a pancake with fruit for flavoring made using cottage cheese.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 days 12 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 days 14 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
Ingredients
- 18 ounces kosher salt
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 7 teaspoons pink salt #1 (curing salt)
- 1 tablespoon pickling spice, or to taste
- 6 quarts water, divided
- 1 (7 pound) fresh, bone-in pork shoulder (“picnic”) arm roast, with the skin still on
- 1 cup water, or as needed
- 2 whole star anise
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Place kosher salt, brown sugar, pink salt, and pickling spice in a container large enough to hold brine and ham.
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- Bring 2 quarts water to a boil and pour over brine ingredients; whisk to dissolve. Pour in 1 gallon fresh cold water to cool down mixture.
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- Score the skin side of pork roast with a sharp knife, cutting into the fat beneath the skin but not into the meat. Score about 1 inch apart, then score in the opposite direction to get a classic diamond-shaped pattern.
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- Lower roast into brine, skin-side up. Use a plate to weigh down roast, so it cures fully submerged in liquid. Refrigerate for 1 day for every 2 pounds of pork (cure for 2 1/2 days for a 7-pound roast). Turn roast over halfway through the brining process.
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- Remove roast from brining liquid. Discard brining liquid and transfer roast back to the brining container. Cover roast with fresh cold water to rinse off salt; let soak for a few minutes to overnight, depending on how salty you want your ham. Remove roast from water and blot dry with paper towels.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Add 1 cup water and 2 whole star anise to a roasting pan. Place roast on a rack in the roasting pan.
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- Roast in the preheated oven until ham reaches an internal temperature of 130 to 135 degrees F (55 to 58 degrees C), about 2 hours. Ham will not be fully cooked at this point. If water has nearly evaporated, add a splash more.
- Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Continue to roast ham until the skin is browned and crispy and the internal temperature reaches 145 to 150 degrees F (63 to 66 degrees C).
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- Make optional glaze: Mix mustard, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and salt together in a bowl. Brush glaze on baked ham. Return roast to the oven for 5 minutes.
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- Enjoy!
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- Eighteen ounces of kosher salt equals about 2 1/2 cups Morton’s kosher salt or 3 2/3 cups Diamond Crystal kosher salt, as they have different size grains.
- Once ham is cured, you’ll want to give it a soak to rinse off the brine; how long you do this can affect how salty your meat is. I prefer a quick dunk, but you can soak it for as long as 24 hours, producing what I call a low-sodium ham. It’s still pink and flavorful but barely salty. Experimentation is the only way to figure out how long to soak it, but I wanted to give you the range.
Reviews
Very salty only soaked few hours should soaked over night.
Perfect ham everyone loved it they could not believe I made it
This recipe is amazing. I used the amount of curing salt recommended and had an 8.8lb pork shoulder. I cured it for 2.5 days as recommended, then soaked for 2hrs. I then put it in my Big Green Egg with some cherry wood for smoke. Fantastic. I’ve cured several hams over the years, as I live in Italy and they just aren’t available as in the US. This will be my go to recipe from now on!! See Instagram @Thecookingcolonel.
My God man. This was incredible! I followed your recipe for the brine exactly, but I cooked it differently, using an Instant Pot instead of an oven, but glazing under the broiler, and making my pineapple glaze that I am used to. But I incorporated the mustard. I didn’t think it would turn out as tasty as a holiday ham but I was wrong! It is better than store-bought without a doubt. My family is all going ballistic as I type this, and our 4.25lb. pork shoulder is going to be gone by tomorrow night for sure! 5 stars plus, and thank you for making our night!
This is perfect. It is nearly the perfect amount of salt. After reading the reviews and doing my own calculations from the weight of most hams made, I came up with 2.5% salt content. This is equilibrium brining. Those that say is this was a ridiculous amount of salt have been doing dry brining. When wet brining, you add the weight of the pork and water and multiply it by the percentage of salt you want. I have seen anywhere from 2 to 7%. I think most that use Equilibrium brining shoot for 2%.
Has anyone used Chef John’s Honey Glaze on the home brined ham? I just put my 8 lb picnic ham in the brine and am planning on pulling it out in 4 days. The honey glaze sounds better than the one on his home-brined recipe. Thanks!
