Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer Buffet Pulled Smoked Ham

I thought I’d share this with y’all as it might be of interest to some of you.

In the last year or two I’ve taken up curing pork butts for buckboard bacon. Wiley got my interest up in that. Thanks 😊. Anyways, for literally 30 plus years I’ve yearned for “real” pulled ham that I’d eaten growing up that an old fellow back then was known for. I’ve scoured the internet and asked different folks for years and no one ever offered anything other than smoking a raw ham, which is good but was never what I was looking for. Low and behold while surfing the web one night at work did I finally come across something that sounded promising, and quite simple too. With doing nothing more than curing a butt just like I do for buckboard bacon but then smoking it like I was doing a regular butt I ended up with pulled smoked ham that’s nothing short of phenomenal. I can’t believe it was that easy but so hard to find info to get there for all these years. If you like a salty, smokey pulled ham this is how you get there. It’s honestly outstanding and just takes time.

Just for information in case someone wants to try it I weigh in grams and do 2.5% kosher salt, 1.5% white sugar and .25% cure to my meat weight. Rub it down and stick it in a ziplock bag for 2 weeks in the fridge, turning it every day or two. After 2 weeks take it out, rinse it off and let it air dry an hr or so as you get your smoker ready. If you prefer less salty meat, soak it in cold water for 30 min to an hour then let it air dry. Smoke to 205ish. Rest and enjoy.

Pro tip: Use a pan under you meat to catch fat drippings and once you pull the meat add a little back to keep it moist. I do that on regular butts too. It works way better than adding vinegar and such.

The top pic is just rough pulled and the bottom pic is de-fatted, pulled and prepped.

Dang

Nice! All i need is a jar of mayonnaise & some Hawaiian Rolls, and I'd be in business 🤣

What a fine entry. Love the mayo suggestion from the Freek of nature this could be a historic entry ham category. Keep posting and keep entering entries

Enjoy!

Man... That looks fantastic. Can you share your curing and cooking method on the Buckboard and the ham?

Dang.... that looks and sounds phenomenal. Post some cooking details please. What temp, how long, etc...

Looks great !

Oh wow. That's looks amazing. You can almost taste it LOL.

That looks good. We've been doing hams like that 20 years. Great for large get to gathers

Yea, it’s definitely been a hit. I’ve done 2 gatherings so far and it went over very well.

I appreciate the comments guys. It is a great way to serve up something a little different.

Ok. Here is a rundown of what I’m currently doing on the hams and the buckboard bacon. I will say that the buckboard bacon has been such a hit at work that on our monthly Sunday morning breakfast I’m pretty much required to bring it. I call it a cross between country ham and bacon. Salty, smoky goodness.

To reduce the curing and smoking times on both products I either buy a whole butt and de-bone it or I buy a whole butt already de-boned. Alternatively, Walmart(I know) carries a Tyson butt roast prepackaged in twine that works great too, especially for the hams. They are compact 2 to 3 lb butts and you can do several at a time. I do rinse the prepackaged ones as they are a bit slimy.

Next I weigh my meat in grams and calculate my percentages. I do 2.5% kosher salt, 1.5% white sugar and .25% number 1 pink curing salt to my meat weight. Example-A 1000gr chunk would then get 25gr kosher salt, 15gr sugar and 2.5gr pink curing salt. You absolutely must weigh each piece individually and calculate for each one separating each cure mix into its own bowl or whatever. Don’t worry that it don’t seem like much curing salt as a little goes a long way. A level teaspoon does 5 pounds of meat so a smaller chunk ain’t getting much. Be sure to coat the meat all over and even massage it into crevices.

From there I rub each piece down and stick it in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge, turning it every day or two. Give it a little massage when you turn it. The general rule of thumb is to let it cure for 2 days per inch of thickness plus one day. A 3in thick piece would then be 7 days. Both of these meats are going to be cooked and consumed rather quickly so don’t worry about a day either way. Kinda go by your schedule. When it’s time, pull it from the fridge and rinse it off. If you prefer less salty meat, soak it for 30 min to an hour in cold water. You can taste test it by frying a small piece but I don’t. I know pretty much what it’s gonna taste like. If for any reason your meat smells bad it probably is. Don’t take any chances. I’ve yet to come across that but I hear it can happen.

Here is where things get a little different. For bacon you’ll want to return the meat to the fridge uncovered for several hours or overnight to let it dry and do it’s thing. Hams I just air dry for an hr or so. I have smoked the bacon straight away like the ham but technically you’re not supposed to. I honestly don’t notice any difference. You want to smoke the bacon at around 175 degrees to an internal temp of 150 or so. Cooking it too hot or too fast will render fat. We want to avoid that. You won’t necessarily ruin it but you’d rather not get it too hot. It’ll take a few hrs to get to the temp you want. Pull the bacon off at 150ish to rest then wrap it in plastic wrap and into the fridge overnight to cool and set up. It’s gonna be smelling awesome. Slice it like you want. I’ve used a slicer and just hand cut it too. Both are fine.

For the hams you’ll want to smoke them as you would a regular pork butt. I personally smoke around 250 as my smoker likes that temp. I’ll pull it off when it hits 205 and let it rest for a bit. Using the smaller chunks of meat greatly reduces the smoking time. Pull and enjoy.

I have smoked both at the same time and just let the hams ride along as the bacon smoked then eased my temps on up after I pulled the bacon off. I do not add anything to the meat(rub,etc) though I guess you could but cooking them naked has been just fine to me.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do a step by step!

This^^^

Thanks for sharing.

Here’s two 4 pounders that I rubbed down and started this morning. These are the Tyson prepackaged boneless ones. They are easy to work with.

I left out in my instructions that you will have some of your cure mix fall off while applying it so I always scrape up what I can and just spoon it into the bag with the meat and massage it in a bit thru the bag. Try to recover as much as you can when you’re done.

My goodness that looks delicious

You ever tried this with a sto' bought cured ham? I don't have the refrigerator space to do buckboard bacon or cure a ham.

Yes, I have. I’ve smoked a ton of typical store bought hams and while they are tasty they are too lean to get “pulled ham” like making one from a pork butt. They honestly don’t take up much room in a fridge. The 2 I started yesterday are tucked away nicely in a drawer and aren’t even noticeable without looking for them.

10-4, thanks.

Got one put in the fridge today, doing the ham version. I did a whole boston butt that I deboned and tied up myself - which I'm not so great at either, but think it went good. I hope it turns out for me and I didn't do or do something that screws it up!

Sounds great. Keep us updated on how it goes. I’m gonna get my 2 on the smoker Thursday.