# Country Ham



## mythmaster (Aug 18, 2010)

I was going to wait until after-the-fact before posting any pics, but I'm too excited about it. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






Here it is looking all nasty just like it's supposed to:







I had a butcher separate the butt and shank halves, gave it a good scrub-down, and put it in the sink to start soaking.  Here's the shank:







and the butt:







I keep them in ice water if I'm soaking for 2-3 days:













Some leftover goodies:







I can't wait to get this into the smoker on Saturday!!  WOO-HOO!!!


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## raptor700 (Aug 18, 2010)

Lookin' Good......Can't wait to see this one!


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## rw willy (Aug 18, 2010)

looking good.  Did that come from Virginia?  What is your plan?

Keep us posted


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## meateater (Aug 18, 2010)

I'll be watching this for sure. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  Pork, is there another meat better, I don't think so.


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## mythmaster (Aug 18, 2010)

RW Willy said:


> looking good.  Did that come from Virginia?  What is your plan?
> 
> Keep us posted


Yes, sir, that's a Genuine Smithfield right there!  Gonna smoke it with Hickory.  I'll be doing a long post about it later -- just wanted to show a couple of shots of it going into the soak.


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## mythmaster (Aug 18, 2010)

I figured out a way to get it into the fridge so I don't have to spend $20 on ice.  It's a good thing that I have a mop (although a wet-vac would be better)! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   That's one of those 18-qt roaster ovens, btw:


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## ddigitalpimp (Aug 19, 2010)

mythmaster said:


> Here it is looking all nasty just like it's supposed to:


Can you explain what you are doing/what you did to the ham to make it look the way it does and why you did that? I am not familiar with what the process is here or the end result.  Thanks, just curious.


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## mythmaster (Aug 19, 2010)

I didn't do anything to it in that pic -- that is how it arrived.  It is a "Genuine Smithfield Country Ham", and it looks that way as a result of the curing and dry aging process.


> *Smithfied Ham*:  A variety of country-cured ham made in Smithfield, Virginia, USA. It is coated with salt, sodium nitrate, and sugar, refrigerated for five days, salted again, refrigerated again for one day per pound of meat, washed, refrigerated for another two weeks, smoked for ten days, and then aged six to twelve months. In order to be labeled a Smithfield, the ham must be cured in the described manner within the city of Smithfield, VA. The meat is deep red in color, dry, with a pungent flavor. Considered a gourmet's choice, they are rather expensive and need to be cooked long and slow before eating.


Sourced from here.

This particular one was aged for 9 months.  Here's how the shank looks after 18+ hours soaking:







the skin side:







They are soaked for 12-24+ hours to remove salt.  Traditionally, they are boiled which continues to draw salt out of them, and soaking them for 24 hours is sufficient.  Since I'll be smoking mine, I'll be soaking it for close to 3 days.  While soaking removes *some* of the salt, they still have a salty taste, but combined with all of the other flavors resulting from the curing and dry-aging process it is *completely awesome*.


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## ddigitalpimp (Aug 20, 2010)

so do you eat around that black part or what?


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## mythmaster (Aug 20, 2010)

I snapped another pic while I was changing out the water this morning.  The color is a little bit lighter after 36+ hours in the soak:


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## mythmaster (Aug 20, 2010)

Well, I decided to go ahead and smoke it tonight.  If it's still too salty for someone after soaking it for 44 hours then they can just drink more beer.


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## dforbes (Aug 20, 2010)

mythmaster said:


> Well, I decided to go ahead and smoke it tonight.  If it's still too salty for someone after soaking it for 44 hours then they can just drink more beer.


Drink more beer. That would be my plan A. Looks great can't wait to see the finished product and here how it tastes.


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## Bearcarver (Aug 20, 2010)

Mythy,

I almost missed this----That would really tick me off!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I don't think it looks right----You better chuck it
East-North-Easterly please!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	




Bear


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## mythmaster (Aug 20, 2010)

lol, Bear!  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I'm gonna switch the grates around and probe one of the halves in about an hour.  I'll go ahead and get a pic then since I'll already have the door open for too long.

