Our pig, Wallace, used to eat slop from a bucket, lay in the sunshine, roll in his mud bath, and enjoy life. He was my garbage disposal for food scraps, extra milk from the cow, and organic garden waste.
Now, Wallace is serving a different purpose: feeding my family. With this Homemade Ham Recipe.
As much as I love our homemade bacon, I've yet to decide on a favorite cut of pork from our homegrown hogs. Because after this ham was cured, smoked, and served alongside poached eggs for breakfast, I surely thought I'd die of happiness.
The texture. The taste. The pleasure of knowing it was organic, homegrown, and home harvested pork. Stick a fork in me, baby. I'm done.
Don't let the thought of curing your own ham at home deter you from enjoying such awesomeness. As with all things homemade, a little bit of extra effort pays off ten-fold in taste and experience. Food with a history and food made with your own two hands has such a rich, significant value. Though it takes a bit of time, the active work time to home cure a ham is roughly .192334 seconds.
You can do it! I have the utmost faith in you.
Homemade Ham Recipe
You will need:
– 1 fresh pork roast, preferably from the leg (you can get this cut from your butcher!). Local and organic pork will be best. The roast can include a bone or not, or skin or not – it makes no difference. We kept the bone in all of our roasts when we cut them because I love the flavor that bones give to meat. Traditionally, the ‘ham' was made from the butt/leg of the pig, though most any roast will do.
– Sea salt
Steps:
1. Dry the ham with a rag to absorb any extra moisture. Weigh the roast and write down this number.
2. For every pound of meat, weigh out 15 grams of sea salt and 2.25 grams of sugar. My roast was 7 pounds, so I used a total of 105 grams of salt and 15.75 grams of sugar. And yes, you want this to be precise (hence the kitchen scale). To this salt and sugar, you can add whatever spices you'd like – rosemary, all spice, cloves, thyme, etc. I chose to keep mine simple and added only a small bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Combine the spices in a bowl and use your fingers to mix them together.
3. Rub the meat with the salt/sugar mixture. Get into every crevasse that you can find. Really work it in there. If you have a bone-in roast, pay special attention to that area. Make sure that the roast is coated.
4. Place the roast in a large bowl and set it in the refrigerator. You'll leave it to cure here for a few days. Measure the diameter of the roast and add ‘3' to that to figure out how many days it will cure. My roast was 7 inches across. 7+3= 10 days total for curing.
Let the roast be. The salt will do it's magic.
See?
5. After the proper curing time, remove the ham. At this point, the ham can be baked and glazed with whatever you'd like (honey? herbs? molasses?) or smoked. We chose to smoke ours. Three hours over some apple wood in a simple homemade smoker worked just fine. We used a small grill (like this) and covered a make-shift teepee around it with canvas (like this). There are a million setup options for smoking: I'll let you get creative.
If you'd prefer, roughly halfway through the smoking process, the skin of the ham can be removed (if your roast came with skin, that is). Some prefer to leave it on. Some take it off. That's totally up to you.
The ham should be smoked and cooked to an internal temperature of roughly 170-180 degrees (use a meat thermometer… you'll want to make sure that it's cooked thoroughly.)
If you'd rather not smoke your ham, the ham can be baked in a 350 degree oven until the same internal temperature is achieved.
Ta-da! That's it! See, not too bad, huh? Though it takes a bit of time and commitment, the results are (dare I say) breathtaking.
That is, of course, if your breath is taken away by such culinary delights. Mine, of course, is.
Enjoy this homemade ham recipe. Delight in your effort.
And Amen.
Homemade Ham Recipe
- 1 fresh pork roast (preferably from the leg (you can get this cut from your butcher!). Local and organic pork will be best. The roast can include a bone or not, or skin or not – it makes no difference. We kept the bone in all of our roasts when we cut them because I love the flavor that bones give to meat. Traditionally, the ‘ham’ was made from the butt/leg of the pig, though most any roast will do.)
- Sea salt
- Cane sugar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Kitchen scale
- Large bowl
- Dry the ham with a rag to absorb any extra moisture. Weigh the roast and write down this number.
- For every pound of meat, weigh out 15 grams of sea salt and 2.25 grams of sugar. My roast was 7 pounds, so I used a total of 105 grams of salt and 15.75 grams of sugar. And yes, you want this to be precise (hence the kitchen scale). To this salt and sugar, you can add whatever spices you’d like – rosemary, all spice, cloves, thyme, etc. I chose to keep mine simple and added only a small bit of freshly ground black pepper.
- Combine the spices in a bowl and use your fingers to mix them together.
- Rub the meat with the salt/sugar mixture. Get into every crevasse that you can find. Really work it in there. If you have a bone-in roast, pay special attention to that area. Make sure that the roast is coated.
- Place the roast in a large bowl and set it in the refrigerator. You’ll leave it to cure here for a few days. Measure the diameter of the roast and add ‘3’ to that to figure out how many days it will cure. My roast was 7 inches across. 7+3= 10 days total for curing.
- After the proper curing time, remove the ham. At this point, the ham can be baked and glazed with whatever you’d like (honey? herbs? molasses?) or smoked. We chose to smoke ours. Three hours over some apple wood in a simple homemade smoker worked just fine. We used a small grill and covered a make-shift teepee around it with canvas. There are a million setup options for smoking: I’ll let you get creative.
