Home Cured Smoked Ham

[Habanero Smoker]

I just finished smoking/cooking a 17 pound uncooked cured ham a few hours ago. I did force myself to take a few pictures. The ham finally got to 152°F at around 1:30 AM. I started it at 8 AM yesterday, and by the time I got it in the refrigerator it was close to 2:30 AM this morning. I was going to use it for Christmas, but I think I'll let it age and use it for New Years.

I cure/smoke using this recipe; Smoked Cured Ham. Generally I like to make my own cures, but I can't find any thing that can beat Sausage Maker's Maple Ham Cure for my hams.

Click on pictures to enlarge.
 
This is the ham taken out of the cure on Saturday. Wrapped in plastic to "rest" for 24 – 48 hours.


 
After ham had dried in smoker for 8 hours at 110°F – 115°F; vent wide open. I used a cabinet temperature of 130°F for applying 4 hours of pecan smoke. Decided to place the ham on the rack. As you can see it was a fraction too wide. The black area on the front was the ham touching the back of the smoker. Also you will notice some black on top of the ham. I had a slight problem with moisture, during the smoke application. I generally use 1/4 open vent while applying smoke, but do to the cold temperature 14°F condensation was a bigger problem then it had been in the past. It's a small area and that will not effect the taste, and will not be noticeable once glaze is applied.


 
Fully cooked Increased cabinet temperature to 200°F to finish cooking to an internal temperature of 152°F. Second picture shows the bottom of the ham. It's wrapped to age (let the smoke mellow a little) in the refrigerator, after I cover it with foil.

[Tenpoint5]

Looks great there Hab's. Should make an awesome New Years meal.

[FLBentRider]

Looks great!

What was the total time - cure, rest, smoke?

[Habanero Smoker]

Over the past 3 years I make about two hams a year. One around this time of year, and another around Easter.

FLB; If you try this I highly recommend Sausage Makers Maple Cure Ham, and add my seasonings to the cure. A 10 - 14 pound ham will need about 5 quarts of brine to cover it, this 17 pound ham needed 7 quarts.

Curing 7 days; plus 1 day rest:
It was a 17 pound ham and the cure temperature stayed around 36°F, so I used seven days, overhauling it daily (redistribution of the cure, by stirring the mixture up). I injected 10% solution, which was 1.7 pounds or 28 ounces (rounded off).  then soaked for 2 hours after removing from brine. Also add another day for it to rest. After taking it out of the cure, refrigerate about 12 - 24 hours to allow the cure to equalize throughout the meat. Because of the weather mine rested for about 48 hours


Smoker:
8 hours air drying at ~ 110°F (because of the size I could have gone longer).
4 hours applying pecan smoke at ~ 130°F (after the smoking stage, the IT was 102°F).
5 hours at ~ 200°F to bring it up to 152°F.

Rest - (optional but it really mellows the smoke flavor);

Tightly wrap and refrigerate 4 additional days, but again as soon as you take it out of the smoker, you can serve it, or refrigerate it and reheat it to 140°F, applying your glaze during the reheating.

[Stargazer]

I highly recommend Sausage Makers Maple Cure Ham

I vouch for that one. Just seems their cure distributes nice and evenly.

Sausage Maker makes a real delicious Maple cure. I love it for bacon as well.

Have you tried their honey or brown sugar cure? We're suckers for the sausage maker brown sugar cure. Their honey isn't bad either.

[Habanero Smoker]

I do have the Brown Sugar cure, but it's been sitting in my pantry for two years. I just can't get beyound the Maple. I just checked the Brown Sugar cure, it's still loose (no lumps) so I may use that in the near future.