Honey Cured Ham
Honey Cured Ham straight out of the smoker.
One of my daughter’s favorite foods, ham, has been off limits to us these past nine months on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). It is not because it is pork; it has been a no-no due to the sugar used in the curing process. We are only allowed to consume mono-saccharides like honey.
For Christmas dinner, we really wanted to eat ham. Our desire spurred us to research home curing pork. Everything used sugar, but we decided to take a chance and alter the recipes we found. The result was an absolutely delicious ham. It was surprisingly easy to prepare.
The first step in the curing process is knowing how much your fresh pork weighs. Some people use a pork shoulder or large roast from the store. We used a fresh pork ham from my daughter’s 4-H swine project. It weighed a little over 6 pounds. We could easily work with this size of pork.
Honey Cure (for about a 6 pound ham)
2 liters of filtered water
1 cup honey
1/4 cup Kosher salt
This amount works well up to 6 pounds. If your ham is larger, double the recipe. In a pitcher combine all three ingredients and stir until the salt dissolves. Place your fresh ham into a large bowl. It has to be deep enough to allow the meat to be completely submerged in the brine, but small enough to fit in your refrigerator. Pour the brine over the ham. Place a plate on it to hold the meat down. Refrigerate for three days. The rule of thumb is 2 pounds per day so it will take longer for a larger ham.
Once it is fully brined, remove it from the brine and place on a rack to dry in the refrigerator for a minimum of 12 hours. Then you smoke it. My husband used hickory chips. Most men have their own way of smoking meat, which I am not going to discuss at this time. However, the important part is making sure that the ham reaches the proper temperature. It has to reach 155 degrees Farenheit before removing from the smoker.
We chose not to use insta-cure, which acts a preservative in case you do not handle the meat properly. It protects you from the possibility of botulism. If you are not going to be diligent in cooking your pork properly, then do not attempt this recipe.
Once you remove the pork it will continue to cook when wrapped in foil to hold the heat in. Allow it to cool wrapped on the counter. At this time, we refrigerated the pork because it was not Christmas.
On Christmas morning, I set it out on the counter to take the chill off the meat before cooking it. Then I preheated the oven to 325 degrees while I prepared the glaze.
Honey Glaze
2 cups honey
2/3 cup butter
whole cloves
Stud the ham with the whole cloves. One every two inches is sufficient. Heat the honey and butter together in a small saucepan. Brush the glaze over the ham. Cover the ham with foil. Then bake for 1 1/2 hours, glazing every 15 minutes.
Unwrap/uncover the ham. Change your oven from bake to broil. Broil the ham for about 5 minutes to allow the honey to caramelize. Serve warm.
This is a delicious recipe. Watch out Honey Baked Ham! The main difference is the color of the ham. Our ham still looked like pork since we did not use insta-cure preservatives, which gives a pink color to the meat.
Christmas Dinner was a rewarding feast. We were eating a home-grown and home-cured ham along with a roasted wild duck that my boys brought me from a hunt. Regardless of the occasion, it is special when you honey cure your own ham.
Oh my goodness! I am going to have to try this!
My mother used to buy the uncooked hams and cook them in the oven in a brown paper bag. I don’t think she put any type of glaze on her, but this sure sounds good to me. I have used honey to glaze a ham and have used the cloves and pineapple and cherries. I love the taste of a pineapple ham. Now to copy and paste your recipe!
Ooops forgot to say that we do have an electric smoker that we can use to do this. And it has the place for the wood chips to be added.
What kind of smoker do you use? Model #? Brand? do you recommend?
Sounds delicious.