A Hamzilla of my own

[Grouperman941]

I have been meaning to try this for a couple of years. Finally had the availability of a fresh whole ham line up with the time it would take to do it.

This is Tenpoint5's process from the recipe site, and he has detailed pics in this 'Curing' forum. Search 'Hamzilla'. I didn't document the whole thing, and I did some things a little differently:

For the boning, I left the shank in to hang from, making a hole. I didn't have the right kind of stockinette to hold the weight without stretching.

I also left the skin on to see how that would work out with the smoke, since I would be freezing most of it, and I can always use smoked pork skin to cook with.

Results are below. It is fantastic and, except for the amount of time and space required, fairly easy.


The finished ham, hanging in my shop:




The Money Shot:



All cut up:




The only thing I will do differently Is maybe take more skin off and trim fat a little.  But smoke flavor is good (hickory). Cure is even. Color is great (fluorescent lights in shop wash it out in pics).

These pieces were all vac sealed, and all but 2 were frozen. The shank end is a 5 pound ham that will be glazed and baked in the future.

[Smoke and Fire]

Looking good when's dinner

[Hamlet 77]

Wow, looking to do similar myself problem is getting the size of meat I want. Not as easy as its sounds round here.

[Tenpoint5]

Ham looks great!

[Grouperman941]

Ham looks great!

Thanks you so much for documenting this process. I will now be making this like twice a year. Awesome.