Smoked Boneless Ham

• Pork Ham meat cut from hind leg
• Ham netting

For Curing Brine:

• Water
• Coarse or Kosher salt
• Cure#1

Preparing Brine:

• For each 1 kg (2.2 lb)of meat, you need to prepare 500 ml (2 cups) of cold tap water, 41 grams (2-1/4 tbsp) of salt and 4 grams (2/3 tsp) of cure#1
• Dissolve salt and cure#1 in water and put aside.
• Put the netting over the meat and place the Ham in a selected container
• Inject the meat with the Brine, doing 6-7 injections and injecting the volume of brine equal to 5% of meat weight. Inject the brine in the centre of the cut.
• Pour the remaining brine over the meat making sure that the meat is completely immersed. Put the container in the fridge for 7 days turning the meat in brine every second day.
• After 7 days remove the meat from brine, verify color, and check the smell.
• Soak the meat in fresh cold water for 15 minutes per each lb of meat
• Wash again in cold water and hang in the kitchen for 2 hours to bring to it to room temperature and dry.

Smoking:

 Before putting meat in the smoker, preheat the smoker to 45°C (115°F) and when ready, hang it in the smoker and dry for about 45 minutes without smoke. Dry until it feels warm to touch and there are no signs of water on the surface of the meat. Open the dumper enough so the heat flows though the smoker.

• Now it’s time to start smoking; with medium density smoke at 45°C (115°F), remembering that the smoke has to flow through the smoking chamber. Smoking time for Ham is about 4 hours, depending on smoke density and desired color.

Poaching:

• Heat water in a pot to the boiling point and place the hard boiling water. Keep the water boiling for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to about 75°C (167°F). Poach the Ham maintaining water temperature at 75-80°C (167-176°F) until internal temperature of the meat reached 67°C (135°F).
• Remove and place for 20 minutes in cold water to stop the process of cooking.
• Cool down completely in the air and then in the fridge. Cut when cold.