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Last year I purchased ½ hog, and we have eaten most of it, including curing the pork sides. I have a frozen 10 lb fresh ham which I just put on the kitchen counter. Ideally I would smoke this for pulled pork, but I understand that there is not the same amount of fat as in a pork shoulder. So, I am looking for recommendations from the collective experts (and not so expert) at AR. What would you do with this, short of curing it (which I am not going to do.). Thanks, all.
Daniel
I cook on a 15-year-old Kamado #9, a huge beast nearly 6 feet tall and with black ceramic tile on the outside.
I of course love smoked meats of all kinds, but also like quick cooks like chicken portions, pork tenderloins and fish. Really into cooking of all kinds. There is an outdoor fire pit that has grilling capability and limited Santa Maria-style grill raising and lowering.
Update: my Kamado has been rehomed. A new outdoor kitchen is being built. Main cooker is a Lone Star Grillz Adjustable and it is wonderful. There also is a Pit Boss 5 Burner Ultimate Griddle. Both currently live in my garage and get rolled outdoors to use.
I did the Pork and Peaches recipe with a fresh ham roast. Here's my SUWYC on the cook. I see in the comments you saw this, but I'm just putting it in as a reminder with links.
Thanks, Jim White I went back and saw your post, and Sam Sifton's on the NYT link. I have Frances Mallmann's Seven Fires, and reviewed his original pork and peaches recipe. It looks delicious. He uses a boneless pork loin roast, which he pounds to a uniform thickness. I'm not sure how to translate that to the whole bone-in ham, although I could debone it?
I have cured full packers (15-18 pounds pretrim) for pastrami many times. I trim and separate into point and flat. Then I store in large Tupperware containers in fridge. Curing times is usually 4-5 days for two chunks. You probably have way more Tupperware than me so it should be a piece of cake and you can cut to fit the container.
Then you can come back and tell us how the ham reminded you of a heart surgery you performed in 1999.ðŸ˜
@zero-credit I have cured brisket, separated into point and flat, as you suggest. When you separate, then the maximum thickness is 4-5 cm. This ham is more of a large ball, requiring much more time, and obviously following the Dr. Bonder guidelines.
I guess it depends on what you want to cook in the end.
If you are shredding, obviously doesn’t matter how you slice for curing. If you are doing steak like things, maybe it matters a bit. If you want some kind of traditional cured ham, you’d need to find the right container. I guess a stock pot or even that sous vide container I think you bought (same as me right?) could work.
Salt and hang for a year or two.
What? Oh fine.
I think it would be cool to cure it and make it your holiday ham if you do ham for thanksgiving or Christmas
I have never cooked a fresh ham. However I remember an episode of BBQ Pitmasters that featured fresh hams as one of the featured meats. If I recall correctly all they did was inject the heck out of it with apple juice based fluid, coat it liberally with a rub, and smoke it low and slow. They all wrapped it in foil at about 150 IT until done. That’s it.
Dr. Pepper - Note that curing the ham traditionally takes awhile if you want something like prosciutto or Iberico ham etc but the cure then smoke approach so you get regular ham like you'd want for the holidays only takes a week or so:
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