Fresh cured Ham Question

[bama erik]

I am new to the smoking world/forum. I recently bought a electric 36" MES that I am using for smoking. I recently bought a fresh 11 pound ham. I started curing it last night with brown sugar, salt, curing salt, cloves, and cinnamon. I injected the ham today to help speed the process up. Everything I read online line stated approximately 1 day for every 2 pounds of meat. Does that sound right? According to that it should be ready on Friday to dry out and prep for smoking. Just trying to make sure it will be good to go for Christmas. Thanks in advance

 

[daveomak]

Is the ham in a brine cure or did you rub it for a dry brine...  Your ham will take 3 weeks or so ...  

How much of "what" did you inject....  did you do a calculation of the injection stuff to determine how much you were supposed to inject ?? 

I have a calculation to cure a ham in 6 days +/-...  

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!

Glad to have you with us!

I think Dave can help you if you give him a little more info on your process.

Al

 

[bama erik]

Thanks for the reply Dave. I put it in a wet brine late Saturday night and started doing some additional reading and saw where the injection speeds the process up so I injected it with approx 8-10 oz of the brine.

 

[daveomak]

 
Thanks for the reply Dave. I put it in a wet brine late Saturday night and started doing some additional reading and saw where the injection speeds the process up so I injected it with approx 8-10 oz of the brine.

Erik, morning....  The injection is necessary to prevent bone sour...    The ham should be chilled in a refer for 3-4 days prior to injection...  the injection liquid should be cooled to refer temps prior to injection... 

There is a calculation to let you know if you injected the correct amount...  depends on the strength of the brine....  That bird should be in the brine and the refer for about 3 weeks...  according to Pops....

This is the method I developed, which is what commercial processors attempt....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/236375/ham-from-fresh-picnics-update-10-21-money

 

[bama erik]

Thanks again Dave for the quick reply. I guess that ham will not be cooked for Christmas, LOL. I do want to make sure that it is cured appropriately the first time before I cook/eat it. Luckily I bought a back up ham for Christmas yesterday in the event this did not work out or cure in time. I ended up using the following for my wet brine for the 10# ham:

2 gallons of water

1 1/2 cup kosher salt

1 cup of brown sugar

8 oz molasses

some clover and cinnamon

approx 4 teaspoons of insta cure #1 (I got this from just reading on the internet)

This ham is pushed down in the brine to keep everything soaking. I did this on Saturday night and put it in the fridge. Sunday morning I woke up and injected with about 8-10 oz of the brine. So if I am reading this right it will take about 3 weeks to be completely cured? 

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi Erik,

Now that Dave has you fixed up on the Ham you're doing from scratch, meanwhile below is what you can do until then.

I'll be doing another one on Christmas Day.

Here's How I make the Best Hams We've ever eaten at the Bear Den.

Double Smoking Cheap Store bought Hams turns them into Great Tasting Hams!

Link:

Double Smoked Ham   

Bear

 

[daveomak]

 
Thanks again Dave for the quick reply. I guess that ham will not be cooked for Christmas, LOL. I do want to make sure that it is cured appropriately the first time before I cook/eat it. Luckily I bought a back up ham for Christmas yesterday in the event this did not work out or cure in time. I ended up using the following for my wet brine for the 10# ham:

2 gallons of water

1 1/2 cup kosher salt

1 cup of brown sugar

8 oz molasses

some clover and cinnamon

approx 4 teaspoons of insta cure #1 (I got this from just reading on the internet)

This ham is pushed down in the brine to keep everything soaking. I did this on Saturday night and put it in the fridge. Sunday morning I woke up and injected with about 8-10 oz of the brine. So if I am reading this right it will take about 3 weeks to be completely cured? 

2 gal. water, salt, sugar and molasses weigh about 20#'s....  + the 10# ham...  you are up to 30#'s of stuff...    add 2 more tsp. cure #1....  cure #1 should be used at a rate of 1 tsp. per 5#'s of stuff....  that will get you to ~150 ish Ppm nitrite...     You are good to go....   This ham will still take about 3 weeks...

Do you want to remove it from the brine and inject it using my method ?? 

2 tsp. cure #1....  6 TBS. salt..... 4 TBS. brown sugar....  2 TBS. molasses......    dissolve that in 1 pint of water...     chill in the refer....   

Inject ALL of the liquid into the ham...  Inject the joints and along the bones very well...  inject the meat at 1.5" intervals to get the stuff all around inside the meat...  place in a zip bag to catch the dripping...   turn every couple days...  in 4-6 days it will be ready...     Everything needed to cure a ham is now inside the meat...  NO guessing on how it was absorbed..  NO guessing if enough was absorbed....   the cure migrates about 1/4 inch per day...  injections are 1.5" apart... therefore in 3 days it should be properly cured but lets give it a couple extra just to be sure....

HAM ham-injection.gif

• daveomak
• Dec 19, 2016

HAM shoulder-injection.gif

• daveomak
• Dec 19, 2016

 

[bama erik]

Wow, I should really have found this site allot sooner. I will just add 2 more tsp of the cure #1 since I already have the wet brine setup. You guys have some great information on here. I appreciate all the info and will definitely utilize this site more frequently. I picked up a smithfield pre cooked spiral ham yesterday will probably just put it on the smoker using Bear's link above for Christmas. I was looking forward to the cured ham initially but it is probably better that I wait since that is the first time doing the process. That way if I mess it up only I will know about it and not have friends and family over at Christmas be the guinea pig. LOL

 

[daveomak]

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[wade]

Great information Dave, thanks 

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