Smoked ham – Delicious, smoky pleasure

Today I show you how you can make a smoked ham yourself. With a moderate effort you will achieve a super tasty result.

Smoked ham is a delicious delicacy. Its unique flavor and tender texture make it a popular choice as an appetizer, on bread, or in a variety of dishes. For this recipe, you’ll need a smoker.

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Here you will find the complete hot smoked ham recipe as a video or to read through.

Have fun and good luck making it!

Smoked ham – What do you need to make it?

Meat per kg

• 100% pork e.g. neck / leg (1000g)

For one liter of brine you need:

• 1 L water
• 110 g salt
• 10 g Cure #1
• 20 g sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 g caraway
• 2 g garlic granules
• 2 g black pepper
• 1,5 g coriander

Depending on the desired salt content of the final ham, you will need between 20% and 30% of the meat weight in brine. I recommend starting with 20%.

The equipment to make smoked ham

Injection Needle + Syringe

To inject the brine into the meat (the process ensures that the meat stays juicy), you will need a injection syringe. If you don’t have one yet, you can buy one for around €10.

Smoker

You need the smoker (e.g. this smoker cabinet) to smoke your ham.

Make smoked ham  – Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Put all the spices with the water in a saucepan and boil the brine once briefly. Leave to infuse for 20-30 minutes and then leave to cool.

2. When the brine is cold, you can drain it through a sieve so that you don’t have any pieces in the brine. 3

3. Now inject some of the brine into the ham with a syringe. You can stop as soon as you notice that the brine is running out more and more.

4. Put the ham with the remaining brine into a resealable bag.

5. Now squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag. Try not to squeeze the ham too much (otherwise the brine will leak out again). Then you can close the bag. 

6. The ham must now be cured for at least 3 days in the refrigerator (if you have a larger piece of ham, you must cure it longer). Important: Turn the ham every day so that the brine can soak in from all sides and is well distributed.

7. Now pat the meat dry with a kitchen towel. Then insert a hook into the cured piece of meat. This way you can hang it up better afterwards. Alternatively, you can also tie the ham with kitchen twine and hang it up.

8. Hang your ham in the smoker and dry it for about 30 minutes at 50 °C (122°F) without smoke.

9. After 30 minutes, increase the temperature to 75 °C (167 °F) and smoke the ham for about 2 hours.

10. After 2 hours, your ham probably hasn’t reached core temperature yet. Now you have two options: 

1. option: you continue smoking the ham without smoking or 

2. option: you continue to cook it in the sous vide cooker. 

The core temperature is a matter of taste: at 58 °C (136,4 °F)  the ham is very soft and juicy, at 62 °C (143,6 °F) it is firm but not yet dry and at 65 °C (149 °F)  the ham is dry. 

11.Your ham is ready.😄 Enjoy it.

How long is the shelf life of the smoked ham?

Your ham will keep in the refrigerator for about a week. The alternative is to vacuum pack the ham in portions. When vacuumed, it should keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. You can also freeze it. This will increase the shelf life many times over.