After two plus weeks in brine and 14 hours in the smoker Hoosier’s American Style Smoked Hams are done and they are beautiful; sweet, smoky, moist and tender.  We have been making this style of hams for many years, tweaking the recipe and methods to ensure a great ham every time.

Hoosier’s hams – each ham is cut into three pieces, brined, tied, smoked, chilled and sliced.

Smoking our own hams bring us much more than ham (the meat).  The meat could end up in ham sandwiches, part of a pasta dish, paired with cheese for a first course or even as a ham steak.  The skin makes a smoky gelatinous stock we often use in pigs skin risotto, soups and stews.  Scraps and bits are often used as a flavoring ingredient, such as in our Bangkok Chicken Wings where we pair the sweet ‘n’ smoky ham with Thai fish sauce, lime juice and spicy chilies.  We also always place a pan directly under the smoker to collect the drippings (liquid bacon), which finds its way into vinaigrette, sauces and marinades.

The fat that surrounds the ham, often 1 1/2″ to 2″ thick is freaking amazing.  Currently on our menu are Ham Fat-Potato Croquettes.  We take two parts diced ham fat and combine it with one part mashed potato, roll it into balls, bread ’em and then fry ’em. We’re serving them with mustard cream and last summer’s pickles.

A few of the dishes we are / have served using Hoosier’s hams-

Blue Corn Biscuits with Backroom Smoked Ham, Pete’s Sweet Pickles and Robinson Farm’s Swiss Cheese

Bangkok Chicken Wings

Sliced and served with local Burratina, arugula and Pete’s Pickled Peppers

Ham Fat Croquettes

The next post will be about Saucisson Sec, a dry cured sausage we made from Hoosier.