Smoked Ham Brine Food

HOW TO COOK A SMOKED HAM

Steps:

• Remove completely defrosted ham from fridge about 60 minutes prior to cooking. Mix all ingredients except whole cloves and maple syrup in a dish and use your hands to evenly coat the ham with the spice mix.
• Preheat oven to 325F. Line a large roasting pan with tin foil and set aside.Place spice covered ham on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to make 1" diagonal slices (about 1/4" deep) into the layer of exposed fat. Repeat in the other direction to make a diamond pattern.
• Place one whole clove in the middle of each diamond.
• Move ham to roasting pan and place in the oven. Bake, undisturbed for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• Remove roasting pan and baste ham with 1/2 of the maple syrup. Return to oven and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
• Remove and raise heat to 450F. Baste ham with remaining maple syrup and return to oven for an additional 15 minutes. If there are any very dark spots that you think may burn, fold a small piece of tin foil into a square and gently cover those spots.

HAM BRINING RECIPE

Steps:

• The sugar cuts the severity of the salt and adds a nice flavor. You can use any natural sweetener that is water soluble for your ham.
• Most sweeteners have the same level of sweetness when they are measured, but can vary a lot by weight.
• One-third of a cup of sugar would cut the severity and you would most likely not taste the sweetness.
• From one cup to about a cup and a half, you will taste the sweetness and using a cup and three quarters, you would definitely taste the sweetness.
• Brine-cured meat should have 120-200 parts per million of nitrate going into the meat.
• For a home-cured ham, it is recommended to do 120PPM.
• For brining, the 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds of meat cannot be used.
• How much you are going to inject per pound of meat will depend on how much nitrite you are going to need per gallon.
• You will need less nitrite with the more brine you inject. This is because you are pumping more into the ham itself.
• When pumping 10%, it means you are pumping 10% of the ham's weight.
• Pumping 20% means you need 50% less nitrite in the brine.
• This is because you are now pumping in twice as much.
• Injecting more brine into the meat will not affect the sugar and salt levels.
• The nitrite will be locked into the meat and after a few days the sugar and salt levels will push through and equalize along with the brine.
• Use distilled or filtered water.
• If you must use tap water, first boil the water to get rid of the chlorine and kill any pathogens.
• Let it cool to room temperature before you begin to mix the brine.
• Make sure you do not add the nitrite cure until after your water has cooled.
• Simmer the spices that you want to use and let cool.
• Mix the brine and spices together and make sure you count the water used in the spices when measuring your water count.
• Remove your ham from the brine. Put it on a wire rack and throw out the brine. It cannot be used again.
• Dry off your ham and let air dry by a fan until the ham feels sticky.
• There is no time limit on this process.
• You will just have to check it often to see if it is tacky.
• That tacky film is called pellicle.
• It is a layer of protein that will allow the smoke to stick to your brined ham.
• Once it is tacky, score your ham in both directions.
• Add your spices and smoke your ham in whatever manner your family likes their ham.
• It can be hung in netting in your smoker or you can do it on the grill.
• If using a grill, you will want to put a good-sized chunk of wood on top of 6 or 8 charcoal briquettes to create the smoke.
• Do not soak the wood first.
• This will give you at least 2 to 3 hours of cooking time and great smoke.

HOME-CURED HOLIDAY HAM

Steps:

• Place kosher salt, brown sugar, pickling spice, and pink salt in a container large enough to hold the brine and the ham.
• Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and pour over the brine ingredients; whisk to dissolve. Pour in 1 gallon fresh cold water to cool down the mixture.
• Score the skin side of the pork roast with a sharp knife. Cut into the fat beneath the skin but not into the meat. Score about 1 inch apart, then score in the opposite direction to get the classic diamond-shaped pattern.
• Lower scored roast into the cooled brine, skin side up. Use a plate to weigh down the roast so that it cures fully submerged in the liquid. Refrigerate for 1 day for every 2 pounds of pork (for a 7 pound roast, cure for at least 2 1/2 days). Turn the roast over halfway through the brining process.
• Remove roast from brining liquid. Discard the brining liquid and transfer the roast back to the brining container. Cover the roast with fresh cold water to rinse off some of the salt. Depending on how salty you want your ham, you can soak it for just a few minutes or overnight. Remove roast from the water and blot dry with paper towels.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add a cup of water to a roasting pan with 2 whole star anise. Place roast on a rack in the roasting pan.
• Roast until ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 to 135 degrees F, about 2 hours. Ham will not be fully cooked at this point. If water has nearly evaporated, add a splash more. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Continue to roast until skin is browned and crispy and ham reaches an internal temperature of 145 to 150 degrees F.
• To make the optional glaze, mix the mustard, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and salt together in a bowl. Brush glaze on the ham at this point, not before. Return roast to oven for about 5 minutes to crisp it even further.

BASIC BRINE FOR SMOKING MEAT

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, combine the salt, sugar and water. Whisk vigorously until all the salt and sugar is dissolved. Then pour this mixture over the meat, poultry, or fish that you are preparing. Soak for several hours, or overnight. (Note: Make certain the meat is fully submerged in the brine, and make more brine as needed to fully cover the meat.)

HOW TO SMOKE A HAM

Steps:

• To make the brine: Place half of the water and the remaining brine ingredients in a large stockpot that's big enough to fit your ham and deep enough to allow the ham to be fully covered by the brine. Alternatively you can use any clean bucket.Bring the brine to a boil and stir until the sugar and salt is dissolved. Turn off the heat. Pour in the remaining water to cool down the brine and then let it cool completely.Place it in the brine and ensure that it is completely submerged under the brine. If it keeps floating to the top, weigh it down. Cover and refrigerate. Let the ham cure for 7 days. Once the curing period is over, remove the ham from the brine, thoroughly rinse it under water, then blot the ham with paper towels and place on a rack to continue drying in the fridge for at least a couple of hours or overnight.Optional: At this point you can apply the rub to the ham if you wish.
• Prepare your smoker according to manufacturer instructions and get it to a temperature of 250 degrees F.Place the ham in the smoker. Plan on about 4-5 hours but start checking for doneness sooner. Add about one cup of wood chips roughly every 45 minutes throughout the smoking process or less frequently for a milder smoke flavor. Smoke the ham until it reaches an internal temperature between 130-140F (use an instant read thermometer). It's now time to apply the glaze.Once the ham reaches an internal temp between 130-140 degrees, apply some of the glaze.Brush the ham all over with a coating of the glaze.After 20-30 minutes brush the ham all over with some more of the glaze until the internal temperature reaches 165 F.Periodically check the internal temperature towards the end so that you do not exceed 165 F.
• As soon as the internal temperature reaches 165 F, remove the ham from the smoker and wrap it in aluminum foil.Place the wrapped ham in a warm place to let rest until ready to serve. At this point you can also let it cool completely, refrigerate, and then gently reheat in the foil when ready to serve.Slice the ham against the grain in 1/4 inch slices and serve with the remaining glaze.

BRINED FRESH HAM

Steps:

• To brine the pork:
• Combine all of the ingredients in a large container. Submerse the ham in the brine and let it hang out for 3 days in the refrigerator. (It's a plan-ahead but soooooooooooooo worth it!)
• To cook the pork:
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Remove the ham from the brine, pat dry and make slices in the skin to create a diagonal cross-hatch pattern.
• To make the paste:
• In a food processor, combine the rosemary, garlic, crushed red pepper, salt, to taste, and about 1/2 cup of olive oil. Massage this mixture generously all over the outside of the ham.
• Put the potatoes in a roasting pan large enough to accommodate this whole shootin' match. Toss the potatoes generously with some olive oil and salt. Nestle the ham on top of the potatoes and toss the whole thing in the preheated oven. Check the pork in about 30 minutes, the skin should be getting brown and crispy. At this point, remove the ham from the oven and turn over, baste with any leftover rosemary/olive oil paste and rearrange the potatoes so they don't burn. Nestle the pork back onto the potatoes and return to the oven. Roast for another 30 minutes.
• Remove the ham from the oven after the first hour. Check the potatoes to see if they are getting a little crispy, rearrange them and add the chicken stock to the bottom of the pan to keep things really moist and juicy. Reduce the heat in the oven to 350 degrees F and roast for another hour.
• To make the glaze:
• While the ham is cooking, combine the Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard and honey in a small bowl. Remove the ham from the oven and brush it, generously, with the honey mustard mixture. Return the ham to the oven and roast it for about 30 minutes. Flip it over and brush again with the honey mustard mixture (really slather it on the pork). Roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.
• Remove the ham from the oven, to a cutting board, tent it with aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes before slicing.
• Carve that baby and arrange the slices on a serving platter. Transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and serve with the ham
• Go to town on that bad boy!!!!

AMISH SMOKED HAM BRINE

Steps:

• Put bring in crocks or large plastic pail and put in ham. put a plate and weight on top to hold ham under the brine.
• Let ham chunks cure 10 days or bacon only 4 days.
• Stir every day. Rinse three times after it is cured, before using it.
• Cold pack 1 hour without any liquid. May freeze instead.