I went ahead and started the blackeyed peas, too.  I've got a couple of those hock slices in the crock pot with the seasonings while I quick-soak the peas.


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## mythmaster (Aug 20, 2010)

WTH -- the butt's already done after 3 hours?????!!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!  I checked it in several different places.  Oh, well...works for me. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	

















The shank was at 144* and was looking real good.

(front):







(back):







You guys WOULDN'T BELIEVE what my house smells like right now!!!!  HOLY <insert long string of expletives here> !!!!

I'm not serving until tomorrow, so I think I might wait until then to skin, trim, and glaze them.  OR I might do it tonight and go ahead and slice some up.  Might be easier to reheat that way.

Peas are going, too.  I cheated and put them on high because I don't want to get up at 4am to stick them in the fridge.


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## rw willy (Aug 20, 2010)

Cut it now, I have the red eye gravy ready.  That looks great.  They are fun to do.  Its been 20 yrs since I messed with one of those.  Pre-smoking days at that.

Enjoy


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## Bearcarver (Aug 21, 2010)

Looks GREAT !

Suggestion: Keep a little piece in the fridge
Don't eat itWhenever the house doesn't smell like smoked ham, throw it in the oven awhile. Repeat---Repeat---Repeat!
Beats the H out of any air freshener I ever smelled!!!

Bear


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## mythmaster (Aug 21, 2010)

That's not a bad idea, Bear!

A couple more pics...the skin came off easily, but I honestly can't figure out what to do with it 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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And here it is trimmed and scored with a brown sugar and bread crumbs glaze on it:







The dark spot on the bottom is too tough to eat, but I saved it for making stock (or air freshener 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





).  I saved the bones, too, of course.  I see red beans and rice in my future...

I had a slice last night while I was slicing it.  It's pretty salty (I would've liked to have been able to soak it for 3 full days) and it's a little tough in some parts (slices that came from around the bottom).  But, overall, the one-of-a-kind flavor is out of this world, and I would do this again in a heartbeat.


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## Bearcarver (Aug 21, 2010)

That is sooo beautiful!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I'm sure somebody will give you some ideas---Maybe the same type thing as they do with Bacon Rinds---Cracklin's???

We aren't so edgicated about that kind of thing up here in PA, at least most of us aren"t.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Or you could stitch your own football?
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





If it was me, I'd hang a piece of that skin over my bed, but Mrs Bear would probably complain.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





A piece in my truck would be nice (right in front of the floor heat vent).

We all kid around a lot, but this time I really am drooling! I gotta quit looking at it!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





I wouldn't mind seeing some more pics
SLICES!
Bear


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## stray (Aug 21, 2010)

dDigitalPimp said:


> Can you explain what you are doing/what you did to the ham to make it look the way it does and why you did that? I am not familiar with what the process is here or the end result.  Thanks, just curious.


Country hams are cured primal ham sections of a hog. You can purchase these already cured as Mythmaster has, or you can cure them your self. Unless you are butchering your own hogs or you already know of a place to get a "green" ham it will be better to purchase one already cured, my personal favorate is Burgers Country Hams. If you want to cure one you can find many reciepes for cure on the Internet or Morton Salt has a Sugar Cure just be sure to follow the directions on the bag. Most of us can do this only in the winter months, it will need to hang for a few months in 48 degrees or below (my grandfather always said to cure hams before January 15th in mid Missouri). Then you need to rub it on the ham exspecilly near the bone and meat that isn't covered with skin. Rap it up in Butcher paper and stuff in a ham smoking sack, hock or knee joint down. The best place for most of us to cure the ham is in an out building that is unheated and secure enough to keep animal out of. Lay on table or shelf for about a day or tell it starts to weap good then hang hock down. You will want to put a drip pan under the ham if you don't want it to drip on the floor, there will be a lot of drainage from the ham. You will let it hang for several months, when I was a kid we would let it hang tell we where perpairing to butcher the next year. This year we let my son's 4H ham hang from January till June. Now when you take the ham down it will look a lot worse than the ham in Mythmasters picture, will be covered in mold and just look plain nasty. To clean use cold water and vinegar scrubbing with a vegetable brush. At this point you can slice or cold smoke the ham for a couple days. If you choose to cold smoke the ham besure that you use a cure recipe that includes nitrate and nitrite, the Morton's cure does have both. When slicing if you don't have a meat saw, I have found that most super markets will slice it at the end of the day when they are done with the days meat cutting before they clean the saw (they have to clean the saw after, because your ham was cured outside the control of the USDA), they will usually do this for free or a very small charge.


