One of the great things about raising your own pigs is having a full freezer after hog butchering is done. And while we all love homemade bacon, ham is a favorite as well. So let me share with you how we brine a ham (and then smoke it!) here at our farm.

While most people think of ham as a giant cut from the back end of a pig, you can actually make ham from any pork roast that you cut. At butcher time, we always cut several smaller pork roasts instead of two giant hams from each pig. We do this because packaging is easier, and it also allows us more flexibility in what we do with the pork roasts.

After choosing a pork roast (or several!) to make into ham, the first thing you need to do is brine the ham. Some people call this "curing" a ham -- brining is a type of curing. To brine a ham is basically to wet cure a ham.

Brining takes several days, and it's essential to the process of making a good ham. Please realize that making a ham from the pigs you have raised is not going to be an immediate thing -- it's definitely a process. Good things come to those who wait.

How to brine a ham

NOTE: This is how we brine ham at our farm, it has worked for us for many years. There are also other theories and ways to do it. Do your own research and then go make some ham. :)

Here's the method we use to brine a ham. For 7 pounds of pork, we did:

2 1/4 cups kosher salt

2 cups brown sugar

1.5 tsp pink curing salt <-- needs to be this, not table salt

NOTE REGARDING CHANGE IN AMOUNT OF PINK SALT: This recipe was changed in March 2023. Our old, handwritten recipe stated 2.5 TBSP of pink curing salt and so that's what we used (and originally published on this site) for many years. However, in March 2023, after receiving multiple questions/comments about the "excessive amount of pink curing salt", we did an experiment to compare the 2.5 TBSPs in the original handwritten recipe to the current "safer" suggestion of 1 tsp of pink curing salt per 5 lbs. of meat. While nitrites were never our concern (after doing our own research regarding pink curing salt and nitrites, as well as nitrites that naturally occur in nature/vegetables) we did find that there is not a huge difference in the taste or "saltiness" of the meat by only using 1.5 tsps of pink curing salt for this recipe. So as a more cost effective and resource conserving method, we have changed the recipe to use only 1.5 tsps of pink curing salt.

1 tablespoon pickling spice

1/4 cup molasses

6 qts of water, divided

Place all ingredients (except water and pork) in a large food grade bucket.

Bring two quarts of water to a boil and then pour over what's in the bucket. Stir to dissolve. Then pour four quarts of cold water into the bucket. Stir until well combined. Then carefully place your pork roast(s) in the brine filled bucket.

It is very important to remember that when you brine a ham and while this brine is working its magic on the pork roast, the pork roast needs to stay completely submerged. You can do this by turning a dinner plate upside down and putting it on top of the pork roast. For extra insurance, we usually fill a Ziploc bag with water and place it on top of the plate to make sure the pork roast doesn't come poking out of the brine.

Some people suggest turning or flipping the roast in the brine solution every day or so, but we've never done this.

The pork roast needs to brine one day for every two pounds of pork. In other words, a seven pound roast would need to brine at least three and a half days. This bucket of future ham needs to be refrigerated for the entire brine time. Plan accordingly!

Brine for the total weight of pork or the weight of the actual roasts?

If you are brining a bunch of smaller cuts equaling XYZ, the brine will obviously go through the cuts faster than one big roast equaling the same XYZ.

In other words, the brine will go through an 8 pound roast much slower than it will soak in...