If you are around, you will have one.Mr T
Absolutely stunning looking ham , does it taste as good as it looks ?
Geo
Thank you trizzuth for the input. I'm with you on the hanging part.He won't be tasting that sweet caramel colored baby for at least 6 months!
TrizzuthHe won't be tasting that sweet caramel colored baby for at least 6 months! So you better get that smoker built fast! or better yet, buy the ham and morton's curing salts and start the cure, then you have no excuse but to get the smoker working because the clock will be tickin...
We are on the same page. The two fed links were used to help me to decide to do the ham and thread as I wanted to do both correctly and safely. I had planed on posting them in my summary, but will go ahead and paste them in the reference section now.I think the humidity went way up in the tank overnight and moistened it a bit. I immediately hung it in the basement with a fan directly on it and turned on my dehumidifier.
Drying out nicely, hope I did not screw it up with the moisture.. ARGH! this thing is an art form for sure! Especially when you are trying to replicate conditions that are not native to your geographic location.
Anyways, I figure the ham now has a good 72 hours of smoke, and you were right Tom, the veins seem to be a little less visible than before and the overall smoky color is much more even now that i removed it from the cheesecloth bag. I will continue to cold smoke until I get that nice color before I hang it for the long haul.
Now, since I happen to deal with FDA regulations at my job on a daily basis (more for medical devices, not for food), I am familiar with their regulations and websites. Here are some great links with excellent, and official government info:
Ham food and safety:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/ham/index.asp
Federal Regulation identifying the items necessary to call a product a "Virginia Country Cured Ham":
See 319.106 (basically much of the same info Tom noted above):
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/FoodCode2001/ucm092709.htm
Also, this description of the curing process through the various seasons was pretty interesting I thought.. and while you are there, check out their prices for country hams, now that is why you make your own!
http://www.countrycuredhams.com/curing-process
Will do! Tom!, thanks for the info , Looks like this Xmas time, your home will be the place to be, be sure to post the pics then,Thank you Spartan. If you are around, you will have one.
Thank you trizzuth for the input. I'm with you on the hanging part.
PS That cheese looked good.
Spartan, Although the ham at this stage is considered to be a sugar cured ham and ready to eat, my intentions are to produce a true country cured ham. Although fine hams can be produced using different techniques, there are four criteria that must be met to technically be considered a country ham.
1st. It must be dry cured. Not injected with curing solutions nor placed in a curing solution.
2nd. The combined curing and equalization period must not be less than 45 days.
3rd. It must age a minimum of four months after curing.
4th. It must loose a minimum of 18% weight from fresh.
It then can truly be called a country cured ham. Mine has met three of the criteria at this time. My intentions are now to further age it for nine more months and serve during the Christmas holidays.
If you want to do a ham,I would encourage you to do some research and determine what type of ham you want to produce along with what is needed, then go for it.
Tom
Great, will be looking for your prosciutto thread along with pics. Good luck.I will diffently contact you for more info when I am ready for a country ham , mean while I have towo hams dry curing .
My first attempt to make authentic prosciutto, keeping my fingers crossed and with alot of luck I should be slicing
into my first prosciutto at xmas time .
geo
The way the hams were prepared would have a good deal to do with the final taste. Sugar is not a requirement to produce a country ham. Sugar is used in the cure or when cooking to offset the harshness of the salt. The American ham is drier and saltier than the larger and fattier salt cured Spanish ham even after it has been soaked and cooked. Americans typically cook their country hams although cooking is not necessary. It is also easy to overcook a country ham turning it into a salt block.Mr. T, I have a couple questions. Most, but not all, producers of country ham these days use a basic cure consisting of salt, sugar, and a preservative. Most also add some spices to the mix. A few hard core traditionalists omit the sugar altogether. I've had it both ways and could not notice a difference in taste. That might have been due to the method of preparation prior to serving such as boiling/simmering the ham in a mix of water and Coca Cola/Dr. Pepper, or adding a sweet glaze. Do you feel it's requirement to use sugar in the cure to be considered a true country ham, or do you consider it as just an option as a balance to the salt?
Also, most country ham producers today smoke their hams, but there are also a few who don't. Again, I've had both and in this case I far prefer the smoked version.
My thoughts are that hams omitting sugar from the cure, and/or those that are not smoked, take us back to the earlier days of country hams in the US with a final product somewhat akin to the various cured hams in Europe and Asia.
What are your thoughts?
As far as the questions here about salt/sugar.. I can tell you this - I used Morton's "Sugar Cure" the non-smoked version. It comes in a bag that has the salt/sugar mixture and then a small packet of what they call "spices" that also contains the curing agent. I tasted the salt/sugar mixture and HOLY COW, it tasted like 100% salt to me. No sugar coming through whatsoever, but it must be in there as that is what the package says... The addition of the spice packet in the correct proportions gives the curing mixture this odd spicey aroma that I can't really point my finger on. Maybe there are some cloves in there or something that make it smell that way. I didn't really think the proportions of salt to sugar were correct in that bag based on the taste, but it is all white, so who knows... I am sure it's mostly salt as that is what helps with the curing process.
This is awesome and certainly explains the abundance of salt I tasted! Thanks for adding this interesting tidbit of information to this thread Martin!For what it's worth, MTQ, MSC and MSC (Smoke Flavored) are all only 2% sugar.
The MSC spice packets contain, fenugreek, clove, nutmeg, red pepper and black pepper.
~Martin