I ordered a 10 - 12 pound fresh ham, butt end. I'm planning to cure it for Easter. It came in yesterday, but when I arrived at the store, they had a whole fresh ham weighing 22.5 pounds. They said they could separate the butt from the shank end, but it would be about one hour before they could get to it. At $2.00 per pound, I decided to take the whole ham.
I'm going to cure at least the butt end, but I'm now thinking of deboning it, and curing the whole ham. I use to know how to separate a whole ham, but for this one - it appears if I do separate it the two parts will be oddly shaped. There is almost no part of the hock left on the shank end. I couldn't find any videos, or written instructions on how to separate a whole fresh ham into it two parts. My goal is to separate this ham into the butt and shank ends. Cure the butt end, and use the shank for a fresh smoked ham. If anyone knows of a video or written instructions on how to separate this whole ham, I would appreciate if you could post a link.
I'll make my decision by Sunday on which way I will go with this. I'll keep everyone updated.
Will these help?
How to Debone a Ham, part 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iyY7ES8TjM)
How to Debone a Ham, part 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulL-Dqcuwqg)
Debone and trim whole ham for salting and smoking (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdl96c0VK9w)
Thanks for the links.
The first link; that is how the two proportions will be like, if I separate the butt from the shank, because the hock was almost completely removed. I'll end up with a shank portion way to small. That may leave me with a butt end too large to hang in the P10. Once I take the ham out of the cryovac I'll have a better idea of what it will look like, if I separate the two parts at the joint.
If I decide to debone it, the last link you provided is very helpful. It provides much more details in trimming than other videos I've found out there. Also there are trimming tips I will be using even if I don't debone the ham.
Thanks.
I got caught up in a few projects, so I didn't get to cure the ham until the 21st. According to a Tuffy Stone (BBQ Champion and trained French Culinary Chef) rib video, the pork industry guarantees it's bone-in product for 21 days after harvest. When I picked up the ham, the butcher told me the pack date was the 3rd (the pack date and harvest date is usually the same). When I opened the cryovac, I was relieved that the pork smelt fresh. I was going to take pictures, but my phone was charging, and the battery in the camera also needed to be charged. I do have PhotoBucket (again), they sent me an offer of $3/month; so I'll try them again – at least for a while. I will probably post some pictures later.
Once I got a good look at the unpackaged ham, I decided to debone it; removing the aitch bone, femur bone, and what was left of the shank. The starting weight was 22.5 pounds, The debone ham that is going into the smoker was 10 pounds 14 ounces (precured). One of the reasons the end weight was that low, was because I decided to remove the sirloin roast tip, and smoke that later as fresh boneless roast. The weight of the roast is 2lbs. 14oz., the shank is1lb. 4oz, which is good enough for an Osso Buco. There is also 1lb 3oz. of scrape meat that can be used for stir fry, and/or ground pork.
I used the below video as a guide to debone, and remove the sirloin roast. The butchering of the ham begins at 21:12 minute mark. The removal of the sirloin tip roast begins at around the 22:00 minute mark.
How to Butcher a Pig | Step by Step by the Bearded Butchers! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taHGVdmmyWo&t=1137s)
I also used one of the videos that TedEBear provided. This was helpful in not only deboning, but for trimming; especially the tendons.
Debone and trim whole ham for salting and smoking (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdl96c0VK9w)
I generally will save the fat and render that into lard, and try to make crackling out of the skin, but this year I don't have the time, so those parts were discarded.
For curing I am basically using the method I always use. Though I doubled the amount of garlic, left the bouquet garni in the brine during curing, and left about 1/4 inch of fat on the ham. Because it is boneless, I may reduce the brining time. One other thing; I now use 2 quarts of water in the first step of the curing process.
Here is my brining recipe. When I find my original post I'll include that:
Ham Cure Brine (https://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=31507.msg370787#msg370787)
More to come.
Looking forward to it!
It's been curing for about 5 days. I may take it out of the brine tomorrow. I'm hoping the weather holds up, but I do have popup tent I can setup if needed.
I'm smoking the 2lb. 14oz sirloin tip as I'm writing this. That should be done within the hour.