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## peixegato (Aug 21, 2010)

The store-bought hams can't hold a candle to a good ol' country ham!


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## ddigitalpimp (Aug 23, 2010)

thanks for taking the time to write that up.  i am unfamiliar with that type of ham and that was what i was wanting to know.  thx.


Stray said:


> --snip--


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## mythmaster (Aug 23, 2010)

Here are some leftover slices -- I cut them way too thick because that's how I like them and they're awesome fried that way:








We had a great time over at my Aunt's.  There were 11 adults and 6 kids -- 4 generations of family on my Mom's side.  I took my ET-73 and some apple wood chips over, and we did a couple of spachcock chickens on the grill that came out perfect (I didn't get any pics of those).  The ham was too salty for some but everyone loved the taste.  A couple of the kids *really* liked it, and one of them went back for 4 helpings!  I'm still sore from the homemade slip-n-slide, lol, check it out:







Here I am in the pool about to get attacked by a sea monster with long, black hair 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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@dDigitalPimp, etc.:

Here are a couple of links about country ham and its history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_ham
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/CountryHamHistory.htm

Also, I've collected some links to places that sell country ham online.  If you've never had it, the taste is very similar to Prosciutto with the main exceptions being that country ham has been smoked and it's drier.  Most of these places sell them precooked and/or precooked and sliced, so I'd try something like that first just to see how you like it since you don't have to worry about scrubbing and soaking them.  These are in no particular order except the first one is where I got mine and they have international shipping available, too:

http://www.smithfieldmarketplace.com/
http://www.smithfieldfarms.com/
http://virginiatraditions.com/virginia-hams.aspx
http://scotthams.com/
http://www.cliftyfarm.com/
http://www.finchvillefarms.com/
http://www.countrycuredhams.com/country-hams
https://bentonshams.com/order/index.php
http://www.countryhams.com/products.htm
http://www.fatherscountryhams.com/
http://www.broadbenthams.com/
http://www.smokehouse.com/burgers.nsf/product/Attic-Aged-Country-Ham
http://www.newsomscountryham.com/agkencounham.html
http://carolinaharvest.com/carolinaharvest/av_detail.cfm?ID__ID=223.0
http://justsouthern.com/Whole-Country-Ham-Uncooked-1618-Pounds/M/B000KJ1488.htm
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref...11&h=9d7f90a57cee50cea77d7c0787816727ff15ef77
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...en-US&Sp=C&hierPath=3605*90022*61678*&topnav=
http://www.hamtastic.com/search_res...arch=fromSearch&btnSearch.x=10&btnSearch.y=19
http://www.hamsandjams.com/category/ham_bacon
http://www.ricescountryhams.com/Catalog.html
http://www.meachamhams.com/
http://www.stevens-sausage.com/pricelist.htm
http://www.waycohams.com/storefront/waycohams.html
http://padows.com/index.cfm/sid.242/cid.29
http://www.ecrackerbarrel.com/CBFixins.nsf/Home?Openform


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## pops6927 (Aug 23, 2010)

A more modern type of ham that doesn't require the salting but still retains full bodied flavor and mild curing is a wet brine ham.   Replacing the dry salt with a wet cure eliminates the need to reconstitute the ham back into it's dry cure state.   We successfully pickled and smoked fresh hams after 30 days of curing for more than forty years.  Of course, the original process was utilized because there was no refrigeration so the dry salting was required, packing in salt so it would cure then hanging for several months, and is still done to this day.  But, you can also recreate a modern wet-cure product if properly pumped and pickled, cured and smoked.  See my thread at the bottom for how to do it.  By no means do I want to hijack this thread; this long-proven dry cure method is invaluable to understand and to know about and some of the more adventurous may well be able to undertake, much like dry-curing salamies, etc.   Just wanted to add that a wet cure ham is quite easy to accomplish also.


