The other day I am walking by the deli counter at the local grocer, and they are giving out samples of brown sugar cured ham. This stuff was awesome, I mean ham in general is pretty good, but this stuff was great. After buying a thinly sliced pound (and eating a quarter of it as I shopped), I began thinking about how they got it to taste this way. I got home and did some research on ham and how its made both traditionally and commercially. As a chef, I’ve cured meats before, but never tried to make ham. My experiment went pretty well, I made several varieties. That was definitely one of the things that’s always appealed to me about ham, it’s varieties are only limited by your imagination. This time I stuck with smoked hams, as raw hams like prosciutto take much longer to cure, and I am not known for my patience (that’s why I don’t bake!).
The basics go like this; there’s the brining, then the smoking. The brining is the curing process, liquid and salt for 12-36 hrs, then slow, cool smoking (165-190 degrees), with your choice of wood. I used a full pork loin, cut into three pieces, so I made three different hams. Typically I see hams being made out of pork leg. In fact, the uncured leg is often called a Fresh Ham. I chose loin for it’s ease of purchase and handling, as well as being a fairly lean cut.
Of course, I had to try to emulate the brown sugar ham I had gone so gaga for, I also made a “spiced” ham and a spicy Cajun ham. Remember, though, that using this article as a guideline you could make any kind of ham that strikes your fancy.
Here’s how the whole thing works. You start by making the brine. Take your flavorings and liquid and mix them together with a large amount of salt. For instance, with the brown sugar ham, I took about half a pound of brown sugar, a cup of salt, two tablespoons of molasses, a quart of apple juice. I blended all this together with a whisk, placed my pork loin (about 4 lbs, a foot and a half section of the loin) in a deep pan. The pan should be several inches taller than the pork loin and have enough space to allow the loin to be completely surround by the brine. I then poured in the brine and added enough water to completely cover the loin, mixing with a spoon. I placed a plate on top of the loin, and put a cast iron skillet on it to ensure it stayed submerged. Once the loin is in the brine, place it in a refrigerator for 12-36 hrs. The long the cure, the more intense the flavor, depending on what you use and what you’re going for, you may have to experiment with times and ingredients to get it just how you want it.
For the spiced ham, I used water, salt, crushed cloves, nutmeg a little cinnamon and paprika. For the Cajun spice, I used water, a little red wine, salt, lots of paprika, a little cayenne, celery seed, thyme and oregano.
Once the hams had ample time to cure, I prepared them for the smoker. For the spiced ham I just took it out of the brine, for both the brown sugar and Cajun hams, I strained the brine and rubbed the resulting sediment all over the pork loin.
Luckily I have access to an excellent smoker. If you don’t have a smoke, you can use a BBQ or gas grill , but it’s a bit trickier. With a smoker, I simply smoked the loins at 180 degrees until the internal temperature was 170. It took several hours. I let the hams cool, and in the case of the Cajun ham and the brown sugar, I scraped off the sediment. These ham, sliced thin, where delicious. I am not sure of the preservative quality of the process I used, so I would recommend using them with a few days.
If you don’t have smoker, I would recommend using a typical ‘weber’ type outdoor grill. I would start a small amount of charcoal burning, preferably using a chimney instead of lighter fluid. When these coals are good and hot, I would spread them out loosely around the bottom of the grill, and sprinkle them with soaked wood chips. With the grate at its highest setting, place the pork loin on the grill and shut the lid, use any vents available to adjust the airflow to about half of maximum. Periodically, you will need to open the grill and add more chips to the coals, you may also need to add a little charcoal to keep the heat up in the grill, as it will take several hours to finish the ham. The method can cause problems, like over heating and charring the loin, or simply running out of coals and getting to cold. It is important that you check the temperature and use the vents to control the burn. If you’re going to do it this way, I suggest having a few beers on ice, as you can’t stray to far away for too long.
Other interesting combinations I will try in future might be a curry powder with apple juice, or cayenne pepper with pineapple juice and cloves, or lemon juice and black pepper. Those are just a few, I encourage you to try your own ideas, let me know how they work out. Remember, Don’t Be Afraid of Your Kitchen!
