smoking hams from hog #4

[speed bump]

   Hi all! It's 31* and sleeting up here in Maine. I joined a bit ago to thank you all for the wealth of info here on the forums.

    I've been working my way .through 8 hogs as they grow- 1st 2 were  just over 100#- maybe up to 150# now.

   On the 1st set FQ Hams (as cut) were 2-3# after trimming on the Boston Butts and picnics, HQ running about 8-9# but I divided in thirds for rub or brine and to smoke, so 2# to 5# (depending how I determined to cut at that particular moment).

   Now with hog 4 the 2 HQ together weighed about 24.4# (after being boned) and since I don't have an injector (yet) I decided to bone them. Ended up with 8 pieces per side so maybe 1 1/2 # apiece (yeah, real small..) FQ I did the standard BB and picnic cut, pieces were 4-5 # each. I smoked the little guys by themselves- don't remember exactly how many shelves in the MES40- but it was a pile of meat. I ran the figures and it worked out that I lose about 1/3 of the weight between the brining and the smoking.

   The BBs and picnics just went in at 2:30p today (1/24). I'm running at 220* and expecting it to take 6-8 hours, using apple and maple 50/50 hot smoke to a planned 160*.

   So- I've been keeping my data of times and temps- weights etc and I do have continuing questions as to the dynamics here. Like, clearly, if it's little pieces and not too many, things go fast and you can overshoot if you don't keep the initial temp low. OTOH, multiple large pieces seem to tax the smoker and slow everything down more (I think) than hams of the same weight if there were only 1 or 2.

   I did not know if perchance the forums somewhere had charts of weight vs time vs temp? I haven't found it yet, I imagine 'it depends..'

   While I was getting things ready and waiting out the worst of the storm (don't want to lose the power mid-smoke), I took one of the smaller boneless HQ ham chunks and threw it in with some of the dried black turtle beans I harvested, seasoned em up, cooked em- and now I'm thoroughly enjoying warming up with that. The hams had turned out a little dark from the smoking but MMmm OK grilled and VERY nice simmered in beans.

   I'm sorry I haven't caught up to the techno of posting pix just yet- maybe soon.

   I think it's going to get old to be dependent on electricity for this process (but boy is it cushy- dial it in and off you go..) I do have a Woodstone pizza oven (6' diameter) and if I work at it I guess I could figure out how to formally run it for smoking. Maybe not at 31* tho.

   Hope it's warmer where you are.. lw

 

[lamar]

Welcome to the forum speed bump. Where in Maine are you? It's sleeting here in Bridgton too. We have 4" so far and it's still falling.

Looks like a real interesting and work consuming project going. Hope it all goes well with it.
Good luck.

 

[ab canuck]

Hello speed bump, and welcome to SMF. Sounds like you have a lot going on and enjoying things at the same time. Way to go, Keep cruising the forums and sharing your exp. And post lots of pics. Would like to see your end products. Charlie

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!

Glad to have you with us!

Al

 

[daveomak]

SB, morning....   I think your question has to do with #'s of meat and time in the smoker...   The meat volume/weight sucks up the BTU's...  nothing you can do about that....    That's the reason, when folks ask for a time indicator for smoking certain hunks of meat, the response is "cook by internal temperature".....

 Sounds like you are smoking hunks of pig for ham..   Great idea...   not much point in smoking a 15# ham only to cut it up into 3# hunks to vac pack and freeze....    smaller hunks of meat, in the smoker, will take on more smoke, cook in less time, the individual hunks can be flavored differently than their neighboring hunk of meat, for variety...

For the "food safety" in me, I hope you are using cure #1 in your seasoning mix...  

For the future pigs, and your smoker, I have developed a technique that mirrors commercial ham producers for making hams at home....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/236375/ham-from-fresh-picnics-update-10-21-money

 

[speed bump]

I'm down in Hollis (York County). We got a bit of the sleet- was it Monday or Tuesday? Some rain, then a sunny day, good snow melt. Colder today and now the wind is howling and it looks like it'll be progressively colder for days (Just when I was geting all happy about the thaw). Anyone tapping any maple trees up your way?

   The hams came out OK by appearance. I chilled em down O/N then packaged and into the fridge. I'll try one soon. Just got done making the batch of scrapple from this hog and the lard has been rendered.

   I did graph the results. It plateaued at 5 hours and I ran til 6, inched it up to 159*. Given that my results are darker than I want, I may try less smoke and/or a lower final temp. That stuff smells so fantastic while it's smoking..

 

[speed bump]

Thanks DaveOmak- lots of information. I've tried brining and rubs with and without tenderquik. I guess I will get around to ordering some of the pink salt I've read about- different names in different source material.

   I didn't like the TQ because it told you the % of the nitrite/nitrate(0.5/0.5) but didn't really fill you in on the others- salt and sugar and tho it listed propylene glycol it didn't tell you how much there was of that in the mix either. The consistency is fluffy and weird. I like to know what I'm using and I'm not sure why the propylene glycol would be in there. MAY be to equalize moisture or to increase penetration. I'd like to see more about it. I checked the MSDS but it didn't tell me anything more than the label did.

   I had read in earlier searches of the forum that people don't want you to make your own TQ. Looking at the ingredients I can see why..lw