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## mythmaster (Aug 23, 2010)

Thanks, Pops -- glad to see that you're feeling a bit better!!!

I've been wanting to wet-cure a ham ever since I saw your Easter Ham thread, and I'll do it, too, the next time I get a fresh one from the ranch.  Your direction is greatly appreciated around here.


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## pops6927 (Aug 23, 2010)

hi MythMaster!  I am disciplining myself to type in 1 - 1½ hour increments several times a day to be able to regain my typing skills in my left hand, that was the most damaged by the stroke.  I apologize in advance for all the postings!  If you saw all the mistakes you'd laugh your head off, but TG for the backspace key!  Can't wait for prescribed therapy Thursday, need to get back to work ASAP!  Please bear with me y'all!


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## pineywoods (Aug 23, 2010)

Pops6927 said:


> hi MythMaster!  I am disciplining myself to type in 1 - 1½ hour increments several times a day to be able to regain my typing skills in my left hand, that was the most damaged by the stroke.  I apologize in advance for all the postings!  If you saw all the mistakes you'd laugh your head off, but TG for the backspace key!  Can't wait for prescribed therapy Thursday, need to get back to work ASAP!  Please bear with me y'all!


Pops I think I can pretty much speak for all our members when I say we'll take ya how ever you are my friend we can overlook mis-spelling as long as your with us and posting. Good luck with the therapy and know we are all pulling for you.

Myth sorry for the hijack now back to that good looking ham


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## mythmaster (Aug 23, 2010)

Figured I better get a pic of the pork rinds (or cracklins) before I ate them all!  Here's what's left of them:







To make them, I trim the fat from the skin, cut it into 2x2 in squares, spread them out on a cookie sheet, season them with salt or seasoning salt and/or cajun seasonings, bake them for 3 hours at 250* then deep fry them for a couple of minutes until they puff up.  YUM!


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## Bearcarver (Aug 24, 2010)

mythmaster said:


> Figured I better get a pic of the pork rinds (or cracklins) before I ate them all!  Here's what's left of them:
> 
> To make them, I trim the fat from the skin, cut it into 2x2 in squares, spread them out on a cookie sheet, season them with salt or seasoning salt and/or cajun seasonings, bake them for 3 hours at 250* then deep fry them for a couple of minutes until they puff up.  YUM!


So where's the pic of the football?


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## mythmaster (Aug 24, 2010)

LAWDY!


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## johnnybigsmoke (Aug 24, 2010)

Mythmaster, thank you sooooo much for this post. I can honestly say that reading this thread was more exciting and suspenseful that anything I've seen or read in a very long time!!! It looked fantastic and I'm sure I'm not the only one who really appreciates the pictures throughout the entire process... Kudos to you my good man... Kudos indeed!!!


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## hibobm (Dec 13, 2011)

I'm going to smoke one of these for Christmas, but I have a question.  Why did you cut it in half?  I have cooked country hams in the oven and only cut off the hock.  Is it for cooking or just ease of handling?

Thanks, your's looked amazing!


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## hibobm (Nov 22, 2014)

I'm thinking about doing a similar cook for Thanksgiving (along with a Turkey!)  2 questions:

1.  Did you do anything before you smoked it?

2.  After putting your glaze on it, how did you finish it off, smoker or oven?

Thanks


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## oldschoolbbq (Nov 22, 2014)

I'd like to know too what you are doing to that nice Ham...have you thought of doing your own 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  

Here are some ways to do it... http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/newsearch?search=Curing+a+Ham&=Search

We're watching , so . . .
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Have fun and . . .


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## oldschoolbbq (Nov 22, 2014)

Opps , old thread , should have looked first. . .


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