Cured ham question for Habs

[JDNC]

Hab's,

Have you ever used your smoked cured ham recipe on a pork shoulder or picnic ham?  It's hard to find a small fresh ham around here and I think the last time I was at the local meat packer the smallest ham I could get was around 15lbs.  At that time I had a bullet smoker and cut the shank off. I don't have a clue as what it weighed without the shank.  My concern with the shoulder is the extra fat.

JD

[JDNC]

I meant to say I cut off the hock..yu know what I mean. ::)

[Habanero Smoker]

I haven't done that yet; but it is funny today I was about to purchase a pork shoulder for that purpose. I was looking for fresh ham but none of the stores have them in yet. I like to start the curing process about 2 - 3 weeks prior to Thanksgiving. The 15 pound ham, was that the shank or rump; probably either way after it is trimmed you would have about 12 pounds. I prefer the shank end. Also you can render the trim fat into lard.

There is no reason why you couldn't do that for the picnic shoulder (ham), but the butt end may be a little tough to make ham from; or maybe instead of taking it to an internal temperature of 152°F; take it to 165°F. I would prepare it like I would my ham. Trim off all skin and surface fat, inject prior to placing it into the brine (pickle), and use the same smoking/cooking technique.

If you do this I would be interesting in learning how it turned out.

[JDNC]

I think I'll go by the meat packer and see what I can find in a ham. I swear it's been so long (several yrs) I can't remember much about the hams I got last.  I just know they were big and I sawed off about 6" of the leg end (I call the hock) to get it in the bullet smoker.  After I cut off this section the ham was about 15" or so in diameter and probably 6" thick.  A matter of fact..I bought two hams approximately the same size and cooked both on this bullet smoker at the same time!  Sliced the hams as they were not tender enough to pull.

[Habanero Smoker]

If you had to cut off the hock, the you either had a whole ham or the shank end. It sounds more like only the shank, but it depends on how large the hog was. For curing, I feel that it is important to know the trimmed weight of the ham your are going to cure. So if you can find a way to weigh it, even using a bathroom scale to get an approximation will be helpful.

For those that have not seen my cured ham recipe; here is a link to it:

Smoked Cured Ham