Couple of Hams

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Thanks all for the kind comments. My apologies for not having a sliced picture. My first cure was a ham using Pop’s foolproof brine. Curing anything seemed too intimidating and Pops seemed to have a safe method dialed in. I know there’s a few great methods out there and have used a couple myself. But this is so easy. Ham makes a great gift. Everyone loves it and it always fits perfectly!
 
  • Like
Reactions: chopsaw
Those look fantastic!

Last year I started curing and smoking pork butts for ham. I removed the bone after.
After seeing yours, I think I will remove the bone first and cure. I'll put them in my cotton turkey hanging bags and hang and smoke that way.

BTW I have a solution for you being able to hang hams and maybe a little bit of sausage. Turkeys may be too big I think but I'll mention some ways that may work :D

A picture is worth a thousand words so here you go :)

I would get some angle aluminum and cut to make 2 rails like the one indicated by the BLUE arrow below.

I would fasten the new aluminum rails in the areas indicated by the green arrows below.

I would buy some 1 inch diameter untreated Oak wooden (or hardwood) dowels and cut them to fit on the rails (2-3 dowels should do).

Now you can hang your hams, some ring sausage, and chickens.
You could MAYBE even bag a smaller turkey, and hang horizontally.
View attachment 646349
Here's what seems to be a well priced (for current times) piece of 1/4 thick angle aluminum. It will hold a heavy piece of meat no problem, the flats are plenty wide to hold dowels and the length allows you to cut all you need:

I would drill a number of holes into the bottom flat of angle aluminum to make some slots.
It would be similar to this slotted angle aluminum here but round holes ( or you could buy this at a higher price. I assume 1/8 thickness and 1 inch flats should get the job done and would save time)

With the holes/slots you can drop small stainless steel bolts into the holes and they will act as "stops" for the dowels if you have to hang something across 2 dowels for a more complex hang like a turkey or a brisket flat. This will keep the dowels in place and prevent them moving/sliding together or around in any way.


For simple horizontal hangs use 1 wooden dowel. You just bag your meat and tie both ends. Then use strong butcher's twine or any other twin/wire and tie to both ends of your bagged meat and then tie to the single dowel.
Think of this kind of like a hammock and how that works.

For complex horizontal hangs (a big turkey that needs to be back or breast down, or a brisket flat for pastrami) you could use 2 wooden towels and make something like a "stretcher" (like when carrying wounded people).
You put the 2 wooden towels in with "stops" in the rail to prevent the dowels from moving out of position. Then and hang the bagged ham/turkey between them.
You can put a netted meat bag over both dowels and make a stretcher and place the bagged turkey/meat on the stretcher area.
You could tie like 3+ strands of cotton twine from one dowel to the other that the bagged meat would wrest on.
There's a few other ways you could go but I think you get the idea :)

If any of this makes any sense and/or helps, let me know haha :)
Wow, that’s a fantastic idea. Lots of great and seasoned info here. Thanks for the tip tallbm tallbm .
 
  • Like
Reactions: tallbm
D5AEED3D-9888-4C04-9221-966C964F9787.jpeg
After letting it mellow in the beer fridge a few days I finally cut it open. It turned out perfect. I love using Pop’s brine for the simplicity. I modified it to lower the salt level. Without the store-bought blast of salt you can really taste the hamminess and the subtle way the smoke just makes it better. And now that I know which way the grain is oriented I’ll be putting these cut-side-down on the slicer.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky