After the brine

dferron

New member
Been brining my first ham for dinner tomorrow. I used the process here at Pellet.... I found it easy to follow and with all the pics made it easy. I searched a lot of sites and recipes before I settled here. Many of the other recipes said to take the brined meat and put in clean water for 24 hours before smoking. I read over the instructions here several times and did not find it. Wanting to make sure that I didn't miss it if this in a necessary process.

Question: Do I need to put the brined ham in clean water for 24 hours before smoking?

Have a Blessed Christmas!
 

rwalters

New member
Have never brined a ham, but have brined plenty of poultry. As far as I know, the post brine step on any piece of protein is nothing more than a good thorough rinse with cold fresh water.
 

rwalters

New member
Thanks for the FAST reply and info. Will take the advice.:)


A brine contains a high concentration of salt, and the salt is the agent responsible for sending the moisture/flavor deep into the meat. On the other hand, a cold water bath has no ability to do anything other then rinse the surface. So whether it be a good rinse or fresh water bath, I think the results will be identical.
 

dferron

New member
Thanks again. With just my wife and I, a fresh ham would have been a bit much. I purchased pork sirloins at Costco ... great buy! and decided to cure two of them. They are 2-1/2 and 3#. Going to start with a cold smoke for a couple of hours and then finish with cooking and smoke.

I don't have a pellet smoker - yet, but leaning that way. I have a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker that has smoked and cooked all kinds or meat and fish. I even do burgers now and again. My fav thing to do is summer sausage, ribs, and brisket.

Going to take a look at some of the recipes later on.

Glad to be aboard!
 

rwalters

New member
Thanks again. With just my wife and I, a fresh ham would have been a bit much. I purchased pork sirloins at Costco ... great buy! and decided to cure two of them. They are 2-1/2 and 3#. Going to start with a cold smoke for a couple of hours and then finish with cooking and smoke.

I don't have a pellet smoker - yet, but leaning that way. I have a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker that has smoked and cooked all kinds or meat and fish. I even do burgers now and again. My fav thing to do is summer sausage, ribs, and brisket.

Going to take a look at some of the recipes later on.

Glad to be aboard!


NICE! I did a ham not to long ago on my Kamado Joe... was YUM! Used a maple/rum based glaze. Do you glaze?
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dferron

New member
This is my first go with brining and smoking ham. I think I am going to start with an easy brown sugar & honey. This should go along well with the hickory cold smoke followed with a 1 hour hickory, glazing and finish cooking to temp. Didn't have time to run around looking for something sweeter in pellets or shavings for cold smoke. So will deal with what I have on hand. Thought of adding raisins to the glaze.

The ham looks delicious. Did you cold and hot smoke?
 
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dferron

New member
What does this mean? Do I have to do more than visit my post replies?

There may also be other replies, but you will not receive any more notifications until you visit the forum again.
All the best,
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dferron

New member
Thank "rwalters" for all the help. My first try was a super success. I had to make my own cold smoker container. There were none locally and too late for online. I found a 7.5" stainless strainer with handle at a local restaurant supply ... less than $7. All I had to do was to push the bottom up. It worked perfectly at about 1/4 the price of commercial types. Cold smoked for about 2.5 hours at 80* and finished with fhot smoke 2.5 hours at 225*. I glazed (brown sugar raisin honey with spices) about 4 times during the hot smoke. This was probably the best ham we have ever had. Thanks again for the help!!

Tried to post pics, but didn't figure it out.
 
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