Need help ASAP on fresh ham!

[Jimbo830]

I farm raised my own pig and slaughtered it last friday. On Wednesday I was all cutting it up and decided to do my own hams. Well I couldn't find any cure salt locally and was afraid if I ordered it online my meat would spoil before it arrived. So I found some smokehouse brine mix and used that.mits this stuff http://www.smokehouseproducts.com/prod_lure_select.cfm?Stock=9746&CategoryID=14&ProductNo=9746-001-0000 it says to use as a cure but only leave in the brine for 12 hrs. I have left it in there for 4 days but there is no nitrates in the ingredients so now that I used this is my meat cured?

The reason it's urgent is I am cooking one of the hams and it'll be done in an hour and i don't want to give the family bochilism

Thanks in advance

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Jimbo830,

Welcome to the forum. I hope this response is not too late, and that you didn't throw it out, it more than likely perfectly safe to eat.

There is really not enough information to give an accurate response. Without the salt content of the mix, what temperatures you used to smoke/cook at, or what type of equipment you used, it appears you have a ham that is brined for flavor (not cured). But that does not make it unsafe to eat. 

Looking at the website I can't figure out the salt content, but if you can supply the cabinet temperature(s) and length of time(s) you use, the internal temperature you took it to, and what type of smoker; that would be helpful.

[Jimbo830]

Hab,

I did eat it and it tasted great on the outside but in the center there was no flavor so I injected it today with more of the same brine/cure and will smoke all the hams tomorrow.

Is all my meat ok? It has been stored at 33-40 degrees in the brine for a week. it is a brown color when it comes out of the brine.

Ingredients for brine mix -

Sugar, salt, soy sauce powder (soy beans, wheat, salt, maltodextrin), garlic, onion, mustard seed, chili peper, lemon crystals (citric acid, lemon powder, dextrose, sodium citrate, tricalcium phosphate, lemon oil), less than 2% silicon dioxide.

It does not say the volumes of each ingredient but does say on box "contains all seasonings and natural curing ingredients you need!"

Questions .....

Is meat ok?

Is it cured?

If its not cured should I cure it after the brine for safe keeping when its froze?

I plan on freezing the hams after I smoke them... How should I smoke and freeze the hams for safe keeping and how long should they be good for?

[devo]

If you tell us more about what temp you smoked/cooked it at and for how long to what internal temp will help us give you a answer if your meat is OK to eat.

[Habanero Smoker]

Glad you still have them. How did you smoke/cook the one you mentioned in the original post?

The meat should still be alright. The ingredients you posted, and if that is the order they are listed on the package, I would consider this a flavor brine and not a cure. Salt is the only ingredient listed on the package that is considered a cure agent, and you would need a large amount of it; which I don't believe the mix has since sugar is listed first.

I would consider them brined fresh hams. Once they have been sitting in a brine solution, I'm not sure how effective it would be to brine cure them again with a brine containing nitrites. In my opinion I would not brine again. I would treat them as brined fresh ham, and smoke cook them like a fresh ham. The outer layer of the ham will look grayish. Some of the other ingredients may give the hams some color once cooked, but the color may be like you see with any fresh cooked pork; in that it will not have that characteristic rosy color or traditional ham flavor.

Also I alway inject large cuts of meat, when I brine and or wet cure. If you don't it takes a longer time for the brine to work it's way to the center of the meat. The general rule of thumb is to inject brine that is equal to 10% of the green weight. So if you have a 20 pound ham, that would be 320 ounces; 10% of that is 32 ounces or 4 cups of brine.

Since you are not working with nitrites it was alright to inject at the stage you did,  but I would have mix up a small fresh batch to use for injecting; and not use the brine that the hams are brining in. If the mix had nitrites, you need to be a little more careful on how you prepare your hams. Again since you are not using nitrites, the amount injected is not critical. In this case you want to inject enough to impart the flavor.

I don't know what equipment you are using. This is a Bradley forum, but there are several members on here that don't have a Bradley, but use other equipment. Since I consider these fresh hams, in my Bradley I would smoke/cook them as such.

- Remove from brine, pat dry with paper towels and refrigerate uncovered 12 - 24 hours to allow the brine to equally distribute throughout the meat, and give time for the surface to air dry.

- Remove from the refrigerator, allow to rest at room temperature for an hour or to and place in a 180°F - 200°F smoker, and start applying smoker. I would apply 4 to 8 hours for smoke; depending on your taste.

- After smoke has been applied, raise the temperature to 225°F - 250°F, and continue to cook until the internal temperature is 150°F - 152°F (you can take the temperature higher if you like).

- The hams will freeze alright, but they must be treated as any other fresh cooked meat, and reheated as you would fresh cooked meat.

[Jimbo830]

Do I freeze after I take out of the brine or after it's smoked or after its cooked?

Last time it didn't have the smoke flavor and I smoked it for 2 hrs it weighed 15lbs. I will follow your advice this next time. I also smoked it last time at 150 and then cooked it at 350 in the oven after it was smoked.

I have a bradley smoker.

Next time I will order the pink salt or cure #1 so I can follow the recipes on here to cure it. I just didn't realize I had to have that ingredient and I didn't want the meat to spoil. this was my first time raising pigs.

[Habanero Smoker]

I would smoke/cook it before freezing, then when you want to use it, you would only have to reheat it and add a glaze if you want. Or you can slice it up and package any way you like.

The way you cooked it last time, was alright and safe. I prefer to use a lower cabinet or oven temperature after the smoke time, and use the higher temperature when I reheat. I feel 2 hours of smoke is not enough, I use 4 hours but my go up to 6 next time I smoke a ham; Tenpointpoint5 uses 8 hours and gets good reviews.

Raising your own pigs sounds nice. Are you raising heritage pigs? The pigs that you do raise, do they tend to have more fat and flavor them the commercially raised pigs?