Cabelas90 Jonathan Thank you both for the reply and all the information, I appreciate it. Not sure what EQ is, but I know after this learning experience I will never be doing bacon or ham again. Like you said Jon in the video it is overwhelming and it truly has been a learning experience. Jon, the ham that I smoked yesterday turned out perfect. A little too smoky but still good, today I will be smoking the other ham, which goes to my friend who paid me for half the hog. Jon I did like you said I bought another item from Waltons a slicing knife from Victorinox instead of a tip jar… Thanks for the help, take care.

YooperDog I took both bellies put them in a meat lug from Waltons, rinsed them good for about 10 min then emptied that water, then let the water run into the meat lug with water pouring out of it for a period of 45 minutes. Each belly was 11.xx pounds and I used the cure for a 10 pound belly so I thought that would be weak enough. I have a 4 probe thermometer and I also use a hand held digital thermometer to verify the temps. All I know is this was a complete bust.

Jonathon but why 138 degrees? Why couldn’t I just stop smoking at 100 degrees or even 80 degrees?

Jonathon I just tried the bacon and OMG wayyyy too salty. I even had the water running over it for a good 45 minutes in the meat lug, and it’s tough as shoe leather. Can barely cut through it… now I have 22lbs of tough salty bacon that I can’t eat. Now I am scared about my hams being too salty. I have yet to smoke them. Right as I type this I am soaking them in tap water. What did I do wrong?

Okay yesterday I tried smoking the bacon from the hog that I butchered the other day, and I followed the recipe but it took forever for the temps to get to 138 degrees and now they are so dark and they look cooked. Why do they need to be smoked to 138 degrees when they are just going to be cooked in the end? Didn’t help that I am using a Oklahoma Joes smoker, it was by far the most difficult smoker I have ever used to keep temps where I wanted them. Should have spent the money on a Traeger or something similar.

Jonathon do I need rinse or soak the hams in water after it’s done with the brine soak? Thank you so much! Do you have a way to tip you guys? I want to show my appreciation for all your help!

Okay I’m mad at myself… I forgot to include the sodium erythorbate in the injection, but I did include it into the cover brine. Not sure if that will help me at all or not? So mad at myself you wouldn’t believe it… All this time and prep… Trying to do everything right and I forget something…

Jon thank you for all your help!!! Quick question if I use sodium erythorbate with all the ingredients mentioned, do I let it soak for just 24 hours or can it soak longer? Will it become too salty? Does it need rinsing and soaking in water after the soak? Thank you so much!!! Too bad you don’t have a tip jar that I could donate to… You have been an amazing help to me and I greatly appreciate it!!!

Jonathon commercial pork is much safer than home grown pork like my hog that I butchered last Saturday.

Also you want to cook pork to 160 degrees to prevent Trichinosis… curing smoking doesn’t kill the parasite.

Thank you very much!!! You are awesome! I do have sodium erythorbate, as I bought all ingredients from the first recipe on hoa to make a ham. I have food grade buckets and the liners too, I am all set! Thanks again!

Jonathon Hi Jon, It’s crunch time… I have been doing everything I can to find out the best information on how to make hams, bacon etc… for months I have been preparing and to find out now that the information I have now is wrong is really freaking me out. I now have two 25 pound hams on ice in my cooler waiting to be processed because I don’t know which recipe to follow. I want them to turn out perfect. I have all the ingredients listed out on the country brown sugar cure. I don’t have a cooler or a refrigerator that can hold these hams. My only option is to keep them on ice until I can cure them, or last option is to freeze them. So the recipe called for 2 oz California Ham Spice 0.24 oz Sodium Erythorbate, 2 oz Cold Phosphate for a 24 pound ham and 2 gallons of water with the 2lb of brown sugar cure which was wrong. So it’s 2 lb per 1 gallon of water… The final temp changed too from 160 to 145 degrees??? Why the change? I need all the help I can get within the next couple days to get the right recipe down to be able to get the best hams I can get. Thank you!!!

this recipe says to use 1lb of CA ham spice, but the CA ham spice says to use 0.05 lb per gallon… how much do I need?

Jonathon is the recipe wrong then? 2lb cure per 2 gallons water? for the country brown sugar cure… or is it 2lb cure for 1 gallon of water? to inject it… then half strength for cover brine for 24 hours…

Some of the directions and ingredient lists are kind of confusing at times because you use different units of measure. Like for instance for a 10% pump, or use 2lb of brown sugar cure for a 24 lb ham… I think it would be better to list it out per pound, so like 1.33 oz of brown sugar cure per pound of ham or something along those lines. Or is it per gallon of water… I think I am confusing myself. So it’s the strength or solution that is consistent and won’t vary, but the weight or how much you pump in is the variable and will be a percentage of the green weight of the ham… I think I am answering my own question here… lol Okay but then why does the Excalibur listing say to use 2lb per gallon of water, and your recipe is 2lb per 2 gallons of water… Uuhg I am going to be doing this on Saturday and I need to get this right, it has to be perfect. 2 hams and 2 pork bellies for bacon.

The California ham spice isn’t going to throw off the “normal” flavor of a ham will it? or the bacon booster? I bought everything that you guys recommended in your video’s… Just want the “store bought” taste if you know what I mean… Sorry for all the dumb questions. Thanks again!

How much liquid smoke do you think I should use? I remember brining and injecting a whole turkey and If I remember right about a couple tablespoons to about 2 gallons of water is what I used… Thanks much! I will post pictures of the finished products!

I bought all the ingredients in the recipe above minus the sure gel. Will this recipe give me the “grocery store” flavor? I mean like buying a commercial ham flavor? The same with bacon I bought the dry rub bacon and bacon booster. All I am looking for is store bought flavors, nothing different than what I am used to. I will be getting a hog to slaughter in the fall and this will be my first attempt doing the entire process by myself. I even bought some liquid smoke just to make sure that smoke flavor is all the way through the meat. Do you know what the 1 quart liquid smoke is from? Hickory? Apple? or just a combination of woods? Just curious. Thanks!