Home Made Ham

I got a small (2.5 lbs) piece of a fresh ham. So I cured and smoked it, and tried it out on Keryx's family for dinner last nite. They said that it was good, and I can make a big ham for Christmas dinner(with a red currant & jalapeno glaze).
To make the ham was easy just time consuming

2.5 lb pork fresh ham preferable but any pork roast will work.
2 qts apple juice.
3/4 c kosher salt.
3 t insta cure#1 http://www.sausagemaker.com/search.aspx?find=insta+cure+%231
11/4 c brown sugar.
1 T cinnamon.
1/2 T ginger.
Mix your brine in a large pot bring to a simmer to blend the ingredients.
place the meat in a seal-able container. I used an ice cream bucket.
One day for every pound of meat refrigerate.
Remove from brine and rinse with fresh cold water
Soak in clean water for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
Then smoke the ham (I used cherry wood 'cuz that's what I had) until the internal temp reads 180F let rest, eat and enjoy.
I modified this recipe http://www.homesicktexan.com/2010/03/how-to-cure-ham.html

Sounds good. Glad it went over well.

That sounds good! But I don't have a smoker. That could be remedied in the next season or so.
I'll send the recipe to one of my sons who loves ham.

What is in instacure?

Mostly formaldehyde

That stuff will kill you.

Aliantha;903868 wrote:

That stuff will kill you.

You don't use a lot of it. I guess you could do it with out the Insta Cure, it just would not keep as long. To cure a whole ham would take a week, that is a long time for fresh meat in the fridge.

http://www.sausagemaker.com/11000instacureand153no11lb.aspx
It is mostly salt, with sodium nitrite. That is what I thought it was, but I wanted to be sure.