Pig Experts......I have a question........

[mtnhomechick]

I just got my first ever pig back from the butcher......Rookie here. The hams are smoked.......

Does Smoked mean Cooked? Do I just warm it or should I bake it longer in the oven?

Thanks,

Mary

 

[mtnhomechick]

Anyone? Maybe I put this in the wrong place.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I don't think they are cooked totally - if you look at a smoked ham from the store it says to cook it at so high for so many hours, etc...

Smoking just cures it some - not cook it. The temp to smoke it is much lower than even a food dehydrator.

meri

 

[apukanski]

It is ready to eat. You can warm it if you want to.

 

[Opa]

I would recommend that you bring the internal temperature to at 160 degrees.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yep - warm in a slow oven

or slice it (even if you got it back whole) into portions so you can do what i just did - thaw out and fry up a couple of ham steaks for supper!

 

[mtnhomechick]

Thanks everyone. Guess I'll cook it for awhile just to be safe.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Is it a country ham (salt cured) or a water cured ham?

The internal temp is not necesarily up to 150 on a smoked ham - therefore, some of the bacteria have not been killed off.

I would not eat it unless I heated it internally to 145-150 (it will rise to 155-160 after you pull it out of the oven and let it set).

meri

 

[mtnhomechick]

Mojo Chick'n :

Is it a country ham (salt cured) or a water cured ham?

The internal temp is not necesarily up to 150 on a smoked ham - therefore, some of the bacteria have not been killed off.

I would not eat it unless I heated it internally to 145-150 (it will rise to 155-160 after you pull it out of the oven and let it set).

meri

Gosh Meri........I don't honestly know and the shop is closed now so I can't call. I never had a pig processed before.​

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
Gosh Meri........I don't honestly know and the shop is closed now so I can't call. I never had a pig processed before.

A country ham is easy to tell - it is like a whole leg and it has salt/mold on it. If it is simply smoked, it might have had a water bath curing. (country hams take forever I doubt it is a country ham)

Even so, I would cook it to an internal temp of 145-150.

Don't feel bad

we had a pig processed for the first time recently, also - they don't smoke hams or cure bacon

so next time I'll have my own smoker here and I'll do them myself. I was clueless, also - since they didn't cure the bacon I had the bacon meat put into the sausage - made it very greasy

I won't be doing that again.

meri