Feral Hams

Just made the brine. Stay tuned

These are about 4lbs each. I'll let them go about 3 days rotating each morning and evening. I wanted to leave the hocks on but they wouldn't fit in the bag. Every time I make hams I say I'm going to figure out something they'll fit in but I haven't yet. Maybe next time...

Get vacuum seal bags and cut them to the size you need.

you got a head on you like a housecat

Looks great! I just did the same with a little 25 lb pig in a crock pot. Hard to beat!

Following

Ive never tried making ham before. May have to try it.

You can also buy 2 or 2.5 gallon ziplock bags that would work.

Looks good, looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

Not much to report today. They are turning that grayish tint meaning the brine is working



I have some of the 2gal bags but they didn't quite work like I wanted them to. I have some of the cut to fit vac bags that should work perfect, just didn't think of it at the time.

Nathan, shoot me your email and I'll send you a word doc with the recipe and how I do it.

This is the same recipe I sent to Spencer and redchevy. Its really easy and better than any store bought ham. I just haven't shot a pig the last 2 years, they are kinda scarce where we hunt. Should be a good thing... Until you want ham

They are cured. I'll let them sit in fresh water for about 8-10 hours to leach out some of the salt

Looking good.....

Leached them for 8 hours. Patted them dry and will leave them in the fridge uncovered to form a pellicule. 24 hours is usually enough. Will put them on the smoker tomorrow night or Sunday morning.
Getting close..
.

for

Can you send me the recipe also?

Yes sir Doc. Shoot me your email address.
If anyone else is interested, I just need an email address. I wrote this up for a guy who was new to curing and smoking meats so it is a full write up in simple terms and easy to follow. The only change I would make is in the instructions I state that 2 small hams can be cured in the same bag. I have since changed my thinking unless your hams are very small, probably less than 2 1/2 lbs each. A 75-100lb pig will have about 4-6lb hams with the hock cut off and they just seem to cure better with their own batch of brine.There is also a copy cat recipe/instructions for honey baked hams "glaze" that is really good on a smoked ham.
This is so easy to do. It is mostly sitting in the fridge while the brine does it's work. And it is better than any store bought ham I've eaten.

It"s kind of a long story but my wife's stepsister is a "vegetarian" supposedly and announces it to everyone she meets. "Hi, my name is Christy and I'm a vegetarian". A 100% Portland Oregon, tree hugging, granola eating lliberal.
She showed up for Christmas one year and I had taken one of these hams for dinner. Everyone kept on about how good it was to the point she stared asking all kinds of questions. "So this is a boar you killed?" Yes a huge mean SOB, it was actually more self defense. "So you shot it?" No I grabbed him when he charged and broke his neck. "Really?" Umhmm. "So you butchered it yourself?" Yep... This went on all day, well after we had eaten.
Anyway, there was a sandwich baggie of leftovers and my MIL kept the bone for her New Years black eyed peas. MIL texts me the next day, at least half of the leftovers disappeared overnight. I've never had an opportunity to ask her how she liked it, but I'm sure she would lie about it anyway.

Got them on the smoker!
I sold my stick burner a few years ago and only have a MES. I'm slowly figuring out how to get sausages done on this thing but I'm not sure I like it. My wife even says she can tell a difference, so we'll see how these come out.
They'll get some hickory for a few hours.

Need to vac seal and freeze some and send it to the step-SIL....

Hahaha, Jes. If she would tell the truth, I might. I've already had to tell her that fish, cheese and eggs are not vegetables. Yes sir, she'll eat a Veggie omlet filled with cheese, refuses to acknowledge that an egg is an embryotic chicken.
Luckily I've only had to tolerate her 3 times in 18 years.

I'd do it just to poke-the-bear....all libs need a good poke every once in a while......

Hams are looking great....

They're done!
Just under 5 hours, pulled them at 150*. I'll let them rest a while before cutting them.
Anyone want to guess what I'm having for dinner? What would you fix to go with it?

looks awesome. i need to go kill some pigs now

Kill some with some fat on them Doc. I hoping these aren't dry. That is all of the fat that was on these, I didn't trim anything. It was a very healthy pig but probably the leanest one I've ever seen.

Pot of beans, mac n cheese, and bacon wrapped baked green beans.....looks amazing Sir!


This is bacon wrapped asparagus....works well with green beans too.....

Why didn’t you put a bacon hat on the hams?

I thought about it Cast but just decided to let it ride. They turned out good, not dry at all.
Jes you and I were on the same wavelength. Just got back from the store with navy beans and my wife is going to make scalloped potatoes.

That ham looks incredible! Well done Sir....well done......

Thanks Jess and thanks for following along.
You should try it sir.

Thanks for posting this up....on my list now is sauerkraut, bacon, and now ham.....love this forum....

Yum! That looks great Dink!

Try the 2.5 gallon zip-lock bags at Walmart.

Thanks Bobby. You should try these too on your pellet smoker.

DL.I have some.of the 2gal bags and they wouldn't quite work.

Here's one last picture. It was pretty tasty

Killin me!

Looks great and better than store bought. Might try that myself. Needing to kill a pig for a while now, out of breakfast sausage!

Looks awesome! If you are an Amazon user search 6" hotel pan. It measures 20-3/4-inch length by 12-3/4-inch width by 6-inch height. I have used it to brine whole venison quarters. Pretty handy buy for under $30 in my opinion.

As for SIL, ask her to look into how many times a combine has rolled over an innocent animal so she could have her cruelty free food.

Those look really good. Going to see if I can round a few hams up.

Looks incredible

No joke, get some great food tips, recipes, and know how on here.

Ham looks great, now if we could just get a good hog to volunteer for the cause....

Hams look great! I need to go out and see if i can get a pig or two. Thanks for sharing.

Man those came out awesome! I'm curious as to the hog you used, maybe I missed it. Was this a young sow?

It was a small boar. About 75lbs

Best looking feral ham I have ever seen.

Brine??
How long? Salt, sugar, water?

Rub?
Smoker? I’m gonna

Thanks Roll-Tide. PM me your email and I'll send you a word doc with the recipe and process. Look on page 2 of this thread about the 15th post for minor changes.

Great looking ham. I've got 2 hogs in the freezer would like to try this. Would appreciate the recipe I'll send you my email. Thanks PK

Would

Those look like they turned out great! Have two hams in the freezer but think I may wait till we shoot a fatty to try this out. Cant wait!

Thanks Nathan. Let me know when you do.

Looks great. Makes me want to try it. One question though, 150 degrees isn't very hot, is there no worry about that?

On cured meat with high salt content most of what one might worry about is taken care of with the curing process

Yes sir 150-155 is good. A lot of recipes say 165 but they will be very dry. Any more than 155 especially a feral pig will start getting dry.
If I know that I'm going to freeze them to reheat later, I'll pull them at 140-145. When I'm ready to reheat them, after thawing, I'll wrap them in a couple of layers of saran wrap and then wrap in foil and reheat to 150-155.

There is a chart somwhere in Google land that shows how long cured meats need to be held at a given temp to destroy any bacteria.
Basically 165 for zero minutes
160 for five minutes
155 for ?? minutes etc.
Don't quote me on these numbers, just giving these as examples. I'll look for the link.
I ate a lot of dry crumbly sausage before i ran across that chart.