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Better or just different?

BP...

I don't think the type of wood matters as long at it's not green. My salt box is made from plywood and the table is made from oak. My grandfather used a hollowed out beech log for a salt box.

Here's another part of a hog killing...cooking off
the lard.

It's just different, quite unlike anything else I've eaten. The meat is a little darker, and has a little "beefier" consistency.

We never did the salt rub. We did the brine. Enough salt to float an egg with a dime size spot exposed. Later went to a sugar cure with a rub and tenderquick injection. Both very good, just different.

We brine and smoke the bacon. Dry cure (rub) a salt/sugar /pink salt/brown sugar/black pepper mixture on the hams.

Had a nice slice of a last years ham and biscuits made with lard for this mornings breakfast. And, of course, eggs from our hens. Pretty good stuff.

Elwood that looks great! Envious of having the place to do that. Something I have always wanted to try. Never even had ham other than the stuff from the store.

I always have hams hanging in the smoke house. Come on over and we'll cut one.

Sir I would love too!

Here's a good link for those seeking info.

I've helped a friend for the last 25-30 years doing hams and bacon and the info here mirrors his methods.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_toc.html

Needed to cut a ham so this morning I pulled one out of the smokehouse. It's 14 months old and is a good one. In the winter, I'll often leave it hanging in the smokehouse and slice it as wanted. Cover the cut with a little lard so the rest doesn't dry out. This time of the year, I slice the whole thing and freeze.

Damn, that's pretty ham. Drooling here. Looks like mine.

Do you gets your hams the same day the hogs are killed ( still warm as in kill your own ) or do you use ones from a commercial butcher?

Both.... We killed a hog this year and I purchased some green hams from the local packing house. The hams from the hog were cured with a salt/sugar/pepper mix that I rubbed on everyday for 15 days and then let them continue to cure for another week. The ones I got from the packing house spent 21 days in a salt box then were rubbed lightly with a salt/sugar/pepper mix and left for another week.

Benton Hams is up the road from my folks place. Best I've ever had!

If one likes it truly salty, try Felts in Ivor, Va Hard to beat a hog topped off on peanuts.

Edwards in Surry County Va makes a ham called Surryano that is a “All-American alternative to Europe's dry-cured hams” expensive but really good. I always bring hams back to friends and family in WV during the holidays. Was shocked that ham prices doubled and tripled last year after that Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus went through and killed a large number of piglets.

I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question correctly. The hams we purchased were chilled when we got them and went straight into the salt box. We didn't kill our hog for another couple of weeks. The hog meat was put on top of a shed to cool out and get all the body heat out. Those hams were trimmed and cured by rubbing rather than being put in a salt box. We never start any cure effort until the meat is well cooled and all the body heat is gone. That's why we put them on top of the shed. Lucky if a good cold rain comes that night and washes it. You want it completely chilled but not frozen. I can remember years ago, the temps would drop and it get colder than we expected and have to go pull the meat off the roof for fear of it freezing.

Elwood, do you cut down into the ham around the bone and add more cure ?

No. Never heard of such. Have heard of injecting a brine down in next to bone. Haven't tried that....get a good cure this way.

There is a meat service just down the road, they have their own actual smokehouse, The Hams, Bacon and smoked cheese are crazy good,

Store bought Hams and Bacon, not even close.

I think it's mostly time. Store stuff is someway fast cured rather than letting nature do it's thing. They fake heat and cold but can't fake the time needed for the meat to age.