Simple brine for a small wild hog ham?


 
D

David Stanton

TVWBB Member
I'm planning to put a small wild hog hindquarter on the WSM with my Christmas morning turkey. Both will cook from 375 or so down to 325. Any suggestions for a simple brine? My plan is to brine it from tonight until Christmas morning. Too long? would 24 hours be enough for such a small ham?
 
I'll see if i can help. How big is it, lb wise? See normally you would inject it with a brine or cure because just soaking it in brine will not really penetrate the meat all that much. I did a search for you here's the link
 
Originally posted by David Stanton:
Sorry, I weighed it and then forgot to include it. It's only 5.6 lbs. I'll check out your search results. Thanks!
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Ok even at that size it'll need to be injected for the brine to get throughout the ham.
 
David, back in August I did a small wild hog (piglette) in my WSM. I injected it (rather than brine) the night before I smoked it. It turned out OK (I'm not a big fan of wild pigs). I shared it with some of my friends and they thought it turned out pretty good. It was still a little tougher than I would have liked it. Let us know how yours turns out.
-Phil
 
Thanks Bryan, for the search link. Through it, I tracked down a brine recipe and paste rub from Kevin Kruger and altered them just a bit.

Kevin's brine: "3 qts water, 3 cups apple or cranberry juice, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup kosher salt, a few dozen whole cloves, and 1-2 tsps of freshly grated nutmeg."

My version: 1 quart water, 1 juice box of apple juice (not quite a cup), 1/3 cup sugar, a scant 1/3 cup table salt (probably close to 1/4 cup), a couple dashes of ground cloves, a few dozen whole allspice berries, and a couple dashes of ground mace.

Kevin's paste rub: "1/2 cup Tabasco, 2 Tblsp minced fresh garlic, 2 Tbls each of cumin and coriander, 2 teaspoons each of allspice and ginger, and 1 1/2 Tbls each of kosher salt, freshly ground white pepper, and brown sugar."

I really took liberties with this one. I have a buddy who has won some prestigious awards for his hot sauce, Palmetto Pepper Potions. He's won several Scovies and other awards. I took about a 1/4 cup of his pineapple-tangerine-red habanero Larynx Lava and mixed in about the same amount of Dijon moutard, and added a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, a little ground allspice, and about a teaspoon each of black pepper and table salt.

The ham brined from Saturday night until this morning, somewhere around 36 hours. It was skinned, so I just slathered the paste on it this morning and put it on the WSM. Full ring of lit coals, foiled water pan, empty, and all vents open. I was able to fit the ham and a small turkey side-by-side on the top grate.

Both cooked for about 2.5 hours and came off at the same time. The ham was at 160 and the turkey 170 breast and 183 thigh.

Both were delicious, but I thought the ham was especially delicious. Not "hammy," being fresh, of course, and it was better than the vast majority of hams I've had. Especially the fat! Not "gamey," whatever that means. (I think in most cases, it means someone did something bad to the meat between field and table.) Just a rich porky porkness.

Here's a blurry pic just before I took them off the WSM.
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Oh, and I threw four pieces of apple wood on the fire right after I put the meat on.
 
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