wet cured ham, skin on or off?

skin

I trim skin off and as much out side fat as I can. on a ham that size it will be 3 or more lbs. Deep fry skin for cracklings and melt fat and strain for lard to bake with. Excellent for pastry's.

i started one today. 20 lb my first one! i trimmed the skin off, and reserved. i made crakclins as well. i think skin off is the way to go

southernstyle said:

i started one today. 20 lb my first one! i trimmed the skin off, and reserved. i made crakclins as well. i think skin off is the way to go

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I know I prefer it that way! I like to heat the fat up real hot and pour threw strainer for lard. The wife likes to use it for crust and her close pin cookies. Salted cracklings and a little hot sauce is a excellent benefit!

i cut the skin in 2 inch cubes with fat trimmed the best i could. then in a pan 250 for three hrs. most the fat has rendered and skin has hardened. let cool. heat oil to 375 drop in and they will puff quickly. let fry fot 3-5 min sprinkle with your fav seasoning.

Skin on or off, doesn't matter really. Recently For the legs hams I do I've been leaving them on. Only difference is that it might take a little longer to cure with them on but injecting the brine/cure around the bone helps a lot. Along with a longer brine time a skin on leg ham also benefits from a longer stabilization rest after it's taken out the brine for the salt distribution to even out.

As a note, When I do leg hams I leave the skin on for the first 1/2 of the cook then I peel off the skin (it comes off quite easy cuz the fat has just started to render at the surface) then score, glaze and return to the smoker to bring it up to 155˚.

Cheers