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Ham Help, Please

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XLentEGG
XLentEGG Posts: 436
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
To the point..I recently purchased a half of a hog. The meat came vac-pac and labled. It seems that what would usually be a "shank" has been sliced into three pieces and each labled "ham roast". I am pretty sure that this is straight raw pork.
The questions..If I just smoke it will it taste like ham or pork roast? What do I need to do to it to make it taste like ham.I would rather have ham than a giant pork roast.
More meat please !! :-)
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
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    XLenteGG, I have cured Boston butt with Hi Mountain Buck Board Bacon cure. Right now I'm curing some bacon from the belly of the pig. I have not cured a ham yet but, you can read about it here. :)

    http://www.dizzypigbbq.com/recipesHam.html
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    DSC06733JPGa.jpg

    Ham Roast, heheee. Never heard a shank or hock called that. I've got a how-to on my site all about curing hocks, or second smoking the store bought ones.

    http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/2002/02/pork-hocks-shanks-jowls-trotters.html

    30724c98.jpg

    246bffe8.jpg

    d10a770c.jpg
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
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    Hey thirdeye, Do you have a write up on bacon somewhere?
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  • nysportsfan
    nysportsfan Posts: 241
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    Consider me trying that recipe...tomorrow. A few hocks, brined for a few days, smoked, then in beans, mmm.
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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,674
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    Those hocks are not for beans, they go on the plate :woohoo:
    Those are super....
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

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  • nysportsfan
    nysportsfan Posts: 241
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    Haha. Fair enough, a few for each.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    A "ham" is a cured leg roast of pork. If not cured, it will be a roast with light and dark pork.

    A shank is from the lower leg (see thurdeye's pics). Not sure which you have.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    We're talking belly bacon? Not Buckboard Butt or Canadian style loin bacon, right?

    I don't but my friend Lynne over in the oval room makes some killer stuff. let me ckeck my recipe folder...
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
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    yes belly bacon :)
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    .pdf on the way
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
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    Copy that thanks.

    Did you get my email?
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    Well, it can be called "fresh ham", to let you know it came from a hind leg... and to distinguish it from a "picnic" which could be called an arm roast.

    Now what's your guess on this one?

    89c13b31.jpg
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    Yeah, you just had to wait your turn....
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
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    thanks again :)
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    "fresh ham" is a colloquial term. Not a "real" designation

    People call it a fresh ham, but it's a pork roast

    Loin roast isn't "fresh loin bacon" :)
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • XLentEGG
    XLentEGG Posts: 436
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    THANK YOU !! I really appreciate all of the information . Now I get to try my hand at curing ham !

    XLentEGG wrote:
    To the point..I recently purchased a half of a hog. The meat came vac-pac and labled. It seems that what would usually be a "shank" has been sliced into three pieces and each labled "ham roast". I am pretty sure that this is straight raw pork.
    The questions..If I just smoke it will it taste like ham or pork roast? What do I need to do to it to make it taste like ham.I would rather have ham than a giant pork roast.
    More meat please !! :-)
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    HamScanNAMPjpg.jpg


    A colloquialism yes, but the term "fresh ham" is so common that even the boys over at NAMP, you know the ones that are universally recognized for their world-renowned publication The Meat Buyers Guide,, use it for all the hind leg descriptions.... right down to the hock. Click the thumbnail to get a more readable text.

    th_HamScan2NAMPjpg.jpg
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Two points for you. :laugh:
    What can i say?

    Just trying to make cleR to him that cooking a fresh ham or whatever it may he referred to will give him nothin hamlike. It'll be a roast.

    Big question to me is what is in that package of his. Shank, or "ham"?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • thirdeye
    thirdeye Posts: 7,428
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    Yeah, I think he knows he has fresh pork and that's why he was curious about curing it. And like a lot of things... the terminology is what confuses us. I did miss the word "giant" in his description and thought all along he was talking about a shank, but maybe they did just cut the leg into thirds?? It dawned on me that my grandfather always referred to the hind quarters of all big game animals as the hams (in contrast to the shoulders) but they were never cured, so I started snooping...

    USDA has a whole page about ham which includes types, cooking instructions and most importantly what must appear on the label. Here is a snip from the top of the page.

    Definition
    Hams may be fresh, cured, or cured-and-smoked. Ham is the cured leg of pork. Fresh ham is an uncured leg of pork. Fresh ham will bear the term "fresh" as part of the product name and is an indication that the product is not cured. "Turkey" ham is a ready-to-eat product made from cured thigh meat of turkey. The term "turkey ham" is always followed by the statement "cured turkey thigh meat."

    Here is the link to that page, it's pretty interesting...

    http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/ham/index.asp
    Happy Trails
    ~thirdeye~

    Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    i've cured the easter ham the past couple years. here's last year's.

    cured_ham.jpg

    this was cured in a pickle, with some of the pickle injected along the bone. the rest of the pickle went into a sturdy zip-top bag, like a turkey-brining bag, for a number of days. forget how long. want to say ten, but it's based on weight.

    after the cure, dried the surface overnight in the fridge and COLD smoked it with a rather goofy rig that i copied from an old-timr here whose name i do not recall...

    ham_post-smoke.jpg

    no pics of it sliced, but rest assured, it's a ham.

    the cold smoke rig. fire is in the small BGE

    set-up.jpg

    thermo-difference.jpg
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
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    Hey Jeff

    Presumably you didn't eat it cooked only to 100, did you roast/cook it some other way again after the cold smoke before eating?

    Doug
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    yeah. cooked it like usual
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Weekend Warrior
    Weekend Warrior Posts: 1,702
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    Isn't that the ham that had the pork roast in the middle? hahaha Would that technically be a hampork roast?
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    that was the first one..
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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