HAM.... easy peasy... no mess.... DISCLAIMER.. MONEY...

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daveomak

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Nov 12, 2010
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Omak,Washington,U.S.A.
HAM 006.JPG


I've been injecting hams to cure for some time... decided I needed a needle to get to all parts from one side... No flipping, no turning, here it its.... 5" , #14 gauge blunt/sharpened needle..
1 needle.JPG

Found this picnic at w-m that has NOT been injected...
The paper towel is sprayed with vinegar... I'm sanitizing the
outside of the vac-packed leg so I can inject through the
plastic....
2 bag sanitize.JPG

Roughly a 10#, 4540 gram leg....
For a 10% injection, I'm using ~450 grams of vegetable stock.....
6-12-18 Picnic Ham 009.JPG

18 grams of STPP, Ames company variety....
nepas suggested using this when he made sticks...
2 STPP by Ames.JPG

45 grams of white sugar......

90 grams of pickling salt......
6-12-18 Picnic Ham 010.JPG

11 grams of cure#1......
2  cure#1 1.JPG

Add the ingredients to the soup stock one at a time...
Thoroughly mix to dissolve each....
......IMPORTANT.......
Mix in the order listed....
1.... STPP
2.... sugar
3.... salt
4.... Cure#1

Placed the picnic on a tray and inject from one side only and near the
high side of the leg... Soooooo, when you put it in the refer, on the tray,
the holes, from injecting, will be up... Now insert the needle deep but do not penetrate
the opposite side of the bag... inject about 10-15 mls... (every 1 to 1.5"..edit) pull the needle out to about 1/3rd depth of the leg and inject another 10-15 mls.... refill the syringe... insert back into that hole... inject a different direction... same deal... NOW, when you find the leg bone, inject below, down the other side and inject below.. relocate the needle to a different position and inject again... repeat.... keep moving the needle to locate a new section to inject UNTIL you feel the entire leg has curing liquid in all parts.... You might be able to inject the entire leg by making as few as 4-5 holes in the bag....
.....IMPORTANT....... once you mix up the curing brine/marinade...... ALL of it must be injected to get the proper cure, salt and sugar into the meat.....
Leave the plastic wrapped leg, holes up on the tray... In the refer for 6 days minimum to 2 weeks... make sure your fridge temp is 34-38 deg. F..... USE A THERMOMETER ....

One note.... I found leaving the ham in the vac-bag.... It is tightly wrapped and sort of a PITA to get the liquid from the syringe into the meat... I think it's worth the effort so as to not have to re-bag, or put the ham in a bucket and waste salt, sugar, cure, not to mention the time...
45 minutes from the time I got home from the store, the prepped picnic was in the refer on a tray...
Others have used this method and found the ham to be of a very good quality....
I have found them to be MUCH better than store bought...
May I suggest you follow this method exactly... try it once... then on #2, #3, #4 etc... mess with the flavor profile... if you think it's necessary... This is my ONLY recipe I have not adjusted... I don't know what would make it any better.. the no-salt vegetable stock adds incredible flavor... many replies I have received note... their families have said it's the best ham they every tasted... take that for what it's worth...
See y'all later.....

This will work for loin ham, butt ham, any type of meat.... I use a modified version on turkey and chicken...

Dave
 
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Others have used this method and found the ham to be of a very good quality....
I have found them to be MUCH better than store bought...

Been waiting to see if you were gonna do another one , to see if you changed anything . I agree , no reason to .
Got the itch myself . I'll be watching .
 
I had been looking for new long needles for awhile. Finally to get the needle I wanted I had to swap to a much smaller syringe. I don't compromise well and I knew what I wanted. Well even the vet supply store said they couldn't get 'em. I always got 'em form any feed and seed but now they only have short needles.

IMG_8936 (1).JPG

Above on the left is an 80ML syringe with a 16 gauge needle on the left and a 20ML syringe with a 16 gauge needle on the right.

