The Texas BBQ Forum

A friend of mine is going to give me a fresh bone in ham off of one of his hogs. I requested that when he has it butchered they leave it alone, no salt cure no smoke. I have two questions. how long will it keep in the fridge, and does any one have any ideas on how to prepare it. I have never smoked a fresh ham. Another friend of mine does a bbqed ham where he cooks it over coals for 6-8 hrs depending on weight. I look forward to hearing opinions.

JustinCouch wrote:A friend of mine is going to give me a fresh bone in ham off of one of his hogs. I requested that when he has it butchered they leave it alone, no salt cure no smoke. I have two questions. how long will it keep in the fridge, and does any one have any ideas on how to prepare it. I have never smoked a fresh ham. Another friend of mine does a bbqed ham where he cooks it over coals for 6-8 hrs depending on weight. I look forward to hearing opinions.

This is a tough one to answer entirely. I have butchered plenty hogs in the past and they all kept differently. Some of them lasted only a couple days in the fridge, and one I forgot about in that drawer in the bottom nobody ever uses, was still good after 3 weeks. A lot depends on their stress level at slaughter and the cleanliness of the butcher during processing. If I had to put a time frame on it, I will average one for you and say 6 days in the fridge and you should be thinking about cooking or freezing it now. There are plenty good curing methods available online, I have used quite a few myself. I prefer a dry cure start with a wet cure finish. I pack the ham with salt, GENEROUS amounts of salt. Place the ham in a box lined with paper towels or newspaper, then in the fridge it goes. I reapply salt as needed about every 36 hours and change out the paper in the bottom. After about 10 days, I remove the ham and rinse it well under cold water, then I make my wet cure. (Make sure you have a container large enough for the ham you're curing) I mix (per gallon of water) 4 cups sugar (3 brown, 1 white, or however you want to mix it up), cure #1 (by label instructions, usually 1/4 tsp per lb of meat being cured), 4 tbsp coarse ground (or cracked) black pepper, tbsp onion and garlic powder (or minced garlic cloves). I then dunk the ham in this bath and place back into the fridge, then leave it alone for the next 10-12 days. When this time passes, remove ham from bath and rinse well with cold water. After this part, you are free to smoke it at your leisure BUT.. It will get better if you let it age. Find a place in the fridge to let it chillax. Hopefully you have a shelf you may not use or even have another fridge entirely for stuff just like this! Anywho, make sure it is not in a pan and it can get air around all sides. Usually directly on the wire shelf or on a wire rack. You can "air it out" like this for up to 21 days. I don't recommend going that long unless it is an extra fridge that does not see regular traffic (as to keep the temperature as stable as possible). I usually dry mine for about 5 days. When you are ready to smoke it, smoke it anywhere from 180-225 degrees for about an hour per lb. (Less time for higher temps, more time for lower temps). I usually smoke a 10 lb picnic ham for about 8 hours at 200.

There's also the ugly truth of HOW WAS it handled before you got it Good Luck

I cooked a half ham last Tuesday for a crowd at my home. Best ever, the baste was 200 ml bourbon, 200 ml apricot sauce small jar of honey grain mustard and 200 ml maple syrup. Baste every 15 mins for an hour and a half on 160celsius. Whole lot gone in 20 mins. The ham had already been cured.

Russ

Russ wrote:I cooked a half ham last Tuesday for a crowd at my home. Best ever, the baste was 200 ml bourbon, 200 ml apricot sauce small jar of honey grain mustard and 200 ml maple syrup. Baste every 15 mins for an hour and a half on 160celsius. Whole lot gone in 20 mins. The ham had already been cured.

Russ

Was it pre-boiled? It didin't mention in your post!!

***Runs and takes cover**

Lol, I will ask my mate the butcher how he does his hams. I'm guessing he brines with injection and then smokes??

I'll find out later.

Russ

Inject with p27 then boil it for 7 hrs at low temp at 75 Celsius. My mate pumps about 15% brine but some do up to 40% . Then cure in a tub of brine for 5 days then smoke it.
My butcher mate just gave me the low down.

Russ

Russ wrote:Inject with p27 then boil it for 7 hrs at low temp at 75 Celsius. My mate pumps about 15% brine but some do up to 40% . Then cure in a tub of brine for 5 days then smoke it.
My butcher mate just gave me the low down.

Russ

Lol!!
Back to topic now. I have thought about injecting the wet cure to help reduce the cure time but I do like the initial dry cure method first. Decisions decisions!

Hi tx, I just wrote what my butcher said, I've never heard of that p number injecting. He does make a good ham though. I love it hot with the glaze I mentioned.
Good luck brother.

Russ

Russ wrote:Hi tx, I just wrote what my butcher said, I've never heard of that p number injecting. He does make a good ham though. I love it hot with the glaze I mentioned.
Good luck brother.

Russ

LOL! You can inject large cuts like that with your curing solution to help cut the cure time down; rather than soak a ham for 12 days, you need only soak it for 8.

Txdragon wrote:

Russ wrote:Hi tx, I just wrote what my butcher said, I've never heard of that p number injecting. He does make a good ham though. I love it hot with the glaze I mentioned.
Good luck brother.

Russ

LOL! You can inject large cuts like that with your curing solution to help cut the cure time down; rather than soak a ham for 12 days, you need only soak it for 8.

You could write what I know about curing on a postage stamp. I just pays my money,lol. I just got some saveloy s from my butcher the other day, but I won't even try to explain,lol.

Russ