Christmas (and Chanukah) Ham Project Thread

HendersonTRKing

22 lbs. Skinned it, trimmed it, made up the cure prescribed by @NPHuskerFL, although I snuck 2 cups of apple cider into the gallon of liquid. 

After the brining bag quickly developed a hole, the Prince and I acted quickly to clean up the mess and sub in a very-possibly food safe beverage bucket hanging around the equipment arsenal. (Plenty of Chanukah and Christmas shopping days left to get that specialty brining bucket into the armory . . . )

Anyway, we're a couple days into the 11 day quiet time where all I'm doing is checking to make sure there are no more unwelcome surprises.  Will start a fridge sit on the 16th or so and smoke slowly in time for the big event on the 20th. 

Meantime, I'm thinking about my next move with the skin and fat. 

Will post updates as the situation develops. 

Pix is out of order for a change. 

NPHuskerFL

Looking like progress. Should be $pure$

NPHuskerFL

Did you save the skin for later?

Acn

Are you just covering all holiday bases?  Because Ham for Chanukah would be an interesting choice.

northGAcock

Man.....following this closely. I have a local hog farmer that I have been in discussion with regarding a fresh ham. 

HendersonTRKing

NPHuskerFL said:

Did you save the skin for later?

Oh, yeah . . . got dat skin and the trimmed fat.  The Prince suggested that anything that gets done with the skin will benefit from the use of the fat.  Stong in the force that one is.  

Imma take a spin around the interwebs this week to see what's the best thing to do with this stuff.  All new to me (except for chicharones, which I've had out of a bag . . .)

Mosca

Acn said:

Are you just covering all holiday bases?  Because Ham for Chanukah would be an interesting choice.

Yeah, I'm thinking the same. I've never heard of a Chanukah ham. I have had Jewish inlaws who ate pork, but they never made it part of a tradition.

theyolksonyou

Check out amazing ribs golden nugget cracklings recipe. I did that one and it was quite tasty. 

HendersonTRKing

Acn said:

Are you just covering all holiday bases?  Because Ham for Chanukah would be an interesting choice.

Jew-ISH around here.  (I can say that, right?)  Let's just say that Passover seder changed forever the first time I served brisket. 

HendersonTRKing

Step 2. Out of the cure, rinse, pat dry and into the fridge for a couple days.

HendersonTRKing

Way too late at nite. Not even on yet. Blame it on the rum. 

HendersonTRKing

Moving very slowly (me).  Looking ok here (ham). Glazing now. Not sure I'll be able to eat it. 

HendersonTRKing

HendersonTRKing

Not sure about the piña. 

HendersonTRKing

Never going back. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

that looks awesome. You'll never go back to store bought once you cure one yourself. 

blasting

Wow.  Would you by chance have the link to the cure by @NPHuskerFL ?

I would really like to learn to replicate this.  Ham is my fav., and yours looks amazing.

NPHuskerFL

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

that looks awesome. You'll never go back to store bought once you cure one yourself. 

A statement you made to me after I successfully made my first Ham. And you were 100% on mark. There's simply no comparison. 

NPHuskerFL

@HendersonTRKing Killer!  

Hawg Fan

Great thread.  I learned today that I want to cure a ham.

HendersonTRKing

blasting said:

Wow.  Would you by chance have the link to the cure by @NPHuskerFL ?

I would really like to learn to replicate this.  Ham is my fav., and yours looks amazing.

Here's the link:   http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1174982/the-cure-thatll-ale-ya#latest

I learned a ton in this cook. It's beyond well worth the time to do it.  I just finished off another ham sammy, and I'm still kind of taken aback by how good it is.  

For the glaze, I kept it pretty simple bc I had a wide age range to feed and I wanted something that would appeal to a broad range of tastes.  

Whisked together:

3 cups dark brown sugar
2 TBSP Meat Church Honey BBQ Honey Hog
3/4 cup French's Yellow Mustard
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup bourbon
6 oz Ginger Beer
2 tsp ground ginger
(the ginger kinda came in late bc why not?)

Heated the mixture, added about 3 TBSP butter, brought it up to a boil, and simmered it til it cooked down and thickened up.  I slathered it on for the last hour or so of the cook, added the pineapple and slathered some more.  Considering how overserved I was last night, all that morning glaze action was a bit of a challenge.  But people were very happy -- everyone wanted to have both interior slices AND some with the glaze crust, so I figure it was pretty good.

Many, many thanks to @The Cen-Tex Smoker and @NPHuskerFL for the inspiration and unwitting/witting encouragement.  I wouldn't have tried this without having stared at your posts as much as I did.  And I'm glad I did!