why remove the aitch bone?

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seadog92

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Sep 13, 2013
122
24
Why do folks say to remove the aitch bone before salting a ham for curing?

Paul
 
Well, here's a question...

What the hell is the aitch bone?  
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Bill
 
Thanks for the reply. I'll check out Pop's Qview.
 
That's why god blessed us with the invention of the meat injector. Inject cure solution/brine all around and in the aitch bone. Pops has a post that has very good pictures how todo this, post is called from hog leg to Easter ham. I have done several hams now following pops recipie and they turn out amazing.
 
Right Piggly, but I don't want to brine the ham, I want to dry cure it.  Helping prevent bone sour is a good enough reason for me to figure out how to do it.
 
There are 4 bones in a ham:


The top bones are the hock bones, center bone is the femur bone, and the bottom bone is the aitch, or pelvic, bone.

The bone to the right of the top of the femur bone is the sirloin tip (or kneecap) bone.

When dry curing a ham, you want the curing compound to get to the middle of the ham in sufficient time to cure the meat before it can spoil, or turn sour.  What little meat on top of the aitch bone is not enough to worry about, and the bone itself is much slower to cure than the meat underneath it into the center of the ham, so removing the aitch bone allows the cure to go much quicker into the center of the meat before it spoils.
 
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Well, here's a question...

What the hell is the aitch bone?  
30.gif


Bill
It's known as the pubic symphysis, during human childbirth, it "splits apart", allowing the fetus to bare and present itself.  And sometimes it doesn't come together completely following the process which explains why the mother's hips just don't quite look the same.

Former chiro here.

Best,

-T
 
 
It's known as the pubic symphysis, during human childbirth, it "splits apart", allowing the fetus to bare and present itself.  And sometimes it doesn't come together completely following the process which explains why the mother's hips just don't quite look the same.

Former chiro here.

Best,

-T
why is that in my ham? ewwwwww
 
My
 
why is that in my ham? ewwwwww
My intent is to educate.  And sometimes certain information can be offensive to some.  I'm a former educator and have taught Health Science at the communtiy college level for several years.  And public health can involve pubic health as it were.  Sometimes in this business one has to possess thick skin.   I'm here to learn and to offer good information concerning chemistry and anatomy and sometimes it'll involve analogies with the human body.
 
 
My

My intent is to educate.  And sometimes certain information can be offensive to some.  I'm a former educator and have taught Health Science at the communtiy college level for several years.  And public health can involve pubic health as it were.  Sometimes in this business one has to possess thick skin.   I'm here to learn and to offer good information concerning chemistry and anatomy and sometimes it'll involve analogies with the human body.
just kidding. was a joke. hahaha....so not offended.
 
I currently have 2 hams curing. I did not remove the aitch bone. I cured hams in the past without doing so and I do wonder if the hams in cure now

will survive. They started at 23 pounds each and now are down to 18 pounds. The aroma is very good and very little mold. I put them in cure on December 27

and removed them to the smoker on February 22. So far.......all the other hams that went through the same process still had the aitch bone. Removing the bone

before curing will make slicing later easier.

The wife wants to cook a brisket in the crock pot this weekend. I'm trying to talk her out of that.
 
I don't remove the aitch when I dry cure a ham but I do choose the ones I cure very carefully - nice plump muscle bellies with no pockets around them. Make sure you liberally apply around the area of the aitch. I just realized that when I finish the ham I'm currently eating I only have one left 
th_crybaby2.gif
 
 
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