I recently bought a butchered pig, and I had the fresh hams halved because I wanted to try my hand at curing and smoking them. I was looking at the recipe Simple Wet Cure for Ham. and the ham in the recipe was a 19-20 lb ham. My ham is about 9 lbs since it's halved, so should I simply half the recipe? I wanted to be careful to be accurate with what I do especially with the prague powder. And blonders curing calculator seems to be for multiply a recipe not reducing it. Maybe I read it wrong. Can anyone help?
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when i run the calculator off the website it doesn't have anything to do with a recipe, it's all about thickness, amount of water, weight...
http://www.genuineideas.com/Articles...alculator.html i'm not 100% sure this is the most up to date calculator, what calculator are you using? -
I was using the calculator here on this site. Dr. Blonders calculator. It asks for the amount of cups the cure recipe calls for and how much you are multiplying byComment
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and I was going off the simple ham cure recipe under tested recipesComment
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You can adjust the weight with in the calculator. But you have to make sure you subtract the thickness of the bone, if it is still in the meat. We consider a ham to be "conical" in shape. Let us know if you still have questions. The most important thing, as you mentioned, is the PP#1.
Setting the cure level at 125 ppm
Add in your weight (9 lbs)
Water: 1.5 Gallons
Meat thickness: Enter this in that calc once you measure
Shape: ConeComment
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Troutman , Originally this was my thought........weight is an important factor in curing. In this case, you do not need to subtract the weight of the ham bone, we want to make sure we have enough PP#1 in the solution. The calculator is set up to be well with in the safe limits when it comes to the amount of Prague powder to use while curing. When we subtract the width of the bone from the total width of the ham, we ensure we are on the low end of our time. Basically, we are making sure the cure is not going on for an unnecessary amount of time. Too long and it can become really salty, which requires more time to desalinate.
E_swan23 All that being said, I don't think I would worry about subtracting the bone from the total width. After going back and reading both articles again and again. I could not find where Meathead mentions subtracting the bone width from the total width of the ham. So, I was wrong in that aspect. I thought for sure I have had discussions on this very subject with MH and other Mods but I guess I was mistaken. I apologize for the poor advise. Either way, I think you will be fine, subtracting or not. All other perimeters are correct for the calculator.
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I did a ham once. When I injected it I missed a bunch of spots. Be diligent in your needle skills.Comment
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One of the reasons we recommend wet cures. More here. https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...g-meats-safely
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Spinaker or anyone who's done this, if i'm planning on making a ham for Easter and roughly the cure is going to take 10 days, and I'm getting my meat about 14 days before, do I wait to do the cure or can I just leave the meat in the cure a few extra days? Clearly, I've only read a few of the articles on this and need to digest the brining calculator but I'm just wondering if there is a problem curing a little early.Comment
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JCBBQ You don't want the meat to sit in the cure too long. You can go about 20% longer than what the calculator says, but no longer. Too long and it will become really salty. I would simply wait a few days, then start the cure.
Make sure to give this one a read before curing the ham.
And good Luck, you are going to love it.Comment
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