johnsbrewhouse how did you do the ‘cook’? Since they didn’t need smoke did you just run them through the smokehouse or did you do it another way? 165 F? I love this idea and want to try them.

Recently we’ve come across some Honey Ham Snack Sticks that we really like which I think are branded Klements.
Now I find myself with an excess of cured and smoked ham and was wondering how I might take that and stuff it into a snack stick.

Not sure who might have tried something like this so this is the place to go. I would think the ham could be course ground and mixed with a few other ingredients to make something pretty tasty but it would have to be a ‘stuffable’ consistency. Then not sure what do with it after that? - Smokehouse again?, Sous Vide? Looking for ideas.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Departing Contestant it was injected in a typical stitch, equally down sides and several ends.

I need to know how long to keep a ham in the brine when I have also injected. This is a very simple cured ham without phosphate, suregel, spice, sodium erythrobate etc. Just Country Brown Sugar Cure.

Using 2lbs of Country Brown Sugar Cure from Waltons in 1 gallon of water. I pumped it to 10% of green weight. I put it in a bag with a cover brine that I made using the leftover pump solution 2lbs/Gallon and added additional water equal to the that weight (essentially now a 50% solution)

Being as I pumped it and am also covering how long should I keep it in the fridge before smoking it? I’ve read different times and my main concern is making sure it is cured.

Thanks so much.

Austin Thanks so much. Two things you said really helped me out (well everything, but two in particular) 1) it has Sodium Erythorbate and 2) the PPM in Dry Rub----your math is the same as mine to achieve 120 ppm. I broke up what I have left and try some things. One is dry rub inject, two is to do a more simple traditional cure injection (will miss your great flavor profiles but will still use bacon taste booster, and three–the wife reminded me of a recipe for chunked belly that is bbq’d on the grill which is also great and it will be ready to eat before I’m done smoking. —

On the last one my only concern is how many batches I can eat before I have I would have to schedule bypass surgery—it’s so good but man something that good can’t be good for for the ol’ ticker. Note sarcasm–hopefully far from that point but I’m apparently trying.

Finally, everyone saved the day—should have checked my stock before starting. Now off to the Waltons site to order more supplies!

Thanks again!

processhead …I was hoping I could make injectable brine out of dry rub and use it like Blue Ribbon with adding Sodium Erythorbate. I only have about 25 extra pounds to do in this batch.

i have several bellies out and ready to go but am short on Blue Ribbon cure. Is there anyway I could use Dry Rub Bacon Cure and add Sodium Erythorbate (I have both) to accelerate the process so I only have to hold overnight? I don’t really want to brine the remainder for days, but if I have to I will have to.

May have narrowed this done to one word…creosote. The challenges of smoking meat in frigid weather. Did some bacon on my next smoke and while not as bad I could identify that same taste when I test fried an end off the slab. One thing I have learned over the years about creosote—it is amplified when it appears on cured meat. I started looking at my setup and I think two things led to this–1, using cabelas pellets for my smoke source and two, the cold ambient temperature in almost dead calm weather caused my stack to not draw as well–so a pellet known for high ash and incomplete burn caused some creosote rather than nice smoke.
I am still looking for advice and other ideas so feel free to jump in—would really like to master the ham making.
EDITED TO ADD…I use a homebuilt electric smoker with a PID controller. Only use pellets for smoke source, not heat.

Michael Hill I saw that too…so I took a tape…7 5/8 inch

ISULarry I’ve been checking out the same as you for bacon and have found that that the blade size does NOT increase the size of the carriage or the throw by much if any on most of the machines I’ve looked at. The biggest commercial machines that are out of my price range have a bit more throw but I have yet to find anything that will take a slab that is 10" or longer unless you roll or fold the slab bacon. Let me know if you find something.
I’ve drawn up the little design I have sent to a friend who can fabricate stainless that would be a “carriage on a carriage” that would effectively double the throw but would need a slicer where the carriage bolts on to the arm that slides so I didn’t have to completely reinvent the wheel.

