BOUGHT A FRESH 22 POUND HAM TODAY

[sherlock]

Going to try tenpoint 5's method for smoking fresh ham. See the link below to see what he did.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=8442.0

I figure on getting it into brine about 7 PM tonight and will leave it there until the 22nd, (only 5 days because I started late). I will start it in the smoker Monday night thinking that it may take 35 - 40 hours.

Questions:

1.   Should I perhaps cut it in half and save one half or will the Bradley handle a ham that size?
2.   Will reducing the curing time to just 5 days cause any problems?
3.   Can the finished ham be refrigerated when finished, taken out and reheated for a mid afternoon dinner without sacrificing the freshly smoked taste?
4.   Based on Tenpoint 5's time, I am thinking that the whole 22 #' should take somewhere around 35 - 40 hours to reach the desired IT. What do you think?

Any and all comments and/or suggestions greatly appreciated. I have never undertaken anything so big or that will take so long.

Thanks
Nathan

[Mr Walleye]

I'm not much help to you Sherlock but I am really interested in how you make out with that "bad boy"!

Pictures pleazzzz!  ;)

Mike

[Savannahsmoker]

I want to cure and smoke a fresh ham I can taste it.  Keep us posted.

[Habanero Smoker]

I have a 14 pound ham curing now, that I will be taking out of the cure on Friday evening. It was 17.5 pound prior to trimming. I like to refrigerate mine for about two days after I have finish smoking, then glaze it and reheat it in an oven, but I realize you don't have the time for that. But the answer to that question is yes, you can reheat it.

Here is a link to how I smoke my ham.

Smoke Cured Ham

[sherlock]

Ham trimmed and put in brine about 7:00 PM on the 17th.

Brine is 2 1/2 gal ice water
28 oz salt
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup #1 cure

Will remove Monday night and start 30 +/- hour smoke.

No Picures. Must get a digital camera. Maybe I will buy my wife one for Christmas. ;D

[Smoking Duck]

Ham trimmed and put in brine about 7:00 PM on the 17th.

Brine is 2 1/2 gal ice water
28 oz salt
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup #1 cure

Will remove Monday night and start 30 +/- hour smoke.

No Picures. Must get a digital camera. Maybe I will buy my wife one for Christmas. ;D

Now you're thinking Sherlock.  My first Bradley was a Christmas present for the wife.....I told her if I bought one she would have to do a lot less cooking.  That turned out to be a Christmas present for the whole family  :o ;D  She still hasn't learned that the smoke alarm isn't the timer for when things are done in the oven ;D

[Tenpoint5]

Ham trimmed and put in brine about 7:00 PM on the 17th.

Brine is 2 1/2 gal ice water
28 oz salt
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup #1 cure

Will remove Monday night and start 30 +/- hour smoke.

No Picures. Must get a digital camera. Maybe I will buy my wife one for Christmas. ;D

Sherlock did you inject your ham with some of the brine? Figure with a 22# ham you should need about 52oz of brine injected into the ham especially around the bone. I just started another ham myself on Wed for smoking on Tues. Good Luck on  yours

[Smoking Duck]

Got any pics, 10.5?  Pretty please??? ;D

[sherlock]

No injection. The Ryek Koutas book seemed to say that it would not work well doing it yourself. He talked about processors using "Gaang" injectors, so Mine went straight into the brine bath. Hope it works. If not, I have an injector and will try it next time.

It still has two days to go. I am debating whether to inject it now. I think I will just let it go as it is.

TALK TO ME.....................

[Tenpoint5]

Got any pics, 10.5?  Pretty please??? ;D

Duck its just a chunk of meat sitting in a dirty brown brine solution right now. I put brown sugar instead of white in the brine and I added Maple powder this time trying for a Maple/Brown sugar Ham. But just for you I will make sure to get some FOOD PORN to keep you drooling! ;D

Sherlock if it has two more days to soak I would inject the ham. IMO that way you know the brine is working from the inside out and outside in. Pages 299 and 300 both talk about pumping the ham with 10% of its weight with brine before smoking. The figure I gave you was 15% which is what i use.

[Smoking Duck]

Thank you, 10.5, thank you.  I live vicariously through the food of others  ;D

No need for the brine.....you seen one brine, you seen em all  :D

[sherlock]

H E L P    M E


Should I abort this mission and chalk it up to a bad experience or will it be safe as it is.

Nathan

[Smoking Duck]

Don't know the answer to that Sherlock.......wait until Habs or 10.5 or any others that have done a home cured ham before aborting.

SD

[sherlock]

Thanks for the reply SS

Saturday, I did take a knife and poked X shaped holes in it clear to the bone thinking that maybe the brine/cure would leach up into the meat.

Now, I am thinking that it WILL NOT be cured suffuciently to allow 12 hours in the smoker at 120 deg. before raising the temp and beginning the smoking.

I am wondering if I could take it out of the brine and smoke it at 225 deg for 3 or 4 hours and then roasting inthe oven.

OR should I throw it away and chalk it up to experience???????????

[Habanero Smoker]

Don't know what to tell you. I inject mine with 10% solution at the beginning, and never did it any other way. As far as I can tell that is also what is instructed in the "Great Sausage Recipes" by  Kutas.

To be safe I would treat it as a fresh ham, and go to your plan "B" "....take it out of the brine and smoke it at 225 deg for 3 or 4 hours and then roasting in the oven."