Duck Man

[Oldman]

Just to help you get closer to doing a Double Smoked T-Shirt Ham below is a posting I did on Mechwarrior Clan site. A couple of years back one of the members there and I talk a lot about solar ovens and the things he cooked/ baked using them. We also talked about BBQ and Food Smokin'. At that time I game with them and was also a backup for ladder matches. So I stopped by there and did this posting. Some of the information you already know, but he does not so I included it.

<hr noshade size="1"><hr noshade size="1"><b>I sorry I just don't remember the name of the member here that I use to talk with about cooking, baking with a solor oven....blame it on my age.

Anyway if he is still here I thought he would find this interesting.

This is how I do my T-Shirt Double Smoked Ham. It is a cold smoked item. Only the generator is on that creates the smoke. The Smoking chamber itself is not. (Note: Cold smoking in Florida is almost a joke. The ambient temperature here is to hot. Next the winter when the temp is in the 30's is when I will cold smoke my cheese(s) and then vacuum pack them.)

Click on picture to enlarge.

Step 1
I used a Smithfield ham and removed  the heavy skin.


Step 2
Place ham inside of white cotton T-shirt. Don't bunch up the T-shirt.


Step 3
Cold Smoke for 8 hours.


Step 4
Around the 4th hour clean out water bowl and refill with water. You will note in this picture the puck that is on the burner. Every 20 minutes a new puck is push into the burner and the old one goes into the water bowl. This way there is no bad flavors that you can get when wood is done burning, but is continually heated.


Step 5 (Note really a step but for information only.)
In this picture you can see the burnt pucks. They are for the most part still round. If you break one open it is blacken all the way through.



Step 6
After 8 hours of smoking you can see a light coloring from the smoke.


Step 7
Wrap ham with T-shirt in plastic and store in frig for several days. This will allow the smoke to mellow and "cure" to the bone.  Then bake the ham like you would any other ham.  I will bake this ham on Saturday of this week.


Being able to "cold" smoke is one of the reason I purchased the Bradley--to further this thought line: Being able to smoke at a consistence 160F with no worries when I smoke sauage takes the headache out of it. Also the 20 minute cycle of the pucks insures I never have the rancid flavoring that can happen.  The last thing I want when I make my sauage (a 24 hour event) is bad flavoring.

One last item to share: Whenever I have folks over and I do a Double Smoked Ham the comments are like: WOW where did you get this ham...never had such flavor before... I just smile and say: Why out of my back yard of course...where would you expect me to get it  from? LOL!</b><hr noshade size="1"><hr noshade size="1">

Ok D-man you seen it again so when are you going to try it? LOL

BTW The second CD came in today. I will get them off to you this week.

EDIT: I normally do a larger Picnic Ham rather than a true ham. They seem to accept the flavor better--perhaps because they are smaller.
Olds

[MallardWacker]

Dang Olds,

If I didn't have Super Regionals with my daughter this weekend I would be doi'n sump ham here.  Now speaking of your Smithfield hams, thats is NOT a "country ham" that has been fully cured and hangs with out refrigeration, correct?  The ham I have in mind is made by a local company called "Pettit Jean" brand that is problbly on the same level of your Smithfield. My ham is already Hickory Smoked from the company, will this interfer much.  After this weekend I smoked a couple of briskets and I used some wood I normally don't use on that type of meat, I did not like it when it came out BUT after letting it sit for a day I loved it.  I beleiving in this mellowing thing.

Again Olds, thank you...


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Oldman]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Now speaking of your Smithfield hams, thats is NOT a "country ham" that has been fully cured and hangs with out refrigeration, correct?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> Correct! The one I use is their: Smithfield Premium Pork. It is not their famous country dry cure ham. It must be kept in refrigeration.
 <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">...ham I have in mind is made by a local company called "Pettit Jean" brand that is problbly on the same level of your Smithfield. My ham is already Hickory Smoked from the company, will this interfer much.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Now this is a good question. If the hog is peanut-fed,and the long shank cut I would hope that your local company has salt/sugar cured it, smoked it and then aged it.

However, most hams in your refrigeration section today are water cured (added) which IMO has the least flavor. This is the reason why I double smoke my hams.

Their are a few other ways to cure a ham.

<b>COUNTRY CURED:</b>  This process is a dry salt cured, smoked product with most of the best hams being aged from 6 months to over 2 years. The raw pork legs are rubbed down with salt and sodium nitrate and placed in containers with pre-measured amounts of salt, under controlled temperatures for about a month.  They are then removed to another controlled room and hung for about two weeks.  

Next they are move into the smoke room where generally today hardwood sawdust is burned and the smoke is blown around the hams at 110 degrees until the hams develop a deep burgundy rich color. Generally the saw dust is a mixture of  Red Oak (for coloring) and Hickory (for flavor.)

At this point the smoke flavor is only on the surface. The next step is the aging @ a temp. of  75 degrees for several months to years. Yield loss is 20-25%.

<b>COUNTRY HAM:</b> This is more than likely the oldest way ham is produced. It a long process of salt curing and smoking.  

<b>DRY CURING:</b> Now dry cured hams are cured without water injection and they come in many flavors. If I remember correctly in Italy alone there are either 16 or 18 types of Dry Curing.  They may or may not be smoked.  Most are salt cured.  

<b>HONEY CURED:</b> This is a wet cure done with various salts and flavorings: i.e. sufficient amounts of honey,and it may or may not be smoked.  

<b>WATER ADDED HAM:</b> Without a doubt this is the most common ham you will find in the store. Check the label on these. Some may contain as much as 35% of body weight in water--generally the 35% percenters are boneless and package in plastic. When I worked and managed a couple of delis here these were called Cuban Ham. There was so much water added to these hams the hams looked like they were float in water in the bag. I don't know why they were called Cuban Hams, as I believe the Cuban people are smarter than this. My suggestion is <b>a maximum of 10%</b> water per weight.

<b>WET CURED:</b> These are fast turn around hams. Soaked or injected with curing compounds in a liquid form. The wet cure can  produce a ham in a week. If injected the turn around time is about 24-30 hours. This method IMO is all but the same as <b>WATER ADDED HAM:</b> if not injected.

This is a site I would book mark. It is surprizing just how much good information the USDA will supply you. FSIS

I don't know if I have answered your question. What I've posted here come from some notes I have and my old memory. All you can do is try the Cold T-Shirt on a picnic ham from that company. I strongly suggest that you do not do a real ham from the rear legs. At least not at first. If you can get the company to talk with you they might tell what method they are using to cure their hams.



Olds