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Smoked a country ham.

NCGrimbo

NCGrimbo

is Blowin Smoke!

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Soaked it for 24 hours and then smoked it until it was 165 internal. It still was to salty for my taste. :sad: I put mayo on the biscuits to cut the salt and that made the ham much better. I'll have to soak the next one for 48 hours and see if that is better.
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Looks good from here!

If its still too salty, you may want to try changing out the water once or twice too. The water can only hold so much salt, so draining and adding fresh water is as much a factor as time.


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Bubba Gup said:
Looks good from here!

If its still too salty, you may want to try changing out the water once or twice too. The water can only hold so much salt, so draining and adding fresh water is as much a factor as time.


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Click to expand...

I swapped out the water every 4 hours for the first 16 hours. I was asleep the other 8. :grin: Should I have swapped it out more often?
 
In that short period of time, you likely made the outer part of the ham less salty, but the salt more towards the middle didn't have time to equalize. On something of that size, I'd suggest about a 3 day equalization period to give the salt time to move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.

As for changing the water, I'd do it once a day, or maybe once every 12. Water can hold a stunning amount of salt. You can dissolve right at 3 pounds (!) of salt in one gallon of water. Obviously you want the water less salty than the ham to get the salt to move out, but I don't think you'll lose much of the osmotic gradient in 4 hours.
 
NCGrimbo said:
I swapped out the water every 4 hours for the first 16 hours. I was asleep the other 8. :grin: Should I have swapped it out more often?
Click to expand...



That sounds about right for water changes. So when I do a country ham, after the soaking period, I simmer (fully submerged) until IT hits 140 then move to the oven at 325 until IT hits 160. I’m thinking cooking in your smoker the whole time cooked out some of the water and resulted in an overly salty ham. Country hams have already been smoked, but if you want to add more smoke flavor try the wet method above and finish in your smoker.


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sleebus.jones said:
In that short period of time, you likely made the outer part of the ham less salty, but the salt more towards the middle didn't have time to equalize. On something of that size, I'd suggest about a 3 day equalization period to give the salt time to move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.

As for changing the water, I'd do it once a day, or maybe once every 12. Water can hold a stunning amount of salt. You can dissolve right at 3 pounds (!) of salt in one gallon of water. Obviously you want the water less salty than the ham to get the salt to move out, but I don't think you'll lose much of the osmotic gradient in 4 hours.
Click to expand...

^^^^This

Country ham has an amazing amount of salt in it, and it takes time to soak it out. Planning and patience is the game.
 
If it makes you feel any better I did the exact same thing with the first one I cooked. I was so eager to try it that I was sure my multiple water changes throughout the day would have removed the salt, but only time will take care of that. I usually pick one up after the holidays when the stores mark them down.
 
It needs 2 or 3 days of soak, changing water a couple times per day. Those are salt cured and then smoked for 3 days as part of the cure. I put a live cook post on here a couple of years ago showing my cook. They area really only meant to boil or bake. Even the bake is done in liquid. One trick at the beginning of the cook is to cover it in water, bring it to a boil and then throw that water out. That will draw a lot of salt out also. Then you put fresh water in and start your cook. That ham slices the best if you cook it one day, remove the skin, then put it in the fridge before slicing it the next day. Slice it as thin as you possibly can.
 
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