Does all cured meat taste like corned beef?

[DenimChicken]

So I tried my hand at making a bear ham. I followed an online recipe that included Prague powder, some pickling spices and apple cider. Brined it for 10 days, then smoked it on the pellet grill. Came out tasting much more like corned beef than ham. I’ve had similar results dry brining and using Tender Quick on other meat.

Is this a product of the curing agents, my smoking technique, or the spices?

 

[butcherboy]

It’s the spices you are using. If you want it to taste more like a ham then use salt, sugar, and pink cure. If you don’t want to use pink cure then substitute it with celery or cherry powder. The pink curing salt will give it the color of a cured meat and so will the celery or cherry powder. During the cooking process it will turn into sodium nitrate. For the sugar I like to use brown sugar instead of white.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Yeah, the spices designate something like corned beef like meat. Pickling spices and vinegar are not used in making ham. My hams are simple, I use BBB cure and some additional items (black pepper, brown sugar or honey) sits for 10 days and smoke.

 

[DenimChicken]

Thanks guys. I will try another one and omit the spices.

 

[Boarmaster]

Yeah, the spices designate something like corned beef like meat. Pickling spices and vinegar are not used in making ham. My hams are simple, I use BBB cure and some additional items (black pepper, brown sugar or honey) sits for 10 days and smoke.

This.

 

[DenimChicken]

Really appreciate it. I’m trying to branch out from my usual of a few crock pot roasts and grind the rest.

I’ve seen recipes all over the place with cure times from 2-14 days. If I’m going for a more traditional ham, what’s a good target? Also, inject or no?

 

[butcherboy]

Definitely inject. It will speed up the cure time significantly. If you just do a straight brine it will probably take 10-14 days. About the same if it’s a dry rub cure but I would plan on a longer cure time if you go that route. I inject everything then brine it for about 30 hours. If you had a way to inject it and then tumble it you could almost go directly to cooking it but I would still let it brine for at least 12 -24 hours.