Homemade Smoked Ham! Yummy.

[MTboatguy]

Well figured some here like smoked meats, I believe we have had topics about this in the past, here is a couple of pictures of what I have been up to the last week.

I smoked up a couple of hams today, that started out as Pork Roasts that I bought at Costco a couple of weeks ago, made the brine up last weekend, consisted of bottled water, Pickling Salt, Pink Curing Salt and Brown Sugar. Fully injected with a meat injector and let soak in the brine for 5 days in the fridge, then put it in the smoker for about 6 hours. Let sit until completely cooled, put in the vacuum sealer and sealer it up. I will put these in the freezer and have them for Thanksgiving along with the wild turkey I plan on getting this week, which will also be smoked. One as you can see I smoke with apple wood chips and the second one was smoke with orange wood chips. They started out at a little over 2 and half pounds each which is the perfect size for just my wife and I. Lots better tasting than commercial hams and no bones!

 

[aspeck]

They look yummy!

 

[sphelps]

Reading the topic made me hungry ...
Looking at the picks made me REAL hungry !!
I guess we should all head to MTb 's house for Thanksgiving !

 

[nwcove]

MT......what is your brine recipe ( ratios), and at what temp did ya smoke at ? i may give that a try in my smoker!

 

[MTboatguy]

MT......what is your brine recipe ( ratios), and at what temp did ya smoke at ? i may give that a try in my smoker!

nwcove,

I only have a Little Chief Smoker and they run around 165-170 degrees, so the hams will have to be finished in the oven, but they absorb the smoking quite well the way I set them up and don't mind the oven finish on the day we eat them. I used 1 table spoon of pink curing salt, I cup pickling salt and 2 cups medium brown sugar, cured in the fridge for 5 days at about 35 degrees, I injected both of them before soaking in the brine solution. Take them out of the brine on the 5th day and rinse in cool water, let sit on a rack for about an hour to drip dry, or until the outside takes a tacky feel. I used smoker chunk wood that I picked up at the Big "C" store(banned store name) and smoked for 6 hours, I had to load my pans 3 times to keep the smoke rolling. When I loaded the pans the 3rd time, I also put a small layer of hickory chips on top of the chunk wood. I have done this for a couple of years now and with the oven finish, it works out quite well. I put a homemade glaze on them when we place in the oven and finish cooking them in a small oven bag.

Now of course if you have a hot smoker, you would be able to skip the oven finishing and just re-heat the day you serve them.

 

[nwcove]

thanks MT, now i just need to find some of that pink curing salt.....i have seen pink salt at a store that you have to be a member to buy stuff, but no mention of curing salt on the label....same stuff maybe?

 

[MTboatguy]

Most butchers will have curing salt and most will see small quantities, also, there are hundreds of listings on ebay for it, for a reasonable price, you don't need much to cure meat, this is one of those true, a little goes a long ways. Another alternative, I have used in the past is Morton's Tender Quick, you can get this at most grocery stores in the same isle that they have the salt products, it is about $5 for 2 pounds, in my recipe, if you used Morton's you would use a cup of Tender Quick instead of the table spoon of pink curing salt, they do the same exact thing. The pink curing salt and the Tender Quick is nitrates/nitrites which is what actually cures the meat. Of course the salt and brown sugar add the flavoring to the meat. So what you are doing, is curing and flavoring the meat at the same time. If you want you can sub honey for the brown sugar, then you will have honey cured ham. Like I said, I buy the roasts at Costco in a 4 pack, they are already well trimmed and work out great for this. It makes a heck of a great tasting cured ham. Oh and my injectors, I buy at our local dollar store for a buck a piece, they are the same thing as the Expensive Cajun injectors that are sold at Wal Mart, and sporting goods store, I normally pick up a half dozen of them when they have them in stock. When injecting, I start at one edge of the meat and run a line with the injector about 1/2 apart, then repeat another line 1/2 inch over, until I have covered the hole roast with injector lines. When you brine your meat make sure it stays completely covered the whole time it is in the solution, if it wants to float, put a plate on top of it, and make sure and cover the pan with the lid, don't use aluminum, make sure it is glass or stainless.

 

[nwcove]

sounds like a plan! have been smoking so much fish and cheese lately its time for a change of menu! lol