Did my first whole muscle ham this week. Generally speaking if it doesn’t involve mixing meat I haven’t done it much. Started with a 15# bone in fresh ham. 10% pump which equated to 24 oz. of additional weight. My injection brine was 1/2 gallon distilled water, 1 lb country brown sugar cure, .4 oz (.025lb) california ham spice,–I used 1 ounce(light on purpose) of cold phosphate although calc shows 1.2 ounces cold phosphate should be right on for 15#. Cold phosphate was mixed in first. After injecting I weighed my left over injection brine and added an equal amount of water for a cover brine.
Into the bag/bucket and fridge–ham fully submerged in cover brine—5 days. I took more time in the smoker than expected to reach temp (12 hours) but overall, looks fantastic.
Now, the initial taste—oh so good, moisture right, saltiness right, sweetness right. 10 minutes later, a noticeable after taste.
I have a couple thoughts—never had the california ham spice (maybe a taste that doesn’t set right for me), shouldn’t have used injection brine and cut it (meant cold phosphate was in cover), got the calculations wrong (seems like it was right), smoke flavor problem.
Describing an aftertaste is impossible I guess, but if I do this again I will probably not use cold phospate–certainly not in cover brine.
Suggestions, ideas, corrections from anyone would be welcome.

KenfromMI yep, it will be messier but not like it pours out. I have a beach towel I wrap it in before going in the cooler, then I have my 'cooler blankets" I wrap it all up in. Cooler blankets as in cheap, whatever I have found over the years…most rummage sale finds. I wash the beach towel by hand with dawn dish soap if it gets grease on it. Not trying to convince anyone, to each their own, but you don’t know if you don’t try.

Adding a quick question…In looking around I find one recipe calling for 20% pump–uses cure accelerator and cold phosphate and then the whole muscle curing tutorial just uses cure and spice but calls for 10% pump. Why the difference?

KenfromMI I can’t speak to the price difference but I switched from foil to peach/pink paper a few years ago. I really like the results I get–it’s a little messier on a pork butt due to the paper basically becoming an fat soaked rag, but the meat just seems better and I’m guessing it is because water vapor gets away but that flavorful fat still is retained. But to the original posters concern—crutching it can help in tough situations–paper or foil, either will do.

High temperature cheese?

Been there, done that, and more often than not with a smaller butt. I don’t know if those smaller cuts just lack the thermal mass to evenly get it up there but whenever I hit a stall, although I’ve only had a few stall at anything less than 150, that last for more than two hours I just go straight to the pink butcher paper wrap and 225 to 250. Once the temp starts that nice upward line again you can back the heat off if you are worried about drying out, but I trust the butcher paper to stop that. It goes long, especially if you go for a long rest time like me (2 hours plus). It will work out next, just try a bigger one.

So with Covid reducing the size our Christmas I’m going to make my first attempt at a whole muscle ham. I’ve watched the whole muscle videos and I believe I’ve got that down. Normally, we have a ham that is cold and we just bag it and shove it in the oven until it reaches 145–store bought it seems it is already cured and ‘fully cooked’ so we are just reheating, add a glaze at the end–easy peasy. Now though, I watch the videos, read the posts and almost all tell me to cool it down, refrigerate and…then what? Is it ready to eat right off the smoker, while still hot? Or should I, or can I refrigerate and cook it like a store bought ham later. Can I do all of the prep and freeze it for cooking whole later?
Honestly I’m hoping you all tell me to brine, smoke and freeze—throw it in the oven on the holiday. Don’t really want to be doing this the night/morning before, but will if I have to. Please let me know. Thanks in advance for the extra post-smoking tips!

When I say definition, think high definition TV. I’ve been making Venison Bacon at a ratio of 12# Venison 13# Ground Pork Butt (not lean) and it tastes great but I’ve consistently been disappointed with the way the venison and pork fat seem to blend together. I guess I’d like to see some more ‘chunks’ of pork fat in the finished product. It seems like the smoke/cook kind of blends it all together. I’d like to hear how others do their grind–I’m doing venison once through 1/8 then grind my pork and ground venison through 1/8th again (one handful of each together through the grinder–until all ground). My next try is going to be venison grind twice 1/8 and once on pork through 3/8 hoping that will help unless I learn something new here.

Also, I tend to think finishing to 160 is too high and I read somewhere I believe that if I got to 140 and held for so many minutes it would have the same safety factor. Anyone have insight into this?

Thanks

I go 15# venison and 10# pork butts if the butts have a good fat ratio, if they are leaner I go 12/13#. Always been happy with them either way.

Thanks for the info. Agreed, you can’t cook the spoil out. In the tons of meat I’ve smoked, cured or grilled—I’ve never had any spoil ‘on the rack’–granted I’ve wrecked some, but never had it spoil. What brought this to mind was ground meat. I do a lot of pork butts and whole muscle meat that spends a fair amount of time the danger zone despite my efforts to get it through there within 4 hours but the smoke and heat on the outside is probably high enough to avoid it growing–IT, where little bacteris is to begin with, spends quite a bit of time there. Ground meat though, well let’s just say I am particularly cautious with. Again, thanks for the reassurance.