Used an 8lb pork butt. Cured for 4 1/2 days. Used erythritol brown sugar substitute. Soaked in cold water for 2 hours and dried on rack with a fan. Smoked at 275-300 for about 4 hours. Turned out FANTASTIC!! Definitely worth the time!
Very good recipe. I’ve made it several times and would recommend a couple of things. I wouldn’t make a shoulder (picnic ham) again, way too fatty for me. The butt is a much better cut of meat and makes a nice presentation. Second I would leave the meat in the cure an extra day for a 8lb. ham longer for a larger one, so that the entire center is cured. I also soaked 1 day in water to reduce the saltiness.
Did everything except the curing salt and it was just as delicious!!
First time to try to cure a ham… I used the rear leg HAM part ABOUT 8 LBS and followed he directions… I used 3 cups of pineapple juice as part of the brine.. fresh sea salt.. cane sugar and the spices mentioned. After cure, I did the clean water soak overnight 9-10 hours I also used the glaze recipe mentioned My cook was on my Akorn Egg BBQ with 350F and 425F as in the recipe and using pecan chucks for smoke. 3-4 hours total time It turned out great! I did have a very small uncured area in the center of my ham .. so I will increase the cure time next time by a day. Flavor and texture is wonderful.. saltiness is perfect for our tastes and the slight taste and sweetness of the pineapple juice is barely present but nice. The smokiness is in the outer layer and the fat maybe 1/2 in. I love pecan wood for smoking and use it in my bacon recipe also.
I made this with 2 pork loins, and have been making bacon and Canadian Bacon for some time. BUT the salt and cure levels are RIDICULOUSLY HIGH. Normal curing uses the EQ method. A seven pound piece of meat should use, in a brine … just over 1/2 ounce of cure. The salt should be … 5 ounces of salt. This is CRAZY high. Pink salt or curing salt is toxic to humans but is not present in finished, cured meats in a high enough dose to cause illness or death.
Made it with a boneless pork shoulder and kept the flavors savory with a garlic rosemary rub.
I made it for the first time Followed recipe exectly it came out Perfect! 1 1/2 days of brining followed with 10 minute water soak. Grilled it in Neff Oven Using Thermo Roasting setting at 160c for 3 hours.
I made the brine per the recipe but used a whole 8 lb pork loin. Amazing!
This came out fantastic. I kept as close to the recipe as I could with just two small changes. As he hinted at in the video, I cooked this on my gas grill with hickory wood chips to give a nice smokey flavor to the ham. Also, I didn’t have any maple syrup for the glaze so I used honey instead. The only thing I would change next time would be to put it in a roasting bag for the brining process to help keep down the mess when I move the tub around in the fridge. I will be doing this one again in the future.
Fantastic Recipe! Made my first Christmas Ham and it was a hit! Used a bone-in pork shoulder and worked fantastic. Wondering if it would work with a boneless pork loin too!
My first home-cured ham. This recipe could not have been any easier! I soaked my ham too much so it was not as salty as I would
Tasty. I used cured pork (ham) as base for my split pea soup. Superb.
Wow. This recipe was the best. Thank you for making our Thanksgiving dinner to die for with this ham recipe
I used two boneless pork butts, one 8lb one 9lb, and cooked them differently. I followed the brine recipe except I didn’t have pink salt so I subbed sea salt. I was able to brine both butts in same large ss stock pot. I brined for 3 days then rinsed in fresh water for about 15 min. I tied the butts. I smoked the 9lb butt in my Masterbuilt electric smoker at 275F with Hickory chips until it reached 150F, about 2.5hrs. I baked the other 8lb butt in the oven as per recipe but without star anise, instead used ground cloves and cinnamon. The verdict: Both were super juicy, but everyone thought the smoked butt was FANTASTIC. The baked butt ended up tasting salty but still OK. Next time I will rinse in fresh water for longer. As for the sauce, I used Hazelnut syrup instead of Maple and it was also Fantastic. Thanks for the recipe.
added another half cup of brown sugar,1/4 cup of pickling spice. Brined 7 days.. Apricot Rum glaze ( 1/2 cup apricot jam, 1 tbs yellow mustard, 1/4 cup brown sugar. 1.5 shots of rum) smoked 5 hours at 160 with hickory, last 3 hours 250 degrees, glazed an hour before it finished. it is just crazy good