Rinella smoked bear ham

[TheSurveyor]

I smoked my first bear ham yesterday. Followed the recipe in the Rinella book. Turned out really nice except it's really salty. The wife thinks it's because when I measured the brown sugar I didn't "pack" it. It doesn't say to but she says recipes never do but it's considered known. Anyway I was trying to confirm this is where it went wrong. Only other thing it could be is I let it sit in the brine for a few more days than he said due to schedule.

Outside the salt it's tender and juicy. Smoked for 11hrs to 160.

 

[375H&H]

I smoked my first bear ham yesterday. Followed the recipe in the Rinella book. Turned out really nice except it's really salty. The wife thinks it's because when I measured the brown sugar I didn't "pack" it. It doesn't say to but she says recipes never do but it's considered known. Anyway I was trying to confirm this is where it went wrong. Only other thing it could be is I let it sit in the brine for a few more days than he said due to schedule.

Outside the salt it's tender and juicy. Smoked for 11hrs to 160.

I think your wife may be right on this one, but the extra brine time certainly could be an issue as well.

My wife and I have found that A LOT of recipes that call for salt with wild game we end up omitting some or all of the salt for a better taste. If it needs more you can always add more at the table. We recently made an italian beef sandwich recipe with antelope and put no salt in it, and it turned out amazing...however I do like to salt my steaks a fair bit.

If I get a bear this year I am going to try this recipe as well so glad to hear your feedback

 

[Hunting Wife]

Your wife is right about the brown sugar - the measurements are always meant to be packed, so your ratio of salt to sugar was different than what the recipe called for. I think if that was the only difference all that really should have happened would have been that it tasted less sweet (and therefore less "ham"-y). In your case, I think letting it brine for "extra days" was probably the bigger factor. The longer it brines, the saltier it gets - osmosis and diffusion at work.

 

[JohnCushman]

Too much smoke will make it salty too. What temp did you smoke it at that it took 11 hours? Did you roll smoke the entire time? Did you inject the brine into the muscles? There's so many variables. When I brine pork hams I inject the muscles and usually cut the brine time by a day. A difference between packed and unpacked measurement shouldn't make an overly salty brine. But, leaving it too long in the brine would add a salty flavor in the long run.

 

[propane_cooker]

Did you do a bone in ham?

Rinella is awesome and does some great stuff with wild game. If someone is looking for a little more instruction/advice I have attached a link for a recipe and process that I have used for deer and bear hams that turns out great. I have yet to do a bone in. I break the meat down into muscles and then do this. Just less concern about the cure not penetrating that way.

https://smokingmeatforums.com/threads/cured-and-smoked-deer-ham.129141/#post-873931

The guys on this forum do a lot of curing and most of them (and me) let things brine for over a week (usually 14 days) to ensure cure penetration. You need the salt to penetrate fully in order to cure properly so a person needs to be careful that they don't fool around too much with the salt content of the brine (both the regular salt and sugar play a role in the curing process as well as the curing salt). In this guy's second post he says that he put his in cold water for a couple days to leach some salt back out. If you find your ham too salty I would recommend doing that because you can safely remove salt at this point because the meat is fully cured. You can slice off a chunk after a day and cook it and see if it is salted to your taste. If it's still to salty leave it in for another day. I haven't done this because I haven't found that mine are too salty. Hope this helps.

 

[propane_cooker]

I should say that I use most of this process. I don't wrap it in bacon or use the pre-smoke rub. I usually brush a little honey on the outside and some pepper. Soaking in cold water is the prefered method for reducing the saltiness. Guys do this when making bacon as well. I've got 40lbs of side pork curing in my fridge right now that's going to be maple bacon soon! (I use a dry brine for bacon)

 

[TheSurveyor]

I think it was the unpacked brown sugar that really caused the issue. The extra time didn't help though. It was supposed to be 3 days for boned, it ended up being just over 4. It looks amazing though. I'll just use it in some dishes like soup to tame the salt content. Just made quesadillas with it and not to bad. Kids loved it.

Still have the other side so I'll give it another try. Maybe I'll have the wife review recipes in the future. Haha
Shoot one time I swapped out flour for powdered sugar. Sure was some funny tasting pork tenderloins.

 

[jnagel32]

I make cured and cold smoked Canadian bacon. After it's done curing I always let it soak in ice water for a couple of days. I usually cut up a few potatoes and throw in the water as well. This helps draw the salinity out of the loin.

 

[joelweb]

I smoked my first bear ham yesterday. Followed the recipe in the Rinella book. Turned out really nice except it's really salty. The wife thinks it's because when I measured the brown sugar I didn't "pack" it. It doesn't say to but she says recipes never do but it's considered known. Anyway I was trying to confirm this is where it went wrong. Only other thing it could be is I let it sit in the brine for a few more days than he said due to schedule.

Outside the salt it's tender and juicy. Smoked for 11hrs to 160.

I don't know about the other ingredients in the recipe, but you always pack brown sugar when measuring.

 

[npaden]

One trick I've heard if you prefer your ham to be less salty is to soak it in sugar (white sugar) water for a couple days after it has been cured (in the fridge of course).

 

[Lmwmihunter76]

Unfortunately your wife is right about the brown sugar. Next time you make it slice a small piece off and cook it. If its to salty soak the meat in cold water for an hour then try again until you get it where you like it then smoke it.