Pork for Ham

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BrianGSDTexoma

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Aug 1, 2018
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North Texas, Texoma
I usually just use pork butt to make ham. Think this would be better for more traditional?

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Agreed. Cannot speak as to which half is better but I'd probably to whole just because. Not sure if you've read up on whole hams but be sure to inject well around the bone. Jealous!
 
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Pierna means 'leg', so I wonder if they mean rear leg or front leg (picnic). It looks like a rear leg, and since they mention half or whole they must have some 'shank end' halves and 'butt' halves. Anyways, I'd go for that at that price. I did a daveomak picnic ham (front leg) and it was great.
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Whole Ham, cut in half, yields a Butt Portion, top of leg and the Shank Portion, lower leg with a portion of the Hock.
The Butt portion is meatier, with a single bone and resembles a half basket ball. Round with a flat cut side. The Shank portion, while tasty, has the knee joint, more bone and the tendons that control the foot and is mire triangular in shape. The Butt is best to get a lot of slices. The Shank still yields a good portion of slices, whike the joint and collagen rich Hock, is more desired for Soups!...JJ
 
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I would say that the ad shows the shank half of the rear leg on the right , and the butt portion of the rear leg on the left . I'd be all over that . Best texture for ham .
I just did 2 small hunks from pork cushion . Texture is about the same .
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I would probably be doing this for Christmas. Can you cure first than freeze? That way just need to thaw and smoke.
 
Yes you can Cure and freeze. Think commercial Corned Beef...JJ
 
I would say that the ad shows the shank half of the rear leg on the right , and the butt portion of the rear leg on the left . I'd be all over that . Best texture for ham .
I just did 2 small hunks from pork cushion . Texture is about the same .
View attachment 470625
Rich, that looks KILLER! Any pointers to how you broke down to get those hunks? GFS here carries cushion but have never tried it.
 
I agree, I'm not a fan of frozen Ham. There is not much that can be done with a Big hunk of meat. But, the key to frozen quality is...Fast Freezing. Place no more than 1 pound of Pulled Pork in a zip bag or Vac-seal. Flatten the meat as much as possible. Place the packs, in a single layer, on a previously frozen metal pan. Cast Iron is optimal. A Deep Freeze is a better choice than your Refer freezer.
Fast Freezing means smaller Ice Crystals forming. The slower the freeze, the larger the ice crystals and more damage to the meat...JJ
 
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