Two Dry Cured Ham Projects

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The hams have been curing in the fridge for 2 weeks now….by the end of this week and the one should be ready to cold smoke and the other ready to hang…
They are firming up nicely and look to be in good shape…





 
Now let me get this figgered out here. You saying some of God's Creatures come equipped with their butts on the front end? I think the cornfusion might be arising cuz of the old joke about the yankee kid who was so ugly his daddy taught him to shave his *ss and walk backwards. Now is this hot or warm by any chance?


bigwheel
 
Tomorrow is the big day…not only will I be cold smoking the Virginia Dry Cured Ham but I’ve decided to cold smoke the procuittio ham as well…I know that its not traditionally done that way but….everything is better with smoke…..and if I’m going to be tending a fire when its 20-30* outside and I have the room…two Smokey hams are better than one. This will be the first time I’ll be cold smoking in the smokehouse so I’m interested to see how that works and I’m looking forward to it as well. Both hams have been rinsed of excess salt and are now drying in the fridge uncovered. I’m hopping to wake up early and get the hams in the smokehouse and get the smoke rolling. I’m also hoping to get some cheese to add to the smokehouse and cold smoke that as well.
Both hams have cured for 20 days in there respective cures..





 
Well as they taught us in 3rd grade...When a person excuses themselves it highly similar to accusing themselves. Never could understand the logic behind that unsmoked Proscutto agenda neither:) If it taste good without smoke..it be 200 percent mo betta with it in my book. Ya done good as usual. Congrats. ;)

bigwheel
 
Hams are in the smokehouse…damn it is cold outside….
The obligatory night time chimney shot

That’s not smoke it’s the steam off my breath…..its cold

Better pic of them hanging

Smokestack

I was trying to get the moon in the pic over the smokehouse

I’ll try to snap a couple of pics as the day goes on..
 
I’m going to cold smoke some cheese now…I used Processed white American cheese and some fresh mozzarella….In one of my smoking books it says to use the processed cheese because it holds up better during the smoking process….In the fresh cheese the butter fat molecules bond with the impurities in the smoke which can lead to a harsh flavor…the processed cheese the butter fat molecules have bonding with the emulsification additives and you won’t get that harsh flavor…..I’m trying to avoid that with the mozzarella so I wrapped it in cheese cloth with the hopes that the cloth will act as a filter…

 
Temp was starting to creep up to around 80* so I switched out the pipe that feeds to the smokehouse…I took off the double walled insulated pipe and put on the thinner pipe in the hopes that the ambient air will cool the smoke as it travels to the smokehouse…
 
The cheese is done smoking…came out good…it will be even better after the smoke flavor mellows.
It took on a nice golden brown color.




The smokehouse has held below 80* all day…
 
The hams are finally out of the smokehouse….while we were waiting for the hams to finish up we needed a snack…a little bit of Italian bread with some herb infused EVOO….topped with some of our homemade fire roasted pickled red peppers…http://www.bbq-4-u.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10810&highlight=fire+roasted+red+peppers
And finished with that smoked fresh mozzarella we did today…a few minutes under the broiler and BAM….







The hams are looking and smelling good…the smokehouse worked well for cold smoking I had no issues with the temp….but it was 25-30*F outside…..
In the smokehouse


The Virginia dry cured ham





Smoked Procuttio anyone?



The inside part (meat side) coated in lard and black pepper



Hung up to dry…see them in 6 months to a year….



All in all its been a good day 18hrs of cold smoking some hams I wont’ be able to try for a long time….but the pepperoni is coming along nicely and might be ready next week if not the week after for sure..as will the bresola….
 

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