Help with fresh ham

[Chriscrna]

We had an illness in the family and I ended up canceling the order for my fresh ham. But I plan to try it sooner or later.

Skimo, I don't think too many people on here have done fresh hams, but yours looks like it turned out great.

[MrSkimo]

Thanks - I hope all is well with your family.it did turn out great. The highlight of the venture was the cracklins though. Wow - bacon crack...

[TokyoBBQ]

Realizing this is not a commonly done cut as this seems to be the most relevant thread, bumping from a decade ago. Here in Japan fresh ham is available in grocery stores, but it comes boneless and skinless, surrounded in twine in a square pattern. We have 1.15 kilos, about 2.5 pounds, in two small uniform logs. I have used Meathead’s advice and the advice of this thread to both inject the Meathead pork brine, scaled down for this size, and put a little extra salt on the top. Tomorrow before cooking I may put salt on the other side. Didn’t want to do today since I had already injected. Very excited for the results as it is my first time to use the injector. Stay tuned! And if anyone has done this in the last 10 years and has a tip before I start smoking in about 24 hours, please let me know.

[Sweaty Paul]

No advice. Just wishing you good luck on your cook! Looking forward to photos!

[TokyoBBQ]

This turned out fantastic. For about 1150 yen ($7.33), to have the best pork ever perhaps. The whole family loved it, will be part of the rotation not just because it is so cheap but the flavor, the appearance and volume. I ended up not putting more salt today on the bottom since once I took the meat out to apply memphis dust I realized it has a picanha-like 0.2” fat cap on the bottom. That was a good decision as between the sprinkling of salt on top, the pork injection and the glaze, all flavors were perfect. I started the smoke in a 180-225 range using water in the sns insert deliberately both because of the scallops and oysters and because I was afraid it would cook too fast and not get enough smoke due to the relatively diminutive size of the two barely more than 1lb logs of meat. Probably spent the last 1/3 of the cook at 325 when the water ran out. Strong smoke rolling the whole time (oak firewood sawed into chunks). On the glaze I went with no alcohol, more cider vinegar (a Japanese local brand I have been using), as recommended in the recipe, and made about 1/12 of a quart which was plenty for this size. Worked just fine.