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Hi Dave, I'm trying your recipe for the first time and working with the shank end of a 5.5 pound shoulder picnic, and have a few questions. I'm on day 4 in the cure.

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1. I was able to inject all but about 1/4 cup of the injection, which I added to the bag the picnic has re-absorbed some of that excess, but should I expect it to absorb all of it?

2. Your recommended curing time was 6 to 14 days..... Would 9 or 10 days work for the 5.5 # weight I'm working with?

3. I see some are using netting while smoking. About the closest thing I have are some big game 1/4 bags, the cheese cloth style. Does the netting stick to the meat? Is netting mandatory if not I have custom make hanging hooks I can use, maybe using some cooking twine to sort of shape the roast.
 
A 5.5# leg roast should have used, 5.5 X 454 = ~2500 grams at 10% = 250 cc's of injection fluid... which is about 1 cup of liquid you needed to inject... Considering the amount of bone in that leg, perhaps mixing all of the needed ingredients into a 5% injection brine would have been a better choice... "How would you have known that ????" You wouldn't have.. My mistake not addressing the "bone volume" when doing an injection and also the bone weight when weighing out the needed ingredients...... estimating the weight of the bone, at say 20% the weight of the leg you could have used 20% less injection liquid and 20% less of the ingredients....
NO WORRIES.... even 25% variation of the ingredients keeps you in the "acceptable and safe" range for curing that "gonna be delicious" leg...
The liquid in the bag, probably will NOT absorb all of the liquid due to the bone...
After eating that glorious beasts leg, weigh the bones and let us all know what's what...
If that's a pork shank, the bone could be upwards of 50% the weight... If you like the results, the bone weight will give you some direction for the next one... and us also... Shanks are great eating.... great flavor... they do a lot of work... that makes for great flavor.... Don't I know it !!!!!!!
 
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OH ????? Time.... 5 days should be fine if you injected every 1.5"... in all directions..
 
A 5.5# leg roast should have used, 5.5 X 454 = ~2500 grams at 10% = 250 cc's of injection fluid... which is about 1 cup of liquid you needed to inject... Considering the amount of bone in that leg, perhaps mixing all of the needed ingredients into a 5% injection brine would have been a better choice... "How would you have known that ????" You wouldn't have.. My mistake not addressing the "bone volume" when doing an injection and also the bone weight when weighing out the needed ingredients...... estimating the weight of the bone, at say 20% the weight of the leg you could have used 20% less injection liquid and 20% less of the ingredients....
NO WORRIES.... even 25% variation of the ingredients keeps you in the "acceptable and safe" range for curing that "gonna be delicious" leg...
The liquid in the bag, probably will NOT absorb all of the liquid due to the bone...
After eating that glorious beasts leg, weigh the bones and let us all know what's what...
If that's a pork shank, the bone could be upwards of 50% the weight... If you like the results, the bone weight will give you some direction for the next one... and us also... Shanks are great eating.... great flavor... they do a lot of work... that makes for great flavor.... Don't I know it !!!!!!!
The bone weight did cross my mind because I make Buckboarded pork chops (3/4" thick) using Tender Quick in a 48 hour dry cure, and I do adjust for the bone. However, with so many positive reviews and thumbs-up on this recipe, I figured hundreds have tried this without the bone weight deduction, and I always try a recipe "as-is" the first time.

The reason the weight is light is that my Walmart has 2 options for shoulder picnics and they don't sell an 8 pound roast. Some roasts favor the shank end, and others favor the butt end (but of course have the shank removed). But this will work for a test run.

Not only did I do the manual calculation, I also downloaded the spreadsheet from a satisfied poster in one of the posts. We are on the same page with 252 grams of stock + the salt, both sugars, and Cure #1. I mix mine up in a shaker which works well.

Yes, I followed the 1.5" maximum injection pattern. My injector is adjustable and it meters the amount per pull on the handle. Nice for something like this as I can draw the needle back out and pump a measured amount at various depths.

I will save and weigh those bones, although cooked weight might be a tick less than green weight.

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OH ????? Time.... 5 days should be fine if you injected every 1.5"... in all directions..

The 5 days won't quite work on my time table as I want to hot finish a pastrami at the same time after a couple of cold smoke cycles on the ham.... but at least I have more latitude with my timetable.

Any insights on using netting? I have bags for elk quarters, 80" long and 18" in diameter, but they stretch. I can still hook and tie as needed and skip that step.
 
I use this method to cure whole hams. 20+ lbs. I havent used netting yet. Cant find any big enough. I use a hook and hang them.
 
