Holiday Ham Questions

[A Kokkinos]

Hi to all. Smoked hams are not available in Cyprus, so if we want something close to it for the holidays we buy a deli ham and glaze / bake it but this does not even come close to the real thing. After making my first lonzino, bacon and sausages, now I want to try my hand at a holiday ham. Any help will be greatly appreciated since the search here returns no results for ham.

Meat: 4 kg hind part of the pig's leg, bone-in, aitch bone removed, about 30 cm long and 15 cm, 6 inches thick.
Questions:
1. Dry cure or 2:1 brine or the Ruhlman brine (for those familiar with t). Please keep in mind that I have no brine injector, is this a show-stopper?
2. For dry cure, is the thickness of the meat going to be a problem and the dry cure method is not recommended?
3. If the dry cure is okay, how long should I cure it for?
4. If you recommend the brine, how long should I brine it for?

Once the curing or brining period is over, then I will dry it for 2 days in the fridge, and then cold-smoke it to 145 degrees and cool it. Then it will be ready to bake / glaze it for the party. Does this sound correct to you or am I completely off the mark here?

Thank you

Andreas

 

[j biesinger]

here's my ham that I did a few years ago:

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?901-Hamonster&highlight=hamonster

I recommend an injector.

 

[A Kokkinos]

No need to reiterate what everyone else thought about your project. Just one word: wow!!!!
and a question: I have the Ruhlman book and was lloking at the recipe but was a bit scared of the 42g of pink salt in 1 gallon of water. I was going by the traditional dry cure 2.5 gr of Cure #1 per kilo and was wandering if there was something wrong with that recipe. Now that I saw your work, I guess not........
Off to the butcher tomorrow.

Thanks once again

Andreas