Ok, below is my recipe to make awesome chicken ham. The recipe is fool proff & simple. Only must is a proper scale so you can get the proper cure, salt & sugar.
Ingredients:
- Salt (i use sea salt). Do not use table salt, pickling salt, kosher salt or any salt you use for making smoked salmon will work..
- Brown Sugar
- Cure (Cure #1)
- ham netting (or roast string if you want to just tie it up.
*For ham netting just go to your local butcher & ask to buy some. That what i do. Its cheap. Or look on amazon*
1. Debone a chicken or turkey. Remove all the skin & visible fat.
2. Lay out the meat & insure no parts are over 2.5 - 3" thick. If they are slice into it & lay it over so you have no thick pieces.
3. Weigh the total amount of chicken in Grams. Put chicken aside.
4. Use the online calculator listed to calculate out the required amount of ingredients.
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
5. As per the attachment. Enter the weight of meat in Grams. Use I use 1.8% salt & 1.5% brown sugar. Keep the cure at 156 ppm.
6. Mix ingredients in small bowl.
7. Place chicken in a large freezer bag. lay it flat & spread out evenly.
8. sprinkle 1/2 the salt mixture over top the chicken. try to spread it evenly. it doesn't have to be exact.
9. Flip the bag over & sprinkle the remaining salt mixture.
*This dry brine is an equilibrium brine. Over the course of the week the salt mixture will evenly equalize with the meat on its own.*
10. Remove air from the bag & massage meat. Over the next day it will pull water out of the meat.
11. Leave meat in fridge for 7 days. Everyday massage meat lightly & flip bag over. After a week the meat will soak up the moisture again.
12. After 1 week remove meat from bag & rinse under cold water. Give it a quick rub under the cold water just to remove any surface salt.
13. Dry meat with paper towel
14. Pack meat into ham netting. Or roll it up like a roast & tie it. Its better to use ham netting & recommended.
15. Place meat in fridge uncovered over night. You want the meat to dry on the outside & develop a nice pectil.
16. Place meat into preheated smoker at ~120 degrees.
17. Smoke for 2-3 hrs
After smoking i finish on my Traeger. You can use your oven if you dot have one.
18. Place meat into a preheated Trager or oven at 180 degrees. Leave for 1 hr.
19. Turn up heat to 200 degrees. Let cook for 1 - 1.5 hrs hr
20. increase temp to 225 degrees. Cook until internal temp reaches ~168 degrees.
21. Remove from heat and allow to rest. The meat will continue to cook & will go over 170 degrees.
Enjoy!