Smoking ham yourself: the best tips and tricks
If you smoke ham yourself, you can look forward to a very special taste experience. We have summarized the best tips and tricks for smoking ham in this article for you.
Brine meat
Before you start smoking, the ham is cured.
- You can choose between two options for curing: wet curing and dry curing. For wet curing, place the ham in a large, lockable container. Then pour the brine over the meat.
- When preparing the brine, make sure to mix the specified amount of nitrite brine with water. You can also add spices of your choice to the brine.
- Boil the brine and let it cool down before adding it to the ham jar. Make sure that the meat is completely covered with brine. Now close the jar and keep it cool for the time of curing. You should plan two to three days per kilogram of ham.
- For dry curing, use your own meat juice for curing. Weigh the required amount of curing salt. As a rule of thumb, 35 grams of nitrite curing salt per kilogram of meat.
- Rub the ham thoroughly and carefully with it and put the meat in a sealable plastic bag. It is even better to feed the ham. You can also vacuum without a device.
- Dry curing takes one to two days per centimeter of meat thickness. After curing, soak the ham for two hours.
Smoking ham - good things take time
When the ham is cured, you can start smoking.
- Basically, you can smoke ham cold or hot. Ham is usually smoked cold.
- When smoking ham, mistakes are often made that are easy to avoid. For example, the ham must be completely dry before you smoke it. So dab the meat thoroughly before putting it in the smoker.
- If you smoke wet meat, it won't spoil it. However, it gets an unpleasant sour taste.
- If possible, use untreated wood for smoking. When smoking cold, the smoke or flour should not burn, but only smolder. If the smoke is very dry, avoid burning it by splashing it with a little water.
- Patience is an important virtue when smoking ham. Do not smoke for too long at a time, but take breaks. This gives ham a better smoky taste.
- Cold smoking takes place at temperatures up to a maximum of 25 degrees. The temperatures are usually even lower. Depending on the weather, condensation can form in the smoker. Remove this condensation in the smoking breaks.
- It takes a while for the ham to reach the desired level of smoke. You have to allow at least one week for cold smoking. If you prefer a strong smoke aroma, the smoking process can take up to three weeks.
The right wood
Which wood you use to smoke ham affects the taste.
- Beech: Beech is the wood that is most often used to smoke ham. The meat gets a mild smoke aroma.
- Spruce and fir: These woods are quite resinous and give the ham an intense smoky taste. Spruce and fir are generally used for Black Forest ham.
- Alder: If you have ever tried Tyrolean ham, you know the taste of smoking with alder wood. In Tyrol, smoking is mainly done with alder.
- Plum: It is less well known that plum wood is ideal for smoking ham. This wood gives the ham a delicately spicy and very intense aroma.
If you want to smoke a pike, read our next practical tip.