Help save a 40 lb ham!

[mrmatt]

so, i recently helped out with a nose to tail event with my neighbors, during all the madness of getting everything done i screwed up on the instructions on the ham...   trying to get it in the brine quickly and out of the way in order to get everything else done.
the plan was to use this ham for our community thankgiving.

i was attempting the american style brown sugar glazed holiday ham out of "charcuterie" page 91 in the later edition.

first thing i screwed up on is, i missed the portion of the recipe that mentioned "skin and aitch bone removed"

with the whole thing intact it was 40 lbs, so i followed the half a day per lb brining, and it should be ready to come out and be hot smoked tomorrow, at 20 days.

here are my questions. what would you guys do?

what should i do about the skin, just cut it off, or smoke it with it on? seems i should cut it off before smoking.

the recipe calls for hot smoking, then refrigerate then reheat for the meal. i dont feel comfortable letting the thing sit in the fridge for over ten days before we reheat and serve.

should i leave it in the brine another ten days, continuing to check on it and skim it? since the skin was on, maybe it has not had as much permeation as it otherwise would have, i am not sure.

should i pull it out, skin it, remove the aitch, cut a slice off and cook it to see how salty it is, rinse it and put it back in for some additional number of days, or so. then smoke it a couple days before we plan to eat it.

should i cold smoke it and hang it in a stable 45 degree root cellar?

should i do something else?  or would it be fine being refrigerated that long after the brine and smoking?
i dont want to freeze and reheat it.

the brine called for a 12 to 14 lb ham was
1 gal water
1 1/2 cup kosher salt
2 packed ups of brown sug
6 teaspoons of pink salt.

any advice is appreciated! i am new to all this.   sorry for my ignorance.

matthew





 

 

[chef willie]

Matt, this is already falling pretty far back with no answers yet so I'm giving it a bump and posting a link about Pops brining thread. I, personally, would send him a PM asking his advice on your issue. So, here you go....good luck with the problem....HTH, Willie

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine

 

[mrmatt]

thanks! i will check the thread.

i did ask a local butcher that i know, im not sure why i did not think of him sooner, but it turned out that he has done a lot of hams.
he said, smoke it with the skin on, and that we should be fine refrigerating it until holiday, just to be sure to heat it slow up to 180 just to be safe.

more opinions would be really nice though!
 

 

[themule69]

Their is nothing wrong with going longer than needed in a wet cure. I have left bacon in a wet brine for almost a month. 

Happy smoken.

David

 

[mrmatt]

left it in the root cellar in the wet cure till monday before, so basically a month. was great. thanks! was not too salty, a lot of folks said it was the best ham they had ever had! easy way to preserve if you have the space. i will probably do some mutton hams like this when the time comes. 


thanks everybody