Help me not poison my family (check my curing calculations)

[hoovarmin]

So I have a 23 lb trimmed fresh ham. 5 inches thick, 3.6 gallons of water, 2 cups of salt, 3.5 Tbsp of Prague Power #1. Going to inject and soak hoping it's cured by Jan 1. Experienced curers please share your thoughts.

[Donw]

Bone in?

I asked that because my family was in the country ham business and the deep bone section was always the weak point in the cure. We really had to pack salt down there to get a good cure.

I really don’t think January 1st will be a good date unless you started the cure around December 12th.

[hoovarmin]

Yes, bone in

[Mark V]

The last I did was a 17 pound ham, it was 46 grams cure #1, 20 oz salt, 3 gallons water. Didn't record time! Meathead has a curing calculator, that is what you should look at, along with his article about curing. Not something you want to mess up.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/wet-cured-smoked-ham-recipe

[hoovarmin]

I did use @Meathead's calculator, but when it comes to math I can screw up even with a calculator.

[johnec00]

@hoovarmin

At the bottom of the instructions for using the cure calculator, it says that injection can reduce cure time by 30% if done properly. The word can is italicized. There is also a link on how to inject, I don't inject cure, so I didn't read the link, it's left to the interested reader as the old college professor would say.

[HawkerXP]

Spinaker is the man with this I believe.

[pkadare]

One important thing to keep in mind is that Dr. Blonder's curing calculator assumes that you don't inject. Not sure I'd so that route myself.

[hoovarmin]

I'm injecting, for sure.

[Red Man]

I put your numbers into the curing calculator and came up with the same amount of prague powder #1 that you did. I’ve never injected a cure, so I’m no help there.

[mountainsmoker]

I always inject to prevent bone souring. Just use your injection needle and inject 6 oz of solution down opposite sides of the bone. Since you are doing an immersion brine you do not have to pack the ends of the bones with the salt solution. A 23lb ham will take about 15 days or more. I ran your numbers through the calculator and it came up with 19.3 days. That compares to the 17-20lb hams I have done.

Good luck.

[Donw]

My calculations came out exactly the same as yours at 19.3 days. It should have been in the cure around December 12th to make the January 1st deadline in my estimate.

[ddmcwhirter]

A partially cured, but injected ham, is gonna be a whole lot better than a no cure ham. I recently cured a 23 pound (19 after taking the skin) ham in about ten days, thoroughly injected about every inch with a hand pump multi-hole needle slowly extracted and also pushed along the bones, and then submerged. If only I hadn't followed Mr. S. R.'s recipe instruction to double the ingredients for a doubled weight...meaning several cups of salt...saltiest ham ever! Looking to heat it up to maybe 140F again, I injected again with all things apple and sugary, working to flood the already cooked meat. My panicked response to the salt did a pretty good job and we are still enjoying this ham.

[Spinaker]

Your numbers are pretty good, but you are a little high on the PP#1. Although injecting does speed up the process, I think you will be short on time. At 19.3 days for a regular curing time and with 30% knocked off of that curing time, you would still need 13.51 days to make sure it is properly cured.

Here is a quote from Meathead on this very thing,, "If the wait is too long, you can speed it up by injecting the cure. This is very useful for big hams. Injecting can knock 30% off the curing time if you inject every inch or so and if your needle goes all the way to the center and if you use proper injection technique by continuing to push in on the plunger as you withdraw the needle."

[hoovarmin]

Given the injecting I'm going to be about 3.5 days short. Would this represent a safety issue?

[pkadare]

No, the shorter curing time just may mean that you will have some uncured meat. You're still going to smoke it to a safe internal temp, so no health issues.

[Spinaker]

No, You will have uncured pockets of meat that will look grey when sliced, but you should be fine as far as safety goes.

[hoovarmin]

I bit off way more than I could chew this time. I'm going to concede defeat and go with the double-smoked recipe for New Years. I'll let this ham go the distance and figure out an occasion for us all the eat it.

[mountainsmoker]

Sure once you smoke it you can cut it into sizeable meat size pieces or leave it whole and freeze it for 6 months safely and it will be some great eating. I normally cut mine up into 6ths and they last 8-9 months before starting to deteriorate.