Ham curing calculator help

[KUNEMAN]

Hello all,
Greetings from North Carolina. I'm new here and I am trying to figure out the proper usage of the curing calculator. I have a 9-pound ham that is 5 inches across the face of the shortest route to center. When I plug them numbers in it says to cure for 19.3 days which can't be right because the recipe above it uses a 20- pound ham and says leave in cure for at least 7 days. But if I plug in the RADIUS which would be from outside edge to center which would be 2.5 inches it says to cure for 4.8 days which sounds right. Which figures should I go with? I also wanted to make sure that using 31 grams of the Prague was right for 9 lb. ham and 3 gallons of water.

[rickgregory]

Hello all,
Greetings from North Carolina. I'm new here and I am trying to figure out the proper usage of the curing calculator. I have a 9-pound ham that is 5 inches across the face of the shortest route to center. When I plug them numbers in it says to cure for 19.3 days which can't be right because the recipe above it uses a 20- pound ham and says leave in cure for at least 7 days. But if I plug in the RADIUS which would be from outside edge to center which would be 2.5 inches it says to cure for 4.8 days which sounds right. Which figures should I go with? I also wanted to make sure that using 31 grams of the Prague was right for 9 lb. ham and 3 gallons of water.

5 days likely won't cure that big of a ham. I get the same results as you and would err on the high side (i.e. 19 days) vs cutting it too short. A 9lb ham is a pretty big hunk of meat.

[Huskee]

You want to use the diameter, not radius. Measure on the thickest end, in other words the furthest that the cure would need to travel. Then the calculator will give you the time needed. Trust it. Some hams cure 30 days. Make sure you enter the water it will take to submerge the ham too, don't let it default to 1 Cup or the concentration of PP#1 won't be right.

[pkadare]

Besides which, "the shortest distance to the center" is not, strictly speaking the radius of anything. It just seems to be a really awkward way to state it, and I'm wondering if there was a specific reason for not being more clear or precise.

[Huskee]

pkadare I suspect because people don't always have a cone/tub-shaped piece of meat, a perfect circle. If someone has a flat peice of meat, such as a brisket flat, and Meathead says meausre the "diameter", then folks might measure the 10" width of the brisket instead of the 3.5" thickness which would be all that's needed to cure it, so he says "shortest distance" to help make this direction clearer.

[pkadare]

Huskee, that makes sense!

[bbqLuv]

More insight. Good deal.