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Need some healthy help


 
T

T Bounds

TVWBB Super Fan
Friends,

In my efforts to maintain my health I'm trying to eat a little healthier, counting my calories and exercising. I've started eating ham and turkey sandwiches for lunch but notice the deli meat I have sliced for me is overwhelmingly loaded with sodium. I'd like to do my own for various reasons. Hence a few questions for the more experienced readers:

1. A turkey breast doesn't scare me at all on the WSM, but a ham does. I used a black forest ham from the deli, but any good ham will do. What kind of "ham" should I get and how should I smoke it?

2. I assume deli meat has been treated to last, so how long can I expect any turkey or ham I smoke to last in the fridge? That will certainly affect the amounts I do.

My wife and kids appreciate any answers you can spare! And any suggestions are welcome, too!
 
Try a boneless pork loin instead of ham. Brine it if you like than smoke it L&S and slice thin for sammys.
Sugar maple and hickory is what I like.
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Tim
 
Ham by nature is going to be heavy on sodium; it's cured meat. You could get a uncured or natural ham AKA pig leg and cook that, but you might find that there is something lacking in the flavor. On the bright side, pig leg is a fairly lean muscle group so if that's the route you want to take you're doing well on the fat/calories side.

I agree with Timothy. You can make some delicious pork loin that will have good porky flavor but won't be the salt bomb you would find on deli ham.

Try to think about other ways to add flavor to your deli meat too. A brine might not be the best option if you're watching sodium, although it will help you produce consistent, moist products. More importantly, make sure you don't overcook your meats.
 
As far as fridge life is concerned, home deli meats have a similar fridge life to any other prepared food. I wouldn't push it too far past around five days to week in the fridge beyond cooking and handling food. You can always freeze excess although you may see some slight loss of quality in texture.
 
Lunch meats are loaded with stuff.
Cooking your own allows you to add as you please. The drawback is a big piece of meat will need to be portioned out...then I would vac seal and freeze...
 
Check this website out. http://paleodietlifestyle.com/

There's a school of thought that suggests it isn't the fat that is killing us but the processed foods and the carb heavy stuff. Fat in foods may affect your cholesterol but cholesterol isn't necessarily bad, it's the type and the ratio of cholesterol to tryglycerides. Avoid breads and grains and anything processed. You'll be surprised at the result. The good news with this lifestyle is: smoked meats are the perfect food!
 
If you smoke your own turkey, chicken, pork or ham you can slice it, seal it in one of the available food sealing units, and freeze it. You can then alternate and defrost what you want when you are ready for more. A turkey breast that you smoke and save and seal will save you a lot of money compared with deli turkey.Probably healthier too with no preservatives.
 
If you're are considering making your own lunchmeat, there are plenty of options. Smoking a turkey breast is easy. Chances are that it'll get eaten long before it has a chance to go bad. Smoking is one way to help preserve meats; I find anything that I've smoked (PP, ribs, etc.) seems to have a long refrigerator life (not that it lasts all that long -- a week maybe).
You can brine and smoke your own ham. Use fresh ham or loin (a leaner choice). Butt (shoulder) works too, but is a fairly fatty choice. There's a charcuterie section in the forum -- I'm sure someone can help with your questions there. This is a wonderful investment too.
 
Wolgast makes all his own lunch meat, search the picture gallery and you'll find heaps of posts on how he preps and stores his.
 
You might also try a eye of round beef roast as well! Sometimes I get the little turkey roasts from costco and a couple of roasts, add a little S&P and smoke em up!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mike David P:

I was trying to find where I had read of kosher salt having only 1/3rd the sodium of table salt.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Without doing any research, salt is salt.

Table salt has iodine added whereas kosher does not. There are other trace elements in table salt that kosher does not.

I think the only reason it may be said to have less Na is that because the grains are substantially larger than table salt and so less fit into a measuring spoon.

Gram for gram, each has the same Na level.

I find that kosher tastes "less salty" than table but again, that's because of other trace elements.
 
Try Himalayan pink salt. Not sure about the sodium content but it is basically chipped off the salt mine and packaged so it is completely unrefined, giving you all the benefits of all the minerals that refined table salts and other cooking salts take out.
 
Making your own lunchmeats is great. I've made ham, smoked turkey, turkey pastrami, roast beef, corned beef, etc. Ham is probably the easiest since it's already ham -- you really just need to heat it. I tend to stock up on turkey breasts and hams when they're on sale over the holidays and heat in the WSM with a little real smoke for flavor (since they're probably just bathed in liquid smoke). I've been using a very cheap meat slicer from Harbor Freight but will probably upgrade to a better one in the near future.
 
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