• Phrasty's Epic 2012 Xmas Ham Thread

So this thread is a bit late but it's been busy so I'm just kinda getting around to going through the pics and whatnot...

Anyways, this year we stepped it up a notch and doubled our usual amount of hams by curing 2 batches. We did 6 cases of pork, 3 cases of legs and 3 cases of shoulders totaling to about 370lbs before trimming and prepping, along with about 30 gallons of brine (32 hams in all). It was a feat for sure. This is our 4th year doing Christmas Hams and we had to turn away requests cuz we were sold out. Our hams are really doing well seeing as it's mainly spread by word of mouth. Have to give thanks for that. Anyways, on to the details.

Here are some of the first batch coming out of the brine and going into the freezer for 3 weeks til time to smoke:






We had one massive 28lb ham that we had to cut in half to sell:


Glad to see it cured right through:


Here's the first batch going on the smoker after everything was cured (Dec 23rd):

Soaked in water and trussed up nicely:












Couple hours in and ready for glazing:




***Chefs getting "glazed" off Appleton and coconut water






First batch off:








Second batch soaking for the smoker:






Didn't get any midway shots... was getting pretty tired by this. lol
Here they are about to come off:










At the end of the night we had 2 8' tabled packed with hams packaged in half pans. It was stupid of us but we were cooking from 5am to 6am... Yeah, need to work on that schedule for next year...:crazy::heh: But with results like this we were very happy with how it all came out. Already have bookings for next year...:clap:



Thanks for looking guys! Sorry for the long post.
Cheers.

Thanks a lot guys. Appreciate the kind words!

MS2SB said:

Very impressive. Are you smoking with the skin on?

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For the legs I smoke skin on then remove it when I'm glazing.

gtr said:

Love it! :clap2:

Really fantastic work there. I've done a couple ham cured butts thanks to your threads & I'm gonna go for a ham cured ham next. :thumb:

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Do it for sure bro! only thing is that you cant get away with the higher temps on the legs. you have to keep the temps no higher than 275 or I find the exposed meat gets a bit hard/dry. I learnt this early on...

fingerlickin' said:

Wow, that is some epic pron right there! I love the looks of the dry glaze you put on there. Did you ever tell us what's in that? Holy fark does that look good. :thumb:

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Its simply a seasoned brown sugar. :thumb:

IamMadMan said:

Nothing beats a real ham....

Did you wet brine or dry cure???

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These were brined. Used about 30+ gallons of brine in all.

Again thanks guys.
Cheers

tish said:

Phrasty, you truly are amazing! Man, that's a long-arsed haul of a cook. They look incredible, and I'm not at all surprised that you sold out. You don't get that kind of word-of-mouth advertising if you're a lousy cook. Kudos, brother! :thumb:

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Thanks Tish. Appreciate it. Thought about you the other day. I hope all is well with you.:grouphug:

Phubar said:

Good job keeping them mosquitos off the meat!:wink:
Nice work Sir!

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:heh: you noticed that huh....

Cheers