Fresh pork leg to HAM

[the-bone]

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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Hello all!

Wanted to share my adventure in curing/smoking a fresh pork leg into a ham. A HUGE THANKS to POP's in giving me the tutorial and recipe/confidence to try this!

First I used Pop's cure to do this:

1 gal. cold water
1 cup salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. DQ Cure (or any #1 cure, but not Tenderquick with salt added)

To this I added 2 Tablespoons of cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon of cloves, 1 Tablespoon of mustard seed, 1 Tablespoon of red pepper flakes and 1 Tablespoon of coriander seed. I boiled all ingredients and allowed to cool.
 I took at least 20 percent of the cure and injected it and then placed it into 2 double bagged 5 gallon ziplocks and placed it into the fridge for 28 days(should have gone for 30 but 28 landed me onto the weekend). Pictures as follows:

 

[the-bone]

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

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• the-bone
• Feb 21, 2016

 

[the-bone]

cut the aitch bone off and the ham hock. Smoked with cherry wood in an MES at 240 degrees for about 6.5 hours and took to 145 degrees, Tasted and HMMMMMMM...awesome...in freezer now for Easter...Thanks POP's!

 

[SmokinAl]

Great job with the ham.

I use Pop's brine for curing everything, it's just too easy!

Points for a successful first try!

Al

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Looks good.

One note though, it is not recommended to boil the mixture with the cure in it. Hopefully you added the cure after it cooled back down.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Looks good.

One note though, it is not recommended to boil the mixture with the cure in it. Hopefully you added the cure after it cooled back down.

I too have heard this and even quoted it, but I am thinking it is more anecdotal and not quite fact based. I can't seem to find anything specific regarding meat preservation properties of Sodium Nitrite breaking down when heated but Chemistry References show Sodium Nitrite heat stable up to 330°C (626°F). If anybody has a reputable reference that Boiling Sodium Nitrite renders it ineffectual I would like to add it to the Safety Forum. The search continues...JJ

http://www.nist.gov/data/PDFfiles/jpcrd11.pdf...  Page 21 of 26