IMG_8934 (1).JPG

The left is what I had been using, the Right is best I could find. The middle is those "injector needles" with side holes which I find totally useless.

What started my quest was wanting wanting a larger longer needle of a smaller gauge, that just wasn't gonna happen. So now I will have less plugged needles, but I will have to reload it 4 times more often. Do they make a 80ML in a 14 gauge, not that any vet or supply or warehouse I talked to could find. I guess they figured its too much medicine too fast.

I have numerous other fancy injectors but I still like the standard old syringe best, now were I needing to inject 20 or 50 hams there are much better rigs.

Back to you Dave, just thought I would throw that out there since I had been trying since last year and finally just bought what they had.
 
I never thought of keeping in the cryo bag. Should work great.

I have alot of ham left from my pig. I have 3 more growing for this fall.

If you were to add something for flavor what would it be? Maybe garlic?
 
Sharpened on a fine wheel and the pointed tip bent over about 1/2 the diameter to prevent the tube from plugging...
The 14 gauge is fairly small BUT.... I didn't want a big hole in the meat for the injection to run out... OH WELL !! it runs out a bit but not too bad...

6-12-18 Picnic Ham 016.JPG
 
Amazon.... for the needle...
Dave, I have been using your process on pork sirloin roasts from Costco. They come in a pack of four, each about a kilo. They have been injected with some fluids which make getting ten percent of the weight injected a bit difficult but I add the small excess in the bag which I seal and most if not all is taken up while curing usually for 4/5 days. They are moist and don't last very long when children and grandchildren raid the fridge.
 
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The moistness is incredible... I think the STPP and veggie stock do something special to the meat...

Glad you enjoy the recipe...
Dave
 
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The moistness is incredible... I think the STPP and veggie stock do something special to the meat...

Glad you enjoy the recipe...
Dave
I know the veggie stock does. I did one have with and one without. Big taste different
 
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HOLD ON FRIENDS ...
The vac bag doesn't work to my satisfaction... I realized I could not rotate the vac-bag due to the holes... I couldn't "over-bag" it because the entire bag had not been "sterilized" with vinegar....
SOOOOOOOO, I rebagged in a 2 1/2 gallon zip bag so I could rotate it....
I thought the vac-bag idea was soooo coooool, I didn't think it through...
 
HOLD ON FRIENDS ...
The vac bag doesn't work to my satisfaction... I realized I could not rotate the vac-bag due to the holes... I couldn't "over-bag" it because the entire bag had not been "sterilized" with vinegar....
SOOOOOOOO, I rebagged in a 2 1/2 gallon zip bag so I could rotate it....
I thought the vac-bag idea was soooo coooool, I didn't think it through...


LOL---I didn't think of that either, until you mentioned it.
Oh Well---Had me going.
Still gonna be another Great Ham!!

Bear
 
Got 3 hogs raising at my brothers. One of them is mine, but he wants me to do all the curing and smoking for all 3. I need to up my game, and Dave I think your method is going to be put to use!
 
Got 3 hogs raising at my brothers. One of them is mine, but he wants me to do all the curing and smoking for all 3. I need to up my game, and Dave I think your method is going to be put to use!


Do it. I used his method for my big hams. Cured for 2 weeks.
 
It's been 10 days.. Plenty of time with a properly injected hunk of meat... Checked the ham temperature... Perfect... Centered the stockinette in a colander, for loading...

ham temp 001.JPG .. ham 001.JPG

..Tied it off to the board on the top shelf support... Pellicle formation...
ham 006.JPG ... ham 002.JPG

..Made up 2.4#'s of dust....
ham 003.JPG .. ham 005.JPG

High's around 90... lows around 60.... Thunder showers today and tomorrow....
I'll play this smoke by ear... maybe 2 days on and off... I really don't know.... I'll check with Foamy... He knows....

FOAMY !!!! help me out here.... What you think ???? 2 days... 6-8 a day if the color is good ?? Two rows in the AMNPS "SHOULD" be about 7--8 hours EH ???
 
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