Homemade Sausage Making

I was to get a fresh ham last week but never arrived. Opted for a bone leg. Brinnig in a 40 degree brine, 10% pump. Being that it is boned can someone help with or tell me whats the best way to figure pickle time. The muscles are approx. 4" thick and total weight is 16.3 lbs. Thanks,Kevin

As long as you shot it up with the brine and it's covered and brining at the right temp you should be good to go anywhere from five to seven days, minimum five full days. I started brining two nine pound picnics last Saturday morning and will most likely start smoking them late tomorrow night. If they sit too long in the brine they can get too salty. Having the ham sit in the fridge after smoking for a day or so will help reduce the salty flavor. Good luck, post a pic! RAY

Thanks Ray. Ant thoughts on smoking,cooking times and temps. Thanks, Kevin

pignout wrote:Thanks Ray. Ant thoughts on smoking,cooking times and temps. Thanks, Kevin

For my smoker I pre-heat to 100° with dampers wide open with ham in stockinettes and hang to dry for two hours, then raise the temp to 110°, introduce chip pan and close dampers almost half way, good for 8 hours and can get some sleep. Wake up after the 8-hour smoke and raise the smoker temp to 135°, insert fresh pan of chips for another five hours, I like applewood myself. After five hours remove chip pan, close dampers, raise the smoker temp to 175°, then wait and wait and wait some more until IT reaches 150°. Moisten your wood chips with a spray bottle a bit, don't get them all soggy or too wet, and don't try to rush things, the last few degrees can seem to take forever. Time is hard to figure but fairly irrelevant anyway, you just have to wait until it's done. My guess at a 16+ pound ham would be anywhere from 24 to 30 hours in the smoker. Keep a eye on your internal meat thermometer and be patient, things should come out just fine. Good luck! RAY

Thanks for all the advise Ray. I have a fare amount of BBQ time and very well aquanted with meat and plateau's. Once again, thankz 4 all, Kevin

PS Ray, With all I've learned the past three months on here could you please start taking donations on my behalf. Not sure if it will be used for cardiac Dr or gym membership. LMAO, Thanz

I try to stay away from doctors AND gyms as much as possible. No donations, that's another of the great aspects of this site, just folks with a common interest sharing information freely. Heck, if anybody ever deserved a donation it'd be CW, he's probably saved more lives than Dr. Kildare and Marcus Wellby put together. RAY

" then wait and wait and wait some more until IT reaches 150°"

I've had these two hams on for 36 hours now and raised the smoker temp to 190°. The IT is at 145° and the temperature in my back yard if right at 36°. I had the smoker set at 175° and when the IT reached 140° after 24 hours it seemed to stay right there for hours. I stayed up till 2am waiting for the temp to climb and finally gave up and went to bed. When I woke up after seven hours the temp had gone up four degrees. Both meat thermometers are within a degree of each other, and the digital read-out on the smoker seems to be working fine. This is murder. I'm thinking of jacking the smoker temp up to 225° and just being done with it, I've never had to take this much time before. RAY

What a bunch of slop, I'll never purchase another picnic ham as long as I live. Tho 99≠ per pound at 18 pounds from the grocery store, the yield was six pounds of trimmed ham for split pea soup, a bag of skin and fat for the dog, and a couple of soup bones in the covered bag. Way too much time and money spent on brining and smoking along with having to carve enough meat scraps to make soup with to ever think of doing this again. My 16qt SS pot arrives Xmas eve from Amazon, I'll be doing a massive batch of split pea soup. RAY

Ray,
I fully agree with you, I believe that what they call a Picnic Ham is only suitable to be cured, smoked and used in Pea Soup. I never bother with IT on them as they go straight in the pot.
Do you use Celeriac in pea soup? Cloggies always do. I always use a whole one.
Brings back good memories from the old country.
Cheers Mate,
Jan.

I just finished 4- 18lb hams for family and friends. After I pump and brine for 7 days and hang in refer for 1 day, Into the smoker for 3 days with 3-5 hours of cold smoke a day ( under 85*) Then I wrap them in plastic and rest them in the refer for 4-5 days. You can freeze or cook in oven. I like to let the smoke penetrate and that takes time.

crustyo44 wrote:Ray,
I fully agree with you, I believe that what they call a Picnic Ham is only suitable to be cured, smoked and used in Pea Soup. I never bother with IT on them as they go straight in the pot.
Do you use Celeriac in pea soup? Cloggies always do. I always use a whole one.
Brings back good memories from the old country.Cheers Mate,Jan.

Hi Jan! I'm thinking celeriac is what I call celery, and I use that, onion, carrots, and lots of ham along with a couple of pounds of split peas to make a nice double batch of soup. After the meat is cooked off the bones I'll probably throw the six pounds of trimmed ham meat into the pot. It wasn't worth the 36 hours I had to look after it while it was in the smoker. The dog is VERY happy, a huge bag of scraps for her. Merry Christmas! RAY

Between the large bones and the wide piece of skin there is a lot of inedible junk on a pork picnic. The taste is very good but the shoulder butts are a far better buy.

sawhorseray wrote:

crustyo44 wrote:Ray,
I fully agree with you, I believe that what they call a Picnic Ham is only suitable to be cured, smoked and used in Pea Soup. I never bother with IT on them as they go straight in the pot.
Do you use Celeriac in pea soup? Cloggies always do. I always use a whole one.
Brings back good memories from the old country.Cheers Mate,Jan.

Hi Jan! I'm thinking celeriac is what I call celery, and I use that, onion, carrots, and lots of ham along with a couple of pounds of split peas to make a nice double batch of soup. After the meat is cooked off the bones I'll probably throw the six pounds of trimmed ham meat into the pot. It wasn't worth the 36 hours I had to look after it while it was in the smoker. The dog is VERY happy, a huge bag of scraps for her. Merry Christmas! RAY

Ray, celeriac is a root vegetable from a particular variety of celery. Looks like a turnip. And Crusty is right. It imparts a wonderful flavour to soups, a lot more intense than celery.

BTW, you could have roasted the picnic in your oven as you would a ham. None of the commercially smoked hams or picnics are finished to the "ready to eat point" in the smokehouse. They are sold as semi cooked products or if ready to eat they are poached or steamed in the final stage.

I would not say that the meat from the butt portion (upper part of the shoulder) is better for sausage than the picnic portion (lower part of the shoulder and front leg). Both are excellent and if you mix the two even better. The meat from the picnic is darker in flavour since it comes from a well used muscle and has a stronger flavour than the lighter coloured meats.

Sometimes we get celeriac in with the tops still on and that makes the best soup celery.