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First Side Bacon & Ham


 
Shawn W

Shawn W

TVWBB Emerald Member
Some family got a small hog butchered and I took half. It was all frozen and wrapped in meat paper.

I'm going to try brine curing the ham with salt + TQ + honey in water, and I started dry curing the side for bacon this morning. The leg is going to need another couple of days to thaw.

About the side bacon, the skin was still on. I took a stab at removing it but I quit after removing the first strip as it was clear I would have mangled the thing. Will it cure properly with the skin on? Does it make good eats or should I have removed the skin?

About the ham I was reading elsewhere about what a giant PITA hams are the old fashioned way but curious about one thing: aging. One article said to hang in a muslin bag in a cool place after curing and smoking and the meat improves over a period of months. 'Wipe off mold, this is normal'. Yuck! What I'm thinking to do is cure, smoke, vac pac and let it sit in my sub 40Fº fridge until Thanksgiving. Would it give me an improved product to let it age in this fashion?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Shawn W:
About the side bacon, the skin was still on. I took a stab at removing it but I quit after removing the first strip as it was clear I would have mangled the thing. Will it cure properly with the skin on? Does it make good eats or should I have removed the skin? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Shawn, Yeah leave the skin on. Once the bacon is smoked you can cut it off while it's still warm, not hot though. I lay mine skin down on a cutting board and use my 14" slicer to remove. Just like you do when you remove the skin off a big hunk of salmon. I leave it in one piece and freeze. You can pull it out and cut some off for seasoning soups, beans, etc. HTH
 
I usually remove the skin after curing and rinsing but before drying and smoking. Just so that I have more surface area for rub--if I'm rubbing. (Did an Aleppo-rubbed belly before I left last week. Smoked it cooled it, vac'd and froze. Didn't get to try any yet.) You can certainly do it after smoking as Bryan suggests.

I have never heard of aging hams in a 'cool place'. Hams are typically aged warmer, with adequate humidity and good air ciruclation. The cool part is for the cure, which is why hams are (in the country) typically cured in winter; aging takes place during the spring when temps warm. (In the south, these temps are quite warm; in the southern Mid-west, they are cooler but still warming over the period.)

Though shelf life is extended by curing, it is not extended as much as the very long cured/smoked/aged hams because the salt level is not as high. Use of a brine cure, too, makes the ham juicier than the drier, longer lived, country hams. The drier nature of country hams, along with all that salt, is what gives them a long shelf life.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Btw, you are planning to inject the ham, yes? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Thanks Kevin. I think this was the other article I was referring to. Differs a bit from what you are saying but I'd take you word on it. I'm not going to age it in a muslin bag anyways. Sounds like from what your saying aging won't improve it so we'll probably eat it after it's smoked.

I hadn't planned on injecting it, when are you suggesting to inject it and with what?
 
Yes. And so your brine concentration doesn't need to be over-the-top. If you inject brine (making sure you hit all sides of the bone, all along the bone) then immerse in your brine you'll cut the brine time. (I do 20-lb hams, untrimmed weight, in 10-11 days.

Injecting then immersing also eliminates an equalization stage (the first 'cool, dry place' mentioned in the link you posted) whereby the hams rests after curing so that salt/moisture levels equalize.

Wait--hold everything. I just re-read your link. Are you planning on that concentration? If so, that's a much, much stronger mix than I use. You would get much longer shelf life (and a much saltier finish). Whether the latter 'cool dry' phase works, the one post smoking--I assume it does, I am just unfamiliar with cool temps being used here and am very unfamiliar with the paper wrapping. This is not typical in the processes I am familiar with.

The amounts shown in your link are the standard amount for dry-cured country hams--without the water of course. THey are quite salty. Is that what you are shooting for or are you using a different salt concentration?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Yes. And so your brine concentration doesn't need to be over-the-top. If you inject brine (making sure you hit all sides of the bone, all along the bone) then immerse in your brine you'll cut the brine time. (I do 20-lb hams, untrimmed weight, in 10-11 days.

Injecting then immersing also eliminates an equalization stage (the first 'cool, dry place' mentioned in the link you posted) whereby the hams rests after curing so that salt/moisture levels equalize.

Wait--hold everything. I just re-read your link. Are you planning on that concentration? If so, that's a much, much stronger mix than I use. You would get much longer shelf life (and a much saltier finish). Whether the latter 'cool dry' phase works, the one post smoking--I assume it does, I am just unfamiliar with cool temps being used here and am very unfamiliar with the paper wrapping. This is not typical in the processes I am familiar with.

The amounts shown in your link are the standard amount for dry-cured country hams--without the water of course. THey are quite salty. Is that what you are shooting for or are you using a different salt concentration? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Ah I see, no I'm still doing homework, I haven't decided on a cure yet, I think country cured hams are not for me (not that I wouldn't TRY some set out in front of me
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). The dizzy pig link in this post looks good, but I might go with :

1 gallon water
1/2 cups kosher salt
2 packed cups brown sugar
1/2 (8tsp) ounces of pink salt (curing salt)

from the same thread. I was looking for a baseline water/salt/curing salt/cure time/WSM cooking method.

I have a bunch of liquid honey that has crystalized and I want to use up so I'll probably do something like cut sugar in half then add double honey by volume.

Your thoughts Kevin?

I think I'll post a recipe request for baseline WSM ham brine/cure and cook.
 
Well, I think that that is not enough salt. If Morton, it works out to 1.87oz/qt; if DC, it works out to 1.25oz/qt. My salt ratio is 4oz/qt. (Dizzy's is the same as mine.) In most cases, especially for thicker items, I think it is better to go with more salt for the curing process, removing some, if desired, by soaking post cure, to have better assurance that the cure will take well and in a reasonable amount of time.

I go with a somewhat higher amount of curing salt per quart but it is the salt level I am more concerned with.

(Just FYI: I dug this up to show you the sort of info I am familiar with.)

I'll post something to your request in that forum. It is similar to Dizzy's in ratios and procedure but I, of course
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, season differently.
 
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