Turkey Ham

[Bavind]

Has anyone tried to cure and then smoke an entire turkey like you were doing a ham. A freind of mine mentioned her father used to it many years ago and would to have it again. Curious if anyone has done this and with what resullt

[Habanero Smoker]

There are a few turkey brine recipes on this board that use cure #1, but I don't have time to do a search right now.

Basically you can turn your favorite turkey brine into one that will give your turkey a ham like flavor. For every gallon of liquid (whether it be water, wine, apple juice etc), add 3.2 ounces of cure #1 (5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon), and reduce the salt in the recipe by the 3.2 ounces.

For salt, you may not be able to use the same volume, if you are using non-iodized table salt or pickling salt the volume measurement for salt and cure #1 is the same. If you are using kosher salt, depending on which kosher salt you are using the volume will be different. So weighing is the best way to measure.

Another option is to purchase a commercial Ham Cure mix, such as the mixes that Sausage Maker sells and just follow the instructions on the package. Except you will not need 5 - 7 days for curing. Whole turkeys you want to plan on brining 1 hour per pound, but that depends on how much salt the recipe has.