I use this method to cure whole hams. 20+ lbs. I havent used netting yet. Cant find any big enough. I use a hook and hang them.

That's good to hear. I hang a lot of items, most of which need only one hook (if you're trusting)..... but I made some double hooks for special things. I have a sneaking suspicion if I like curing my own hams, a special hook is easy enough to figure out.

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ImnLchM.jpg
 
Netting.... Yes I have insight..... From MY experience, do NOT put on netting prior to completing the injection/curing process... I think the meat needs to be "relaxed" when injected or dry cured for that matter.... relaxed meat allows for the movement of spices, cures, herbs etc.. Meat under compression, not so much.... At least that was what I found doing many loins.... It's in one of my threads... I made reference to it somewhere in there....
Netted AFTER curing, and during smoking and cooking...... may keep the meat moist, while using STPP etc. due to it's water binding properties... That I'm not sure of... Just a SWAG ....

Longer than 5 days if fine... I think it improves flavor going longer than 5 days... 14-20 would be good if you have the room and good temps in your refer....
 
A 5.5# leg roast should have used, 5.5 X 454 = ~2500 grams at 10% = 250 cc's of injection fluid... which is about 1 cup of liquid you needed to inject... Considering the amount of bone in that leg, perhaps mixing all of the needed ingredients into a 5% injection brine would have been a better choice... "How would you have known that ????" You wouldn't have.. My mistake not addressing the "bone volume" when doing an injection and also the bone weight when weighing out the needed ingredients...... estimating the weight of the bone, at say 20% the weight of the leg you could have used 20% less injection liquid and 20% less of the ingredients....
NO WORRIES.... even 25% variation of the ingredients keeps you in the "acceptable and safe" range for curing that "gonna be delicious" leg...
The liquid in the bag, probably will NOT absorb all of the liquid due to the bone...
After eating that glorious beasts leg, weigh the bones and let us all know what's what...
If that's a pork shank, the bone could be upwards of 50% the weight... If you like the results, the bone weight will give you some direction for the next one... and us also.
.. Shanks are great eating.... great flavor... they do a lot of work... that makes for great flavor.... Don't I know it !!!!!!!

Bone weight was 1 lb 3 ounces. To refresh our memory, this is likely the best photo of my ham. It was a 5.5# (lower) picnic roast which favored the shank end. The other option was an upper picnic which was more squared up in shape since the shank was removed. Why they don't sell a normal 8# to 9# full picnic is beyond me, but they were in the cryo, so they came like this from the producer.
OYzNgkb.jpg

To put it into perspective, looking at a whole picnic, mine was basically to the left of the yellow line. Can we guesstimate that a full picnic would have 1 lb 7 ounces of bone weight?
5AYD8jr.jpg
 
Thanks for weighing the bone...

5.5 + 1.3 = 6.8#'s... 1.3/6.8= 19.1% .......

Let's just figure 20% for bone....
 
what size netting did you use ??
I use #28 for hams . I think that it the largest they have . I used a 10 " pot to help get it on the ham .
I believe the number size goes by how many squares are around the diameter .
 
I'm confused... I would think you would subtract the weight of the bone from the green weight ??

Yep... You are correct.... My head must have been somewhere I couldn't see the sun shine...
1.3/5.5 x 100 = 24% bone weight.....

unless I thought the bone had been removed.. I have no idea why I did that....

..
 
OK Dave ... I'm ready to tackle this tomorrow.. I have all the ingredients except canning/pickling salt... I do have Kosher sea salt and kosher salt... which one would be best for a substitute ?? I have a 8.38 lb whole picnic .. Nowhere does it say it's been enhanced already... all natural ... I was looking for a calculator or something to determine how much of each ingredient to use ?? Can you help me out here with the proper amounts of each ???

Thanks
 
OK Dave ... I'm ready to tackle this tomorrow.. I have all the ingredients except canning/pickling salt... I do have Kosher sea salt and kosher salt... which one would be best for a substitute ?? I have a 8.38 lb whole picnic .. Nowhere does it say it's been enhanced already... all natural ... I was looking for a calculator or something to determine how much of each ingredient to use ?? Can you help me out here with the proper amounts of each ???

Thanks

Its will be the best ham you ever had. Trust me
 
Adam... I'm gonna be taking it to the Gathering in a few weeks... I always do a maple bourbon ham (store bought) to put in towards Fri. nights dinner... Since the wife bought a picnic and not knowing what to do with it... Told her I would cure it and use it for the Gathering ...
 
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