From Hog Leg to Easter Ham!

  • 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.
Pops,
You never fail to impress me!
Everything looks PERFECT !--------------->>
points.gif


Thanks for the ride,
Bearcarver
 
Thanks y'all! One final meal after a couple sandwiches, some ham steaks out of the remaining bottom round on the grill for dinner last night! The flavor the grill imparts is unique and tasty!



A small bag of scraps left that I'll chop up this morning and make ham salad out of for today's lunch and give the femur bone to PJ... she'll knaw on that all day long while we're at work!

This whole process can be applied to just about all other cuts of pork as well; the arm shoulder, pork butt (for buckboard bacon), rib ends, loin ends and center roasts bone-in or boneless for Canadian Bacon, and of course the bellies for regular bacon too! You just vary the soak times based on the thickness of the meat and/or whether to pump it or not. An inch or so soak about a week, 2 inches thick up to 2 weeks (split butts and loin meat boneless for Canadian Bacon), shoulders, whole butts, bone-in rib, center and loin roasts pumped and soaked 2 weeks, ham pumped and soaked 4 weeks. You can cut the salt in half for lo-salt too, or double it and pump it into top, bottom or eye round beef roasts for dried beef also. You don't have to flip or massage it, just refrigerate it and soak it. Hopefully this thread will give you confidence to try it! (It can't be hard, if I can do it heck anybody can do it!
icon_mrgreen.gif
). Thanks for lookin'!

BTW, here's the thread to my smokehouse build too!
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=88853
 
Last edited:
Awsome post POPS....I can't say enough how you have helped us in our adventures in trying new things...I gota say now I'm going to have to try this out for myself...I'm gona have to convince the wife I need another fridge...wish me luck
icon_wink.gif



Thanks again for the lesson!
 
So much pork... so good.. lard... omg... awesome...

I'd love to see this stickied. Reposted so everything is together would be great too! I'll be coming back to this when I make a ham one day!!!
 
Thanks y'all! One final meal after a couple sandwiches, some ham steaks out of the remaining bottom round on the grill for dinner last night! The flavor the grill imparts is unique and tasty!





A small bag of scraps left that I'll chop up this morning and make ham salad out of for today's lunch and give the femur bone to PJ... she'll knaw on that all day long while we're at work!

This whole process can be applied to just about all other cuts of pork as well; the arm shoulder, pork butt (for buckboard bacon), rib ends, loin ends and center roasts bone-in or boneless for Canadian Bacon, and of course the bellies for regular bacon too! You just vary the soak times based on the thickness of the meat and/or whether to pump it or not. An inch or so soak about a week, 2 inches thick up to 2 weeks (split butts and loin meat boneless for Canadian Bacon), shoulders, whole butts, bone-in rib, center and loin roasts pumped and soaked 2 weeks, ham pumped and soaked 4 weeks. You can cut the salt in half for lo-salt too, or double it and pump it into top, bottom or eye round beef roasts for dried beef also. You don't have to flip or massage it, just refrigerate it and soak it. Hopefully this thread will give you confidence to try it! (It can't be hard, if I can do it heck anybody can do it!
icon_mrgreen.gif
). Thanks for lookin'!

BTW, here's the thread to my smokehouse build too!
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=88853
Lord, I just went to heaven! A couple of eggs with that and a cup of joe.
icon_cool.gif

 
 
Thanks for a great post Pops! It gave me the courage to give this a try myself. A question or two though, I am doing a leg that started out to be about 10 pounds and dressed out to about 8 pounds.

I would like to have this for New Years dinner 10 days after I started brining it. If I pulled it out after 9 days so I can smoke it will that be enough time? Also, I searched for that hole you talked about and could not find it. Is it a hole in the femur bone? I injected around the bone along its whole length and into the thick parts of the meat until I was getting as much leak out as I was putting in. Will that be OK?

Thanks!
 
It's the hole in the pelvic bone.  As long as you permeated all sectors inside the muscle with pickle then you should be curing from the inside-out as well as the outside-in.  You should be able to cure it in that time as it's only 8-10 lbs; it is a hind leg ham, not a shoulder, correct?
 
I think it was a hind leg. It looks just like the ones in your pictures, just smaller. I wanted to have this for New Years so I was hoping a small one would brine in 2 weeks. Another question, why did you cut the hock off? Can I still leave it on? Thanks for all your answers.
 
So it would fit in the brining bucket.  I save the hock and roast it (or preferably 'them' as I'll buy a few more) with saurkraut in the oven.... yum!  Always glad to answer questions, that's how we all learn.  The only bad question is the one never asked.


I think it was a hind leg. It looks just like the ones in your pictures, just smaller. I wanted to have this for New Years so I was hoping a small one would brine in 2 weeks. Another question, why did you cut the hock off? Can I still leave it on? Thanks for all your answers.
 
So it would fit in the brining bucket.  I save the hock and roast it (or preferably 'them' as I'll buy a few more) with saurkraut in the oven.... yum!  Always glad to answer questions, that's how we all learn.  The only bad question is the one never asked.


I think it was a hind leg. It looks just like the ones in your pictures, just smaller. I wanted to have this for New Years so I was hoping a small one would brine in 2 weeks. Another question, why did you cut the hock off? Can I still leave it on? Thanks for all your answers.
 
Thanks Pop's. If this small one works out I will try a big one. I love Amish ham and I hope that this will be a good home made substitute.
 
Last edited:
We had my first attempt at ham for New Years and I must say it was GREAT!!! It was a front leg BTW but it still was better than any store bought ham I have ever had. I smoked it with apple and then baked it with a honey/butter glaze. I wish I had made a big one because this one didn't last very long! Thanks again pops!

Now a few questions.

1.Parts of the ham, like the hock and the smaller muscle were rather salty compared to the large muscle on top. Why would that be? The large muscle came out perfect.

2. I am curing a large hind leg (23 lbs) right now. I dressed it like you did by taking the skin from the large end off but leaving the skin on the lower leg. Do I leave that skin on when I smoke it? If so, do I leave it on when I bake it later?

3. I smoked the small leg with apple, is hickory a better choice for ham?

Thank you so much for your help. My smoking experiences since I joined this forum have been nothing short of amazing!!
 
Something just occured to me. Since hams have been injected does the 4 hour rule apply when it is smoked?
 
No....the four hour rule is for fresh intact muscle meat. Pops is cured and held in a frig below 40. With cure the rules change.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Clicky