I Made a "daveomak" Ham Using a Picnic Shoulder, a Loin, & a Boneless Butt.

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thirdeye

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Dec 1, 2019
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After reading through THIS thread I had to give this technique a try, I'm a big fan of injecting for flavor, and have used injectable brines and cures with good success, so Dave's method for injecting a curing solution was right up my alley. I followed the recipe exactly and stayed very close to the technique. My results were fantastic. Here are the ingredients and the ratios I used:
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I mixed everything together in order using a shaker, and injected almost all of the mixture. The remainder was added to the curing bag. I did a daily overhaul
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The skin was removed and I did trim some loose tags of meat.

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I cured my ham for 11 days, rinsed and did a 2 hour soak out changing the water 3 times. I allowed 24 hours uncovered in the fridge to equalize and form the pellicle. On smoking day I got started early while the temps were in the low 50°s. I was able to keep my Big Chief in a warm smoke zone between 90° to 110° for 6.5 hours. Then I ramped up the temp to 140°, then to 160° over a couple of hours. Next I moved the ham into a 200° Big Green Egg to get the IT up to 165°.

Here is my initial set-up and ham going into the smoker at 5:00am I did bind the ham with some cooking twine to set the shape.
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Here is a view from the Ham-Cam 4 or 5 hours into the warm smoke.
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This is in the 200° Egg, The ham really plumped up as the internal temp rose, actually leaking juice in a couple of spots.
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When the IT was 155°, I covered the pan, and in 20 minutes the internal was up to temp.
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I rested again in the fridge for 20 hours, then took some sample slices from the shank end, and warmed up some more for breakfast a couple of hours later.
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:emoji_thumbsup: Here is what I liked: The technique really is "easy peasy", and a zipper bag takes up way less room than a plastic bucket. The salt level is mild, which is perfect for us. The vegetable stock truly adds and enhances the overall flavor (I never would have guessed that). The moistness was very noticeable, and the color, texture and tenderness are what a ham should be like. Just like Dave said in his post, I don't see any reason to adjust anything, although I might break my smoking into two days like I do on bacon. My impressions so far is that this ham tastes like it came from a specialty meat producer, it's defiantly not a mass produced "city ham" variety. Next time I need to find a picnic in the 8 to 9 pound range.
 
That looks great. I use this method for my hams when we butcher our pigs.

Great job.
 
That looks great. I use this method for my hams when we butcher our pigs.
Great job.
Nice. Looks delicious
Wow! I'm in love!
I've yet to do one, but after seeing a few of DaveOmak's hams I have already decided to use his method. His hams are always a thing of beauty. And so is YOURS!!
Fantastic job on that ham!!
Gary
Great post & amazing ham. Now you got all us thinking about it........
Looks great . They are really good .

Thanks for all the kind words. This technique is a perfect balance between moderate preparation and a high quality product. This picnic looks like a ham should, tastes like a hams should and bites like a ham should. It actually takes me back to bone-in hams I recall from the 70's.
 
Thanks for the report... Beautiful ham.... My feelings exactly.... That's why I posted my 'Test'... I couldn't believe the results... Sometimes you fall into a bucket of "#*&'s" and don't come up sucking your thumb....
Gotta find an acorn once in awhile....
 
Thanks for the report... Beautiful ham.... My feelings exactly.... That's why I posted my 'Test'... I couldn't believe the results... Sometimes you fall into a bucket of "#*&'s" and don't come up sucking your thumb....
Gotta find an acorn once in awhile....
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This morning I got into slices from the large end where the muscle groups have veins of fat separating them. Being thicker than the shank end, I think these slices were even moister.

Have you used this recipe on a butt? I'm guessing that an 8# to 9# butt could handle the full 14 or 15 days of curing time? I'm mainly curious because when I Buckboard butts, I remove the bone to make slicing easier.
 
If you inject every 1.5", 5 days is 'adequate' for the curing process... More time is a bonus... Flavors mingle and mature...
 
I was doing them from boned out pork butts , and have also used pork loin .
Then I started saving the biggest whole muscle piece from butts when I made sausage . These were around 3 to 4 pound hunks . I like the results of that , because they are leaner than doing a whole butt . However the whole butt works well also .
Couple small hams .
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I've done a pork loin.... BEST pork loin I've ever eaten....




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If you inject every 1.5", 5 days is 'adequate' for the curing process... More time is a bonus... Flavors mingle and mature...
Thanks, good to know. I froze the leftover vegetable broth in the original container so I will have to move on to Part 2.

I've done a pork loin.... BEST pork loin I've ever eaten....
As much as I like the similarity of Buckboarded loins to Canadian bacon, I bet you're right. I see Part 3 coming.

I was doing them from boned out pork butts , and have also used pork loin .
Then I started saving the biggest whole muscle piece from butts when I made sausage . These were around 3 to 4 pound hunks . I like the results of that , because they are leaner than doing a whole butt . However the whole butt works well also .
Couple small hams .
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Thanks for the photos, this is what I'm talking about..... And BTW, I cut-off the money muscle end of butts, and use the rest for sausage. Some butchers call them a Coppa roast.

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In case you're interested in getting some roll netting , I use 28 for the butts and 14 for loins .
 
In case you're interested in getting some roll netting , I use 28 for the butts and 14 for loins .

Thanks for that. Do you slip the netting on before the equalizing step or after? When is the best time to remove to avoid sticking?

A friend mentioned he has some of the 8" diameter, so that sounds like the 28. I do have a 1/4 elk bag but the diameter is more like 15" and it's more like cheese cloth than netting. My other option because I have 3 smokers with hanging racks is made quite a few different styles of stainless steel hangers, some single hooks and some double hooks, I should be able to hang the loins with no problem.

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. Do you slip the netting on before the equalizing step or after? When is the best time to remove to avoid sticking?
I put it on after the cure / hold in the fridge . Rinse and dry the surface the night before I smoke and hold another night in the fridge .
Take the net of as soon as I can post smoke . As the meat cools it will shrink around the netting .
I think the 28 is advertised at 10 " . I have used it on picnics that were larger than that . I use a pot to help out .
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I put it on after the cure / hold in the fridge . Rinse and dry the surface the night before I smoke and hold another night in the fridge .
Take the net of as soon as I can post smoke . As the meat cools it will shrink around the netting .
I think the 28 is advertised at 10 " . I have used it on picnics that were larger than that . I use a pot to help out .
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I helped prep some turkey breasts one year, we put them on a flexible cutting board and folded it into a U shape, then slipped them into the net.
 
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Netting goes on after the curing process.... The netting will hold the meat too tight to satisfactorily cure the meat.....
 
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Guys, I could not stand it..... I picked up a boneless butt and a center cut loin roast today so Part 2 and Part 3 of this experiment are now underway. My plan is to post updates in this thread.

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One interesting observation today was during the injection. My standard drill with butt and brisket injections is to shoot 2 ml amounts (my injector is metered), in a pattern, then drain the Camtray back into a glass wait about 15 minutes and inject again in 1 ml amounts. With regular broth based injections the meat might pick-up a little bit more. Using competition injections with phosphates, the pick-up is more noticeable. Today, I drained a full glass from the Camtray, and the butt picked up almost all of it. I repeated once more and had just a small amount left over.

Does the AmesPhos begin to work that quickly in grabbing liquid? Fab-B was an early injection developed by Joe Ames, but it contained flavor in addition to phosphates, I used it for a few years but don't recall this happening.
 
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