First Whole Muscle Ham
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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! -
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?
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folsomwest I brine my hams for close to two weeks without accelerator. Then I use Waltons smoke and cook schedule and cook them to 135 degrees. After that we cool them and sometimes cut and a half or cut some slices out . When you want to eat them finish cooking them to 165 degrees. Have not been disappointed yet
