I got fresh ham, now what do I do with it????

Our neighbor went hunting and got a wild boar. They gave us the two hind legs. I know nothing about taking fresh pork and turning it into ham. HELP!! I love ham, but not crazy about pork roast, so I know I want to cure this meat, but don't have a clue what to do. I stuck it in the freezer until I can figure out what to do with it. Thanks in advance.

Here is what I have
Alton brown's bacon Brine
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup salt
8 ounces molasses
1/2 gallon (2 quarts) water
1/2 gallon (2 quarts) apple cider
2 tablespoons course ground black pepper
1 (5 pound) piece raw pork belly from the loin-end
Directions
In a large non-reactive pot, bring half the water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container with the remaining water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F.

Press the black pepper into the pork belly. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days.

After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle. Lay the pork in the protein box of a cold smoker and smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. Slice what you need and keep the remainder in a freezer safe bag in the refrigerator or freezer.

Place the strips of bacon onto a sheet pan fitted with a rack and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon. Remove from rack and drain on paper towels



Basic country sausage
All Meats can be used

8 lbs meat
2 Tbs salt
8 tsp sage
4 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp nutmeg, thyme or allspice

As you can see, the amounts of the various seasonings are given so you can adjust the amount to your taste. Feel free to add more or less according to what you like.

Salt is really a matter of preference if the sausage is going to be frozen. Most recipes call for 2 Tbs to 6 Tbs for 10 lbs of meat. I prefer to using 2 Tbs.

Pork, beef and Chevon (goat) can all be used in sausage. Chevon can be substituted in any recipe calling for game or beef.

For smoked sausage, increase the salt to 2 lbs per 100 lbs meat and add 3-5% more water, just enough to make the sausage easier to handle.


Spicier country sausage

10 lbs meat
2 Tbs salt
2 tsp dry mustard
5 tsp pepper
2 tsp cloves
5 tsp cayenne
6 1/2 Tbs sage

***or

10 lbs meat
2 Tbs salt
5 tsp pepper
5 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp cayenne
2 tsp garlic

***or

10 lbs meat
2 Tbs salt
5 tsp marjoram
5 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp garlic

As you can see, the amounts of the various seasonings are given so you can adjust the amount to your taste. Feel free to add more or less according to what you like. Salt is really a matter of preference if the sausage is going to be frozen.

For smoked sausage, increase the salt to 2 lbs per 100 lbs meat and add 3-5% more water, just enough to make the sausage easier to handle.


Dry Cure for Bacon and Ham
Cured Pork Preserves Meats

8 lb Salt
2 lb Sugar
2 oz Saltpeter

Prepare the mixture with extreme care. Take half of it and put the rest aside. Use the half you have taken to rub the meat very thoroughly all over, rind sides as well. Stuff salt hard into the holes where the bones come out in the hams and into any cavities.

Success lies in getting salt into the meat quickly, it's a race between salt & bacteria. If the latter wins, you may lose an awful lot of valuable meat. Unless the weather is too warm - 36 F is ideal but don't let the meat freeze, if you follow these instructions, the bacteria won't win.

Cover all surfaces with the salt and leave on a salting tray, or a shelf, or in a box (with holes to let the pickle - the juices drawn out by the salt- to drain away, with all the joints carefully packed on top of each other. Be careful when doing this first salting to put roughly the right amounts of salt on each piece; not too much on the thinner bacon sides, but plenty on the hams.

After three days give another good rubbing with half the remainder of the salt (ie = AC of the whole). Put the meat back in a different order to ensure even distribution of the salt all round.

After another week, haul it out again and rub well with the last of the salt mixture. Put it back. Now leave it in the salt for 2 days per lb for big joints such as ham, and 1 3/4 days per pound for small joints and bacon. If you calculate on roughly a fortnight for a big side of bacon and three weeks for a large ham, you won't be far wrong.

Take the joints out at the allotted time, scrub them lightly with warm water to get the loose salt off, string them and hang them up for a week or a fortnight in a cool dry place. Then either smoke them or not as the fancy takes you.


Bacon Curing - Preserves Pork

8 lb Sea salt
3/4 lb Brown sugar
3/4 lb Saltpeter
4 gal Water

Boil for 20 minutes, removing scum. When cold put in pork and leave about 10 days. Turn every day. It does not need to be rubbed.

NOTE: Saltpeter can be obtained by asking your Pharmacist for it. It's located behind the counter.


Brine To Cure Ham and Bacon
(Pork Ham Meats)

This recipe is for 100 pounds of meat.

7 lb Plain salt, (not iodized)
3 1/2 lb Dark brown sugar
2 oz Salt peter
1 oz Red pepper, optional
1 oz Whole cloves, optional

Dissolve first three ingredients in boiling water. Cool. Pour over meat in crock. Bacon takes between 2 to 3 weeks. Drain and smoke.

Ham takes between 30 and 40 days. Check in 2 weeks for scum. If scum occurs, remove, wash meat off, start over again with new batch of brine.

Cool temperature is a key to curing. Repack and time once again from the start.


Sugar Cure For Pork
This mixture will cure about 275 to 300 pounds of pork.

6 pounds of salt
1 ounce of pepper
2 pounds brown sugar
1 ounce of saltpeter

NOTE: Saltpeter can be obtained by asking your Pharmacist. This product does NOT require a prescription, it's kept behind the counter.

Using 1/3 of the above, mix all the ingredients and rub the meat thoroughly with this mixture. Let set 2 days in fridge.
See directions.

Using another 1/3rd, rub the meat thoroughly again in 2 days using another part of the mixture. Let set 2 days in fridge. See Directions

Using the last 1/3 of the mix, repeat the process again in 2 more days using the last of the mixture. Let set in the fridge 2 weeks. See Directions.

Directions:
Lay pieces of meat on a flat surface and keep the meat laying flat for three weeks. By the end of three weeks the cure has been absorbed and the meat and be hung up and smoked..


This brine will do about 8 to 10 pounds of meat. Do not pat dry, just take out of the brine and place into smoker.

1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 1/4 cup apple juice or apple cider
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Place meat in the brine for 18 to 24 hours in refrigerator. Use a gallon glass jar with a tight fitting lid for turning every few hours.

For the traditional wood fired smoke for about 8 hours at about 110 degrees F.

For a Brinkman, use medium heat for 4 hours.

For a Little chief stlye smoker, smoke for 8 hours

Thanks Amy. I think Joe found something at Bass Pro Shop to cure it with. It has the salt peter in it. I don't know how to cold smoke it though and I like the smoky taste. Do you think liquid smoke would work?

To cold smoke it you have to have 2 boxes. One for the heat and one for the food. There is a scrap iron chef alton brown that tells you how to do it. He uses a 3 section locker in it. But it can be done with a wooden box for the hams to hang in, duct work from the hard ware store and a grill or homemade smoker box with a hot plate, wood chips (your choice just not chemically treated) and a small fan. I made a hot smoker out of a card board moving box from his show and it worked great for the fish I smoked in it. I will see if I can find you a better explanation of what I am talking about but I have used liquid smoke in foods just not on hams.

This looks great. I'll have to get Joe to look at it and see what we can come up with. Is it ok to freeze the hams until we're ready to cure them? I hope so, cause I have them in the freezer right now till we figure out what to do.

I dont think that would be a problem. Just make sure theh are thawed before you cure them. The big box could be made out of plywood and the little box could easily be a moving box. (Hubby swears they will burn but I smoked finsh in one in the front yard to prove him wrong and he loved the fish.