Gray spot on my hams and ham steaks

[rodney87]

Hello
I smoked up a couple of hams after slicing them and freeze the when I thawed them out I notice gray spot. The where injected with brine at a 10% pump and soaked for 5 days.

[YooperDog]

rodney87 not quite sure what you are asking. It sounds to me as though the cure didn’t get into that spot. Cure will hold that nice pink color when it gets to where it needs to go.

[rodney87]

Thanks yooperdog. I was wondering if that was it. It seemed like I pump a lot of brine in it.

[YooperDog]

rodney87 Walton’s has a good video on how to pump a ham. What would be better is having a vacuum tumbler that could handle a ham or turkey. You need to get the cure deep into the muscle and I want to say at least a 10% pump into the muscle at 14 different injection points. Check out the video.

[Jonathon]

rodney87 Yeah, I’d guess your needle missed a large section and then even with the 5 days it didnt penetrate that area. Some good info here https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/category/45/cured-whole-muscle-meats or here https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/203/how-to-make-homemade-smoked-ham-recipe/64

What did you let it soak in for 5 days, was it a 50% strength solution?

[Joe Hell]

Jonathon I’d agree…the cure just didn’t penetrate far enough. So long as you followed basic safety guidelines I’d think it’s probably fine to consume now or freeze for later but it may not be something you want to take selfie’s with.