My father called me up in October and said a buddy of his trapped a few feral/wild hogs and asked him if he wanted some, so long story short I got about a 60 pound hog to cook on! :)
I smoked and ate everything but the back legs and saved them to make Thanskgiving Hams (8.9 pounds of hams).
Pics first and then a write up.
1 Ham bagged, other Ham visible, also Both Hams hanging
Closeup of hams, and further shot of Hams
Deboned Ham and Both Hams deboned/vac sealed next to a gatorade bottle for size comparison
Brine/Cure: I used LEM's Ham Kit that is designed for 10 pounds of Hams... I had 8.9 Pounds of hams so I knew it would be a little salty. I injected brine and soaked in tub brine like the kit instructs. I did so for 5 days. I probably should have only done for 4 days. I pulled, fry tested and had to soak in ice water because it was waaaay too salty. I soaked for 3 hours but probably should have done 6 hours. The fry test after 3 hours seemed ok but I didn't test meat all over after the soak. It was still a little salty in the end.
Wood: 70% Pit Boss Competition Blend (M/H/C) and about 30% Pefect Pellet 100% Hickory added
Cook/Smoke: I don't recall the details of how long I cooked and smoked these Hams but I want to say it took about 8 hours. I applied smoke for about 6 hours and I'm not sure If I applied double smoke or not. I took the hams to 165F IT because these were wild hogs and 165F would guarantee killing all parasites that the wild animal my have picked up.
Flavor: The Hams tasted pretty good but were too salty in my opinion. It was definitely a huge hit at the Thanksgiving dinner. When mixed with stuffing and other sides the salt subsided some. Also the salt saturation was uneven as some smaller parts were saltier than bigger parts of the ham.
The kind of crusty/bark'ish outside was nice and not something I commonly see on hams so that was cool, though I think it would be even more enjoyable on larger hams rather than these little hams.
Finally, I was not blown away at all by the flavor of the ham. I was expecting a homemade ham to really show a major difference than a store bought, I was surprised to not see much of a difference... though everyone at the dinner raved about the ham meat and one person ate so much of it they thought they were going to be sick because they overstuffed themselves lol
Lessons Learned:
I smoked and ate everything but the back legs and saved them to make Thanskgiving Hams (8.9 pounds of hams).
Pics first and then a write up.
1 Ham bagged, other Ham visible, also Both Hams hanging
Closeup of hams, and further shot of Hams
Deboned Ham and Both Hams deboned/vac sealed next to a gatorade bottle for size comparison
Brine/Cure: I used LEM's Ham Kit that is designed for 10 pounds of Hams... I had 8.9 Pounds of hams so I knew it would be a little salty. I injected brine and soaked in tub brine like the kit instructs. I did so for 5 days. I probably should have only done for 4 days. I pulled, fry tested and had to soak in ice water because it was waaaay too salty. I soaked for 3 hours but probably should have done 6 hours. The fry test after 3 hours seemed ok but I didn't test meat all over after the soak. It was still a little salty in the end.
Wood: 70% Pit Boss Competition Blend (M/H/C) and about 30% Pefect Pellet 100% Hickory added
Cook/Smoke: I don't recall the details of how long I cooked and smoked these Hams but I want to say it took about 8 hours. I applied smoke for about 6 hours and I'm not sure If I applied double smoke or not. I took the hams to 165F IT because these were wild hogs and 165F would guarantee killing all parasites that the wild animal my have picked up.
Flavor: The Hams tasted pretty good but were too salty in my opinion. It was definitely a huge hit at the Thanksgiving dinner. When mixed with stuffing and other sides the salt subsided some. Also the salt saturation was uneven as some smaller parts were saltier than bigger parts of the ham.
The kind of crusty/bark'ish outside was nice and not something I commonly see on hams so that was cool, though I think it would be even more enjoyable on larger hams rather than these little hams.
Finally, I was not blown away at all by the flavor of the ham. I was expecting a homemade ham to really show a major difference than a store bought, I was surprised to not see much of a difference... though everyone at the dinner raved about the ham meat and one person ate so much of it they thought they were going to be sick because they overstuffed themselves lol
Lessons Learned:
- These feral/wild hog hams were little and such little hams don't need to have much crust/bark
- With little hams I should probably wrap them in foil to have less bark and more soft meat
- Using a Ham Kit that has cure mixed into the seasoning is not a wise thing to do and I will avoid it in the future (after I use the rest of this stuff up). Nature does not make hams in 10 pound increments and being unable to measure out the seasonings to match the weight of the hams is just a recipe for over salting
- I will soak for 6 hours no matter what next time if soaking is needed at all
- I think I can improve but I'm not sure I can make a far superior Ham compared to one bought at a store. I guess 1-2 more attempts will let me know if Hams from scratch are something I want to keep in my meat smoking tool belt
- There is little to no easy to find or acceptable/accurate information online about smoking hams from scratch. There is plenty of double smoked ham and even a bit of smoked green ham information but not so much for "from scratch" cured and smoked hams
