Cooking a fresh ham

I recently split a pig with a friend and am trying to decide what to do with the rear quarter

On the left:


Due to space and time constraints I'm not going to cure it, but will be cooking it fresh. We're going to have a lot of people around for the NCAA tournament next week, so it's the perfect time to have a big chunk of meat around the house. My plan is to roast it in the smoker with a mix of Cherry and Apple wood at around 325 or so, but I've never dealt with the whole hind quarter before and have a few questions:

Should I brine it?
How much of the lower section of the leg should I cut off? (or should I cook it whole)
Cook it with skin on or off?

I'm leaning towards a savory rub (and/or brine), thyme, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, etc., but would love to hear any other suggestions.

Thanks!

Hi,

With that nice fat cap, brining does not seem advantageous. Herbs are not soluble in brine but the rub seems a wonderful idea.

Definitely cook with the fat and skin. That is the very best part.

Good luck, It will be wonderful.

Tim

Attrill wrote:Should I brine it?
How much of the lower section of the leg should I cut off? (or should I cook it whole)
Cook it with skin on or off?

Attrill,

I typically crosshatch the skin and go my typically BBQ routine, lightly coat with mustard and then BBQ rub. With a good looking piggy like you show, and I am assuming it is small farmer raised, I might go very simple, just salt and pepper, and light on the pepper at that. I've also done them Pernil style with good results.

I would not brine, as Tim mentions, you have delicious fat to keep it moist, though over the years I've tried everything from a straight salt/sugar brine to RC Cola. Simple is often best, especially with a quality pig.

Crosshatched w/BBQ Rub






Crosshatched w/Salt and Pepper



Good luck, have fun, and I am looking forward to a few pictures of the end result.

Enjoy,
Gary

That's a great looking ham!

Simple sounds good, every part of the pig I've tasted so far has been excellent. It's from Gunthorp farms, and I've been really happy with the taste. The amount of fat on it is incredible, so I'll skip the brine. I'll be cooking it on Wednesday or Thursday and will be sure to post photos.

Ended up cooking the ham a couple weeks ago and it turned out great! I cut off a good chunk of the hind section (including the tail) and ended up with this:



It must have weighed about 20 lb.s, if not more.

I crosshatched the skin and rubbed it with fresh thyme, chopped garlic, sea salt, and a little bit of Turkish red pepper and black pepper:



I put it on the smoker for about 3 hr.s (at about 250-75) and then transferred to the oven for another 2-3 hours at 325. I took it out when the internal temp got up to about 155. It turned our very nicely, I used Apple wood and it had a noticeable smokey flavor, but nothing overpowering. Even with just 3 hours in the smoker the outside of it got very dark very quickly, but that didn't affect the flavor in any bad ways. If I had it to do over I probably would have cut off some of the shank end, which was overcooked (but still edible). Having a half pig around makes me realize I need to take a class in butchering a pig



Thanks to everyone for the advice!