- If you’d prefer, roughly halfway through the smoking process, the skin of the ham can be removed (if your roast came with skin, that is). Some prefer to leave it on. Some take it off. That’s totally up to you.
- The ham should be smoked and cooked to an internal temperature of roughly 170-180 degrees (use a meat thermometer… you’ll want to make sure that it’s cooked thoroughly.)
- If you’d rather not smoke your ham, the ham can be baked in a 350 degree oven until the same internal temperature is achieved.
For other great meal ideas, no matter what your dietary restrictions, check out the meal planning service I use: Real Plans.
Christi {Jealous Hands}
Oh. My. Heavens. That looks delicious!
Sarah
Why do you cook it to such a high temperature? I thought pork is ‘well done’ at 145 degrees. Does it get dried out if you cook it until 170-180?
Allison
How long can you store a ham once you’ve cured it, and what would be the best way to store it? Is it like bacon that you can just hang it from your pantry ceiling?
Shaye Elliott
It should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten fairly soon. It’s not cured to the same point that bacon or proscuitto is so there is still a high enough water content to cause spoilage.
Cheryl
Could we freeze it then and bake it later?
Marcia Little
Hi Shaye, ok I just ate mushroom, garlic and pea risotto, my belly is full, and you made me hungry? That looks so good.
Kelley
Thank you so much Shaye for continually inspiring me to do things “myself.” I’m currently cooking my local CSA roast according to your Homestead Style recipe & can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. This article comes at such impeccable timing. I just found out from my CSA that I can get raw cuts of pork and was told about a local smoker who cures old-fashioned however after this article I’m inspired to do this myself. Keep it coming girl and thanks for inspiring me.
Megan
Wow! I get so excited when you put up new DIY curing recipes. That looks so delicious! I’m wondering if this would work with a fresh, but previously frozen pork roast? I so look forward to trying this out, thanks!
Shaye Elliott
Yes – I am curing one of those right now!
Ashley
Mmmm!! We are getting pigs this year, I will for sure have to try this. My husband LOVES ham!!
April
Just got our whole pig from our local grower. I’m going to try this. Also the bacon as I got our pork belly uncured. Questions: Do you cover the ham in the fridge with plastic wrap or a tea towel? Or leave it uncovered? Have you sliced and frozen it for future use? 7 pounds of ham is a lot of ham, even for our family of 8. Do you have a meat slicer machine?
Tiffany
I have several leg roasts that I chose not to have cured off our last butcher. I am excited to try this recipe. Just curious, do you cover it while in the fridge curing?
Trista
Thank you for this recipe! I got carried away with the salt… I noticed a few crevasses I missed and so I went just sprinkle a little extra here… and there… and everywhere 😡 Do you think it will be horribly salty? I probably added an extra five grams 🙁 I don’t know what got into me!
Shaye Elliott
It’ll be fine 😉
Trista
It was! Thanks again for the awesome, easy to follow recipe 😉 But now I’m on my second ham and I was wondering, should I be draining the liquid that accumulates? I know the recipe said to leave it be in the fridge but I just want to make sure. I noticed last time that the part of the ham that had been sitting in the liquid had a different texture than the rest; it wasn’t as dry or firm. I’m obviously new to the whole at-home curing thing lol.
Margaret
Thanks for the recipe! Which way do you measure the diameter of the ham? I could figure mine 12 or 6, depending on which way I want to!
Bill
Just read your homemade ham recipe I have been looking to try. My question: is curing salt an option or necessary for this process? Thanks.
sal
We have a bumch of pork hocks in the freezer that I had nooo idea what to do with. Finally i thawed one and cured it using this recipe. Then I plunked it in the dutch oven with 2 bay leaves and a bunch of water and cooked it low and slow all afternoon. It was tremendous! Thank you.
Joe
We butcher our own pigs and I cure/smoke our own bacon. Thanks for the simple recipe; it is similar to my bacon cure. Every other ham recipe I found uses nitrites/nitrates ?
I have one to butcher tomorrow and am going to try it to use your recipe to serve a ham for a christmas party coming up.
Delia Trenholm
After the curing time is done can y freeze it and then bake or smoke later ?
Steven Badall
Should I rinse the dry rub off the ham at the end and soak the ham like many other curing recipes suggest? Or should I just leave the cure on?
Lindsay
I recieved a pork leg roast in my meat box from my local farmer today and I was at a loss at what to do with it. I knew Shay would have an answer so here I am. I’m definitely going to prepare a ham for our two person holiday meal this year.
Lindsay
My ham turned out better than expected! I used a pasture raised pork leg roast, let it cure for 10 days and baked it at 325° until the internal temperature was 155. It was divine and will put to shame any other ham I had had. Thank you for another winner, Shay.
gemma
Hi
am wondering if the temperature is Celsius or Fahrenheit as you have both pounds and grams in the recipe!
I have always used a salt brine and soaked so keen to try this version.
Home grown piggies are so tasty!
Darren
I’m going to pick up some 3lb butt roasts to try this with and am wondering what temp would a person set the smoker at for the 3 hours?