How to Cure and Smoke a Ham
Learn how to cure a ham and how to smoke a ham using a bear ham or venison ham to use for a holiday ham, soups, or sandwiches.This home-cured and smoked bear ham is wet brined and then smoked to perfection for an incredible meal to serve to friends and family. You will be blown away by the flavors of this homemade bear ham.Curing a cut of wild game to make your own homemade ham is a lot easier than most people think. The most popular protein to use for ham is pork, but you can make a ham using almost any cut of meat from any domestic or wild animal. And you can make it bone-in or boneless. I've used this same recipe to make venison ham with deer and elk. Deer ham sandwiches are amazing!I loved making this particular bear ham, slicing it super thin with my meat slicer, and then packaging it for sandwich meat for my daughter's school lunch. It's pretty cool when your kid can tell everyone at her lunch table that she's eating a black bear sandwich!HOW TO MAKE A BEAR HAM OR VENISON HAM1. Mix the sugar, salt, and curing salt in the water until it dissolves. Submerge the ham in the brine for 4 days in the fridge. 2. Take the ham out of the brine, pat it dry with paper towels, set it on a wire rack on a baking pan, and put it back in the fridge uncovered overnight to dry.3. Smoke over your favorite wood chips (I used apple wood) for 1 hour, getting the smoker's temperature up to 220°F. Heat the maple syrup in the microwave and brush the ham with it every hour until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.4. Let the ham cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing on a cutting board. Serve warm or cold.MORE BEAR HAM RECIPESIf you're looking for a great brunch recipe, try this ham in my Everything Bagel Croissants with Ham and Cheese. And if you want to serve it as an appetizer, check out these Ham Spanish Croquetas.CONNECT WITH ME AND JOIN OUR WILD GAME COOKING COMMUNITYDid you use this recipe to make bear ham or deer ham? I’d love for you to join our community and connect with me so we can all see pics of this dish and all of your wild game and fish creations. Be sure to snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #wildgameandfish and tagging me @wildgameandfishDid you enjoy this Bear Ham Recipe? Be sure to leave a 5-star rating RIGHT HERE!
Ingredients
- 1 ham, about 4 to 5 pounds (you can use bear, deer, elk, antelope, moose, or pig)
- 3 quarts water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon Instacure #1 (also called Prague Powder #1 or Pink Curing Salt)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, salt, and curing salt in the water until it dissolves. Submerge the ham in the brine for 4 days in the fridge.
- Take the ham out of the brine, pat it dry with paper towels, set it on a wire rack on a baking pan, and put it back in the fridge uncobvered overnight to dry.
- Smoke over your favorite wood chips for 1 hour, getting the smoker's temperature up to 220°F. After the ham has smoked for 1 hour, heat the maple syrup in the microwave and brush the ham with it every hour until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
- Let the ham cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing on a cutting board. Serve warm or cold.
Tried this recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @wildgameandfish or tag #wildgameandfish
4 Responses
Can you add garlic or onion powder or any other seasoning?
Absolutely. The salt and instacure are the mainstay ingredients you need to “cure” the ham. Other than that you can play around with using other seasonings. Let me know how it turns out!