Description
Homemade tasso ham recipe, for use in gumbo, beans, stews, soups, etc.
Ingredients
For the meat and cure:
- 5 lb pork butt, boneless (you can debone it yourself or buy it boneless)
- 8 oz kosher salt
- 4 oz brown sugar
- 10 grams pink curing salt (Prague powder #1)
For the seasoning:
- 1/4 C cayenne pepper (you can use less if you want, but I like it this hot)
- 1/4 C black pepper, medium grind
- 2 Tbsp dried marjoram
- 1 Tbsp ground allspice
- 1 Tbsp dry mustard
- 2 Tbsp granulated garlic
- 2 tsp celery seed
- 2 Tbsp dried thyme
Instructions
Brine the meat
- Slice the pork butt with the grain into steaks about 1-inch thick.
- Combine the sugar, salt, and curing salt in a bowl. Make sure everything is very evenly distributed.
- Dredge each piece of pork in the curing mixture on all sides.
- Place the cure-covered pork on a rimmed sheet tray and refrigerate to cure for 4–5 hours, uncovered.
Season and smoke the ham
- Using your preferred smoking wood and Billows BBQ Control Fan, preheat your smoker to 225°F (107°C).
- Take the pork from the fridge and rinse it under cool running water.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the seasoning ingredients. Do not add any salt, the meat has absorbed enough.
- Liberally coat the pork in the seasoning mixture.
- Place the pork in the smoker and insert a probe attached to your Smoke X2. Set the high-temp alarm on the meat channel for 150°F (66°C).
- Close the smoker and smoke the meat!
- When the high-temp alarm sounds, verify the temps with your Thermapen and remove the tasso from the smoker.
- You can cut the tasso up immediately and toss it