In 10 days we will have ham... *final sliced pics added!***

[austin87]

My friend's birthday is on Halloween and he's been doing Halloween themed things for 29 years. Having a costume party birthday is getting a little old, so his girlfriend is arranging a surprise potluck.

I got a 10lb boneless pork shoulder and had the butcher butterfly it. I trimmed it of all exterior fat and cut away any big chunks of internal fat I could find (fat in the bowl on the right). After trimming it was about 8.5 lbs.



I added cure of kosher salt, brown sugar, and cure #1 in the appropriate ratios for an equilibrium cure. I cut the salt back from 2.25% on my last attempt to 2.00% on this attempt as I found the last batch a little salty. I have not used Tender Quick, but like using cure #1 since salt, sugar, and cure can be controlled individually. Tender Quick is a mixture of salt and sugar with 0.5% each of sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate.

It's not much to look at in the bag.



Last time I added the spices (garlic and onion powder, paprika, and cayenne) with the cure. This time I will change up the spices but add a thin sprinkling to all surfaces before cooking.

Every day I'll squish the bag around with my hands to distribute any liquid that accumulates to promote even curing.

On Friday, October 30 I'll start a late night smoke with the intention to hit 175 internal by about 3pm. I will double wrap in foil and put in a small cooler with towels to hold temp for the festivities at 6pm on Halloween.

Also, I'm rendering the fat in my cast iron Dutch oven to get some nice lard. That's just chopping the fat (I should have done it more finely) adding a little water, and letting it ride on low heat until the fat chunks have melted and there are crispy bits left, then strain and cool.



I'll update as the fat renders and cools, and as I start the smoke and finally slice it at the party.

[austin87]

Greasy pork fat hands make for blurry pics.... I'll make sure they are in better focus for the smoke and slice....

[austin87]

Here is the the rendered pork fat (lard):



Here are the cracklings:



In an ideal world you run the fat through a coffee filter or a couple layers of cheesecloth. I was a little lazy and/or out of both of those things so I just used the metal mesh strainer. There will be a little tiny bit of small particulate at the bottom when it cools tomorrow and turns white, but it doesn't bother me - I use lard in meat based applications where I don't mind a little "meaty" flavor. You can use lard in place of butter in pie dough or other baking uses, and for that you would want to completely strain it to be left with a very clean and pure lard.

I salted the cracklings while they were still warm and will let them cool over night, then use them on salads or really any place that you could use bacon bits.

Photo of cooled lard coming in the AM.

[Jon]

I really like that you are using everything. Good job.

[fedex]

I'll be following this.  After 3 very successful Bacon cures I really want to try Ham.

[austin87]

Here is the cooled lard. It makes awesome fried eggs, smashed potatoes, rub on chicken skin.... it's pretty awesome stuff.



Here is a picture of the sediment at the very bottom - a coffee filter will take care of that if it's important to you.

[WNC]

I also can't wait to see how all this turns out! I appreciate the way you have been posting some really cool curing cooks, inspiring for sure.

[austin87]

Starting the smoke this morning, cooker preheating.

Here's the boneless cured butt. I put a thin layer of salt free rub (white and brown sugar, garlic and onion powder, black and white pepper, cayenne, paprika, cumin, coriander) on the inside of the butterflied rub, then held it together with a boatload of Arcitec silicon bands.



All rubbed up



Chimney going. Snake set up with some bottom of the bag pecan dust with apple and cherry chunks



Almost to temp and will be on soon. I'll update throughout.

[WNC]

Awesome, can't wait to see how this one turns out!

[austin87]

Internal temp has gone from 40 degrees to 140 degrees in 4 hours. Running 255. I expect a stall sometime in the next 2 hours.

[austin87]

Timing was perfect. It hit 185 at 2:30 PM. It stalled a bit at 162 and around 175 but overall it was a pretty slow, consistent climb. Temps held steady between 240 and 260 with minor adjustments.

It's in the faux cambro now. I probably won't get to post sliced pics until tomorrow but here's the finished product



Of course I had to snag a bite. It's pretty delicious. It will be served build your own slider style. Kings Hawaiian rolls, mayo, course Dijon mustard, and Swiss cheese.

[jfbincypress]

Looks awesome...185, huh? I've never smoked a ham, always wondered what temp you'd take it to.


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[WNC]

Looks awesome, can't wait to to see the slices! I'm sure it will be a hit at the party.

[SmokenJoe]

Now that just looks, looks, er, looks  ...  un-be-liev-able  ...  what can I say    Fantastic L&S cook.                           SJ

[austin87]

@jfbincypress it was cured so I called it "ham" but I used a pork shoulder instead of a hind leg. I went to 185 so I could slice it. If I'd gone a little longer I could have pulled it. For a hind leg you would take it to 145 or so.