Boild Ham questions

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed May 02, 2012 21:51

A cubic foot is equal to about 7.5 gallons or thirty quarts. I just bought an eight pound shoulder butt. It measures 5x7 x10 inches. I believe that it would be very crowded to pack 7 of them into a one cubic foot box. To get just 2% salt into the meat would require a full pound. That would deplete the salt content in the brine for the quantity of brine that was used.

Baconologist · Post by **Baconologist** » Wed May 02, 2012 22:34

ssorllih wrote:A cubic foot is equal to about 7.5 gallons or thirty quarts. I just bought an eight pound shoulder butt. It measures 5x7 x10 inches. I believe that it would be very crowded to pack 7 of them into a one cubic foot box. To get just 2% salt into the meat would require a full pound. That would deplete the salt content in the brine for the quantity of brine that was used.

He said he used 7.5 quarts of water, and if my quick calcs are correct, about 42 ounces of salt total.
Pumping at 10% would supply roughly 10 ounces of salt from the get go.
The hams should have easily taken up more salt over the nearly 350 hours of brining time if properly covered, especially since he said that he refreshed the cure at one week and they were fully covered.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed May 02, 2012 23:18

I am sure that we would all like to figure this out so that we can avoid repeating it. fifty pounds of prime pork is too valuable to be careless about. Normally we figure 50% of the total meat weight for the brine volume to make. That would have been about 3 gallons, only about two gallons were used.

Baconologist · Post by **Baconologist** » Wed May 02, 2012 23:30

ssorllih wrote:I am sure that we would all like to figure this out so that we can avoid repeating it. fifty pounds of prime pork is too valuable to be careless about.

It may be partly a matter of perception and perspective. "Boiled" ham is quite mild when compared to something like country ham or even a city ham that's prepped all in the smoker, it's all in what you're accustomed to.

ssorllih wrote: Normally we figure 50% of the total meat weight for the brine volume to make. That would have been about 3 gallons, only about two gallons were used.

I go 20%, but I would short-shank a ham that big to make it more manageable.

Nakom · Post by **Nakom** » Thu May 03, 2012 15:28

After it was smoked and sit for 2 days it tasted alot better. Also I kept the water at 170 while i cooked it so i did not tecnically boil it.

I think a large part of it was i expected a stronger taste than i got and i tasted it before it was smoked and had time to rest. I did not expect or want country ham but i think i have had that and city ham so much i expected a stronger flavor. After the smoking tho it is alot better.

It will be a month or so before i am able to cook 1 for dinner with friends. I asked the wife and she wanted me to keep them whole so we could back them in the oven and have friends over.

Can you tell me about the smoking it first procedure?

Thanks for all the help.

Nick

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Thu May 03, 2012 15:46

I have a remote fire box smoker so I cold smoke everything and finish it in the kitchen. I have never smoked a whole ham but I should think that hanging it to dry, and then hanging it in the smoke house and applying smoke for a long day should serve you well enough.

Baconologist · Post by **Baconologist** » Thu May 03, 2012 16:38

It's usually preferred that 'boiled' ham be mildly smoked.
Once the ham is removed from the brine and the surface dried, smoke is applied for about 4-6 hours, then on to the boiling process.

Nakom · Post by **Nakom** » Fri May 04, 2012 11:54

Thanks I may try that next time. I hae 2 big hams to go these were the 2 small ones.