picnic ham

[cajunsmoker]

We had pork shoulders on sale this week for .99 per pound. I was wanting to try curing a ham but decided I couldn't pass up this chance.

Here is my 8# Shoulder.



ready to inject with 1 1/2 cups of brine



Here's the brine cooking



and finally the brined shoulder ready to go in the fridge for the next 7 days




I got a little crazy with my brine. :roll: We like a real sweet sugar cured ham and we love to cook it with pineapple, sooooo, I added orange zest and pineapple juice to my brine along with some aromatic spices. Here is the brine recipe.

2 Gallons water
2 Cups Pickling salt
2 Cups Brown sugar
3 tsp Prague cure #1
12 oz Pineapple juice
2 TBSP Honey
1 TBSP Pickling spices
1 TBSP whole cloves
4 sticks Cinnamon
1 tsp Orange zest
1/4 tsp Allspice


Boil for 10 minutes, cool to 40 degrees, inject shoulder with 1 1/2 cups of brine

Don't know if it will be worth a flip, but it only cost $8.00 to try 8)

 

[up in smoke]

So if I leave Friday noonish and just cruise normal, hit my sleeping bag about 11:00 Friday night, I should be at your place around supper time Saturday, right?

BTW I like mashed sweet taters with my ham. :lol:

 

[cajunsmoker]

Come on down :P :!: By the way, I just picked up a 40# box of Oak Grove sweet taters a few days ago. Made some french frys last night. :D Man they were good.

 

[up in smoke]

I didâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]nt realize they could hold up to oil or do you bake emâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]? Donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t they get mushy? :roll:

 

[cajunsmoker]

fry them at 375 for just a couple of minutes. Soon as they start to brown get them out. They are great with just a sprinkle of brown sugar. :D

 

[vulcan75001]

Rodger
Looks good so far...anxious to see the end results..

Richard

 

[bwsmith_2000]

Roger,
The picnic looks great and I look forward to seeing the results. Also, as much as I like sweet potatoes, I don't know why I haven't french fried any so far. I'll fix that today. Thanks for the post.

 

[cajunsmoker]

I finally got off work and got my picnic out of the brine cure and here is where we stand.

Picnic just out of the rinses from the brine and ready to hit the smoker,



Here is the picnic after 3.5 hours at 133 degrees,




I'm headed to 160 degrees to get fully cooked to make a pineapple glazed picnic for Thanksgiving.

 

[up in smoke]

What flavoring wood are you using, Roger? Apple?

 

[cajunsmoker]

No, my wife requested cherry and pecan. I just pulled it off and foiled it at 160. Sliced a little bitty slice to see if it was too salty. Tasted pretty good hot.

 

[cajun_1]

Soooo ? What's the rest of the post? Was it good ? Did the family enjoy it ? Is there any left? What's the address ?

 

[vulcan75001]

Looks like it came out good Rodger...can almost taste it now...where might one find that prague cure #1? just might have to do a shoulder before the weather gets too bad around here..

Later
Richard

 

[cajunsmoker]

Hi guys,

Richard here's the link to Prague powder ,

http://www.sausagesource.com/catalog/4.html

Cajun_1, I just tasted a little bit and it was pretty good. We will finish cooking it with a pineapple glaze for Thanksgiving. If you can get here in time there will be plenty for all of us. :D

 

[vulcan75001]

Rodger
Thanks for the info...looks like there is a lot of interesting things to look at,at that site... thanks again...
Glad to hear the ham came out good....did you trim off any/all of the skin/fat from it after you brined it before smoking? The pineapple glaze will surely put it over the top...Hope you have a great Thanksgiving...

Later
Richard

 

[cajunsmoker]

Hey Richard,

No, I just smoked it like it was. The recipe says to remove the skin and leave the fat and bake it to 140 degrees fat side up in a roasting pan before glazing. I am trying to get the picnic to the state that the recipe calls for but control the salt and taste of the meat. I have bought smoked, fully cooked picnics before that were so salty that I could not eat them. If I were doing it over I would not put so much cloves in my brine. The ham tastes a little too much like cloves. However, the glaze calls for studding with cloves, so we are just going to skip that part. Basically the glaze is just brown sugar, honey, pineapple rings, cherries and cinnamon other than cloves.

I'll put a pic up on thanksgiving when it is done if the wife doesn't hide the camera from me :roll: .

Hope you guys have a great holiday!!