I took the ham out of the curing brine this morning. Again, I forgot to take pictures, until I got the ham into the netting. To get the boneless ham into the netting I had to tie it in two places, to get it to keep its shape. Once it was in the netting, I gave some thought to taking the netting off, to take a few pictures, but quickly came to my senses. ;D
Prior to injecting, and brining - the weight of the ham was 10 lbs. 14 oz, and 11 lbs.7 oz after being injected. After being removed from the brine it was an even 13 lbs. A little more trimming prior to placing it into the netting, the weight was 12 lbs. 13 5/8 oz. After netting, the weight was 12 lbs. 13 ½ oz. The further loss of weight is due to some brine being squeezed out of the ham as the netting was tightened.
The ham was then placed in the refrigerator at 10 AM, uncovered. I will leave it uncover for at least overnight. This period gives the cure time to equally distribute throughout the ham, and to develop a pellicle. This overnight stay in the refrigerator should also cut down, or maybe eliminate the drying time.
My plan was to smoke it tomorrow, but the weather is not cooperating. I tweaked my back a little, so I was not able to setup the popup. The new plan is to check the ham tomorrow morning. If the pellicle has developed well enough, then I will wrap it in plastic, followed by some foil, and smoke it Sunday when the weather clears up.
Planned Smoke/Cook Schedule:
? hours air drying at ~ 110°F (enough time to fully develop the pellicle).
4 hours applying pecan smoke at ~ 130°F.
3 - 5 hours at ~ 200°F to bring ham up to 145°F.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/(edited)_IMG_0338.png?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds)
Bottom End
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/IMG_0339_8sKLSAuVXkJtNQhJJPLBnC.JPG?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds)
Top End
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/IMG_0340.JPG?width=320&height=320&fit=bounds)
Side View
Looking good, very professional! :) Also looking forward to seeing the finished product, hope it all goes to plan. ;D
I'm hoping also. ;D
The rain that was suppose to begin at 11AM hasn't started. The current forecast is for it to start after 7PM. I'm still looking at smoking it on Sunday. The pellicle on the ham is just beginning to develop. I'm going to leave it uncovered, and check it Saturday morning.
I haven't forgotten this post. I've been tied up with preparing for the Easter Dinner that I'm hosting. I'll post the results after Easter.
Happy Easter to all. :)
Hope the dinner you are hosting goes well Habs, looking forward to seeing how the ham works out. ;D
Happy Belated Easter to you also.
The dinner was a little hectic, and I was running about an hour late - but all went fairly well; and everyone enjoyed themselves.
I also cooked a prime rib on one of my charcoal cookers. Miscalculated the cook time on that. It took an hour longer to cook than expected. So I didn't have time to take a money shot of the ham. The ham turned out very good, and everyone was asking where did I purchase it from. I often complain about the stronger smoke the P10 produces, but this ham had a great smoke flavor.
I should be able to post the smoke/cook of the ham on Wednesday.
Sounds like you did have a hectic Easter. 8)
Our weather was generally very poor over the Easter break so no outdoor anything in the way of cooking on this side of the pond, did do a low and slow whole leg of lamb in the oven but that was about it. :(
Look forward to the update on the ham :P
I did two smaller hams for a belated Easter dinner this coming saturday. I used Habs recipe for cured ham, it's always turned out great.
(https://i.postimg.cc/dV3FYr06/P1010743.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
Wow they look really good :)
Made some Pea and Ham soup yesterday, suspect some of your ham shredded would work a treat in this recipe rather than the shop bought ham hock I used. ::)
Wow!
Those look great. I wish mine came out that good. ;D It's looking like I won't get my post out until tomorrow.
This year I did make slight modifications in my recipe, and I believe it made an improvement in the flavor. I'll include those modifications in my post.
Great looking ham. You guys have got me thinking of doing this again!
I hope this posting is not too long. I'll post the glazing and reheating method I used in another post.
I used my P10 for this smoke/cook. The ham could have been easily placed directly on the rack, it also would have fit on the other Bradley models rack. I decided to hang it, because that was the only way the netting kept the deboned ham uniformly shaped. If this was a bone in ham, I would have just placed it on the rack.
Below is a link that shows how to easily stuff the ham into the netting.
Stuffing Ham Into Netting (https://www.meatsandsausages.com/hams-other-meats/hams)
Sroll to the bottom of the page.
Around 7AM, I jerry rigged a system to hang the ham.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Ham_Hanging_Rigg.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
This is the equipment I used; 36″ Ham Bag Stockinette, Stainless Steel Stockinette Hook (both I had purchased from SausageMaker), rebar, scrap lumber. Missing from picture are two silicone trivets. The rebar was scrubbed clean and wrapped in aluminum foil. At the last minute I had to go to my scrap wood
pile and dig out a 2x4. It was pretreated lumber and dirty, so I cleaned it the best I could and wrapped them in foil. The other scraps of wood are 1x4's.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Hanging_Ham.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
After removing the vent damper, I placed the netted ham on a Bradley smoker rack, and place it in a position so that I could work the hook through the vent, and to be able to insert the rebar. Once the hook was secured on the rebar and netting, I removed the tray to allow the ham to hang. At this point the rebar was just resting on the trivets.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Hanger_Rigg-1A.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
The ham was hanging to close to the heating elements, so it needed to be raised.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Hanger_Rigg-2.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Hanger_Rigg-2A.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
Using the scrap wood to raise the ham. This raised the ham by 3.75 inches.
The 40 hours of air drying in the refrigerator did not fully develop the pellicle. I needed to air dry the ham for a period. I preheated the Bradley to 110°F, and placed the ham in the smoker, at 8:15AM. The ambient temperature was 34°F, with a steady breeze of around 10 - 15 miles per hour. The internal temperature of the ham was 38°F, and the weight was 12 lbs. 5 oz.
After 2 hours of air drying (10:15AM), I began to apply 4 hours of smoke, at 130°F. Although I feel that the P10 produces a stronger smoke flavor, I decided to still go with four hours of smoke, since the vent is wide open. This decision turned out to be the right one. Ambient temperature is 39°F, with a steady breeze of 10 - 15 miles per hour. Even with a full open vent and breezy conditions, the P10 is doing a great job maintaining the set temperature, and the recovery is fairly fast.
At 2:19PM, after 4 hours of smoke, I rotated the ham 180 degrees, and increase the temperature to 200°F. After rotating the ham, I inserted a meat thermometer. The internal temperature of the meat was only 84°F. I was expecting it to be closer to 100°F. I turned off the smoke generator, and the only heat now being applied was from the two 400w elements. Ambient temperature is 42°F, with a steady breeze of 10 - 15 miles per hour.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/4_Hour_Smoke.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
Looking at the ham after 2 hours of air drying, and 4 hours of smoke.
At 5:30PM I rotated ham. The internal temperature was 97°F. Ambient temperature was 32°F, no wind.
At 9:10PM the ham reached 140°F and it was taken out of the smoker – the carryover should bring it up to 145°F plus. My next ham I will probably take it to 135°F, and let the carry over take it to 140°F plus. Ambient temperature was 25°F, no wind. After resting for 30 minutes the ham weighed in at 10 lbs. 6.5 oz. Once cooled down, it was wrapped first in plastic wrap, then with foil. Now awaiting Easter Dinner.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Fat_Cap_View.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
Finished Ham view of the fat cap. Before removing the netting, I let the ham cool a bit. The netting did stick to parts of the fat cap. So next time, if I leave a fat cap, I will remove the netting immediately.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Bottom_Half_Ham.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
Finished Ham view of the bottom half.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y174/Formatted/Front_End.jpg?width=590&height=590&fit=bounds)
Finished Ham front view.
The netting did not keep the ham together as tightly as I had wanted. During the smoke/cook, it did separate a little at the surface. Maybe if I left the sirloin tip in, it would not have separated at that area. Also you can notice some areas where it has cooked more than other parts. This is the area that was closest to the bisquette burner during the smoking period. Next time I will rotate the ham half way through the smoke time. This did not have any major effects of the final product. Next time I'll pay better attention to tying a boneless ham, before netting.
Total Time:13 Hrs. 5 Min
Air Drying: 2 Hrs. (at 110°F)
Smoke Time: 4 Hrs. (at 130°F; pecan bisquettes)
Additional Cook Time: 7 hrs. 5 min cook time after smoking. (200°F)
An epic post Habs and the finished product is mouth watering, a real labour of love! :)
Quote from: manxman on April 13, 2023, 01:03:48 PM
An epic post Habs and the finished product is mouth watering, a real labour of love! :)
The most difficult part was trying to remember to take photos. ;D
QuoteThe most difficult part was trying to remember to take photos
It was well worth the wait! ;D
That is fantastic, such great color, I can smell that just looking at it!
MB
That's a beauty!! Thanks for posting the recipe, I've used the early version of it for years.