First Ham

[matcartier]

After 28 days in pops brine its time to smoke.... its my first cure and my first ham.... we'll see how this goes...

 

[zwiller]

Pop's brine is good stuff and great for first time. Good luck! Not sure what you setup you have but try and get the exterior dry before adding smoke. Run low and no smoke an hour or so. Looks awfully wet from here.

 

[matcartier]

Pop's brine is good stuff and great for first time. Good luck! Not sure what you setup you have but try and get the exterior dry before adding smoke. Run low and no smoke an hour or so. Looks awfully wet from here.

its already on the smoke... I use a char broil electric... not the greatest but it works... ill go in with some paper towels and pat it down..

 

[chopsaw]

Try to get the surface dry like said above . What are you using for a smoke source ?

 

[matcartier]

Try to get the surface dry like said above . What are you using for a smoke source ?

ive got apple and pecan... about 70-30 mix

 

[zwiller]

its already on the smoke... I use a char broil electric... not the greatest but it works... ill go in with some paper towels and pat it down..

It's not the tool but the person using it... Good idea to pat down. To explain: water + smoke = creosote. Creosote has a strong nasty taste.

If using chips try and remove until dry and also you want TBS and not heavy white smoke. What is your plan, temps, time etc?

 

[matcartier]

It's not the tool but the person using it... Good idea to pat down. To explain: water + smoke = creosote. Creosote has a strong nasty taste.

If using chips try and remove until dry and also you want TBS and not heavy white smoke. What is your plan, temps, time etc?

using chips... im doing 225 until 155 IT. however long it takes. th vents on this thing are showing TBS.

 

[matcartier]

thus is it currently

 

[matcartier]

I'm worried that I may have left too much fat on it.

 

[pc farmer]

Not to much fat. Its lookin good so far.

 

[zwiller]

A little fatty for my tastes but agree is doable and also agree that is looking good. Color formation is a good sign! How big?

 

[matcartier]

It was 16.5 before I trimmed the skin and a good amount of fat off... probably took off 2-3 lbs of fat/ skin... gonna save that for later...

 

[zwiller]

It looked kinda big. Might take a little longer than you expect. Make a note when it hits 130F IT. 155F is a bit high IMO.

 

[matcartier]

it's at 135* right now. Ive seen different temp numbers for this... Ive seen as high as 160 and as low as 135... the pig was from a farm that does pig roasts.... they had to offload a bunch of them. im not sure if this is a "commercial" pig or not. The commercial ones seen to have a lower cook temp.

 

[pc farmer]

I raise my own pigs and cure my hams. I pull at 145-150. But that's what I do, right or wrong.

 

[chopsaw]

I pull at 150 ish, never any lower than 145 .

 

[matcartier]

pulled at 150

 

[matcartier]

looks ok

 

[matcartier]

 

[smokinstubbs]

I'm worried that I may have left too much fat on it.

Don't cha know? Pork fat rules!!!!!!!