Piglet-zilla in the making

[Tenpoint5]

That should be at the stall point right now. If you pull it at 140 you will need to cook it again in the oven to bring it up to temp. Although after 30 hours I would be checking with an instant read thermo or try moving the probe around to check different areas. But if you wait until 152 you will get instant gratification when you pull it out.

[punchlock]

That should be at the stall point right now. If you pull it at 140 you will need to cook it again in the oven to bring it up to temp. Although after 30 hours I would be checking with an instant read thermo or try moving the probe around to check different areas. But if you wait until 152 you will get instant gratification when you pull it out.

I know it seems like ridiculous amount of time but I would side with Chris on this one. Let that ham ride to 152 and you won't be disappointed. It's still early in the day and if all goes well you will be having ham by dinner time. I am of the opinion that when doing ham, it is still quite respectable to drink alcohol in the morning.  ;D

[punchlock]

Soooo hows the pig coming along?

[Northern_Smoke]

Well we are 2 degrees away from a pork feast in my house. I am glad I letting it ride till it hits 152. I tried 2 instant read thermometers in 3 different spots in the ham and they were all accurate so not really sure why its taking just as long as some of those big monsters i read about on the site haha. But either way we are eating ham tonight. And the wife told me that as soon as its able to be worked with, I am to remove the bone to make stock with for borscht. These crazy Ukrainian women...always wanting to cook.

Hopefully in the next hour I will have pictures and a blow by blow report of how it tastes and how it makes me feel inside :D

[Tenpoint5]

Your gonna have that warm fuzzy feeling inside, a head that won't fit through the door because YOU MADE that Awesome tasting hunk of meat!!

[Northern_Smoke]

OK folks, we hit 152. The ham has cooled down and I pulled the bone out and its in the stock pot boiling away. Now let me explain the feeling i got when it was done. Unfortunately I did not have a sock to hang it in. I thought i did but at midnight i was not willing to try and track one down. But now that we know why it didn't have the correct shape, lets get on to the correct flavor that  it DID have. It was better than any store bought ham hands down. I have had some fine tasting ham at some high end restaurants but this still wins hands down. My wife phoned her mother to let her know she was coming to get some beats and I made sure when she told her we had a ham bone boiling and chopped ham to put in the borscht that I made it from SCRATCH. I also gave each kid and my dog a taste just to see the grin on their faces. For anyone looking to do ham, i suggest you just go for it. I will be doing it again for sure. So now i can add "ham" to my growing list of items i will no longer be purchasing pre-made from the store.

There were only a few things i would change. The first was i found it a bit salty on the outer 1/2-3/4 of an inch. I didn't see in the instructions if it said to soak it before smoking so i didn't. But now that i have tasted it i will give it a quick soak next time. And the only other thing i found was the quality of my pork was quite fatty. Next time i will pay a little more attention to what i get and possibly get something in the 15 pound range to really make it worth it. And with that being said, here is what i ended up with

[squirtthecat]

Nice!!!    I've read in other 10.5 Ham escapades that it is a bit salty right out of the gate, but wrapped up an in the fridge for a day or so - it mellows out a bit...

[punchlock]

ahhh you knocked it out of the park! Give it a day to rest and the salt will settle.

[Tenpoint5]

Northern That looks just Awesome!! Well done my friend well done!! Two things. One: I would suggest taking the skin off of the picnic next time. You aint eating it so why let it suck up all of the flavoring. (Unless your planning on deep frying it and making cracklins) Two: After a 24 - 48 hour rest that saltiness that you notice will go away. Great looking Ham buddy!!

[FLBentRider]

That is a nice looking ham for sure.

[Northern_Smoke]

Thanks for all the help guys. 10.5, i thought about taking the skin off and then hawed and hummed about it because i have a friend who really enjoys frying it up. For myself i would have removed it but i thought i would treat my friend to something yummy haha. I plan on letting it sit and on Sunday i am replacing my home made back bacon on the Eggs Benedict with this ham :D. And punchlock, thanks for the hi five. It sure went well with my big grin i have been wearing for the last 2 hours.

[Northern_Smoke]

And to finish off my night of posting(mainly because i am sooooooo full and must sleep) i will end with what came of the ham bone.

[punchlock]

Well that's a great way to end a good day of smoking.

[classicrockgriller]

N_S, That is some awesome looking PIG!

Hope my "WILD" pig looks just 1/2 as good and I will be Happy!

I thought I seen a big grin across the shy today. ;D

[Northern_Smoke]

N_S, That is some awesome looking PIG!

Hope my "WILD" pig looks just 1/2 as good and I will be Happy!

I thought I seen a big grin across the shy today. ;D

Am i reading this correctly? Wild pig? The kind that runs around in the wilderness without fences? Because me and a friend have been planning on a pig hunt for a year now but know nothing about hunting wild pig. And now that i have done a ham, i would take a stab at wild boar ham.  All i know is about 7 or 8 years ago when the whole hog market went into the crapper, farmers were opening their pens and just letting them run. They estemated that they let 10,000 in total out. And at the rate they breed, they are everywhere. You always hear about people hitting them on the shoulder of the highway down south of where we live.