Frozen fresh ham

[killerque]

Quick question for yall. Almost all of the post I see for curing whole hams include using a fresh ham. What is the downside to a frozen ham? I ask because I have limited space in my curing fridge and I need to do something with my hams. I slaughtered last week and hung untill Sunday and am breaking it down now.

 

[416bigbore]

Quick question for yall. Almost all of the post I see for curing whole hams include using a fresh ham. What is the downside to a frozen ham? I ask because I have limited space in my curing fridge and I need to do something with my hams. I slaughtered last week and hung untill Sunday and am breaking it down now.

Why would you want to cure a frozen Ham? 

 Sorry that struck me funny. IMO. messing with a frozen BLOCK of meat is a bigger pain to work with over fresh pork to be cured. Fresh Pork is ready to process after 3 days and nicer to work with firm over frozen.   

Thaw it out and brine it, no worries. Just be careful so you don't have to big of pieces and you end up with bone sour issues and stuff like that. There is all kinds of great info posted on here about what you want to do and how to go about it the correct way.

Keep us posted as to your progress, Good Luck! Mike 

 

[chef jimmyj]

Here and in the meat biz a " fresh " Ham refers to a back leg that has not been cured.The general term " Ham " most often refers to a Cured Smoked Ham, as in Ham and Eggs. Has nothing to do with whether the uncured leg is fresh off the hog or frozen...JJ

 

[416bigbore]

Here and in the meat biz a " fresh " Ham refers to a back leg that has not been cured.The general term " Ham " most often refers to a Cured Smoked Ham, as in Ham and Eggs. Has nothing to do with whether the uncured leg is fresh off the hog or frozen...JJ

LOL I said it struck me funny old wise POLE! 

 

[killerque]

Thanks guys. That is kinda what I fjgured. I assumed fresh refered to non enhanced. My cure fridge is full of bellies and hocks and such I do not have room for the hams at the fridge.

When I do the hams have any of y'all defrosted in the brine for a few days then pulled it to inject and put back in brine or is that a no no?

 

[416bigbore]

Thanks guys. That is kinda what I fjgured. I assumed fresh refered to non enhanced. My cure fridge is full of bellies and hocks and such I do not have room for the hams at the fridge.

When I do the hams have any of y'all defrosted in the brine for a few days then pulled it to inject and put back in brine or is that a no no?

A while back, I had just butcher one of my own hogs and was starting to process it out, when my buddy called me the next day and said one of his sow's just prolapsed and he didn't know what he should do?

It was a bad thing to have happen and the 2years old Sow wasn't worth a $300.00 Vet bill, so I said I would hurry and butcher her before she started to fever and get sick, then she would be a total loss at this point! 

Since he was busy running the County Snow Plow and couldn't shut down do to bad weather, I went out and took care of the slater for him so the Pork wouldn't be a loss. 

He gave me 1/2 on top of my already full Hog I had to process, So I am feeling your Pain Brother !  You become quite creative at this point not to loose any good meat to spoil. 

Keep us posted on how things work for you, we are all here to have fun, learn new things, and help out others if we can. 

 

[chef jimmyj]

I never brined frozen meat but it can be done. There is some risk of the outer meat getting a little mushy from the extended contact...JJ

 

[416bigbore]

I never brined frozen meat but it can be done. There is some risk of the outer meat getting a little mushy from the extended contact...JJ

Fresh is best hands down. Some waste from dry aging and or freezer burn is to be expected if a person is unable to process ASAP. Some loss is still better over having to garbage can the whole works. 100% spoiled meat is just that! The dog will even turn his nose up to it and I have seen him lick and eat some pretty nasty stuff, so what's that tell you?   Worse case scenario being, cut of the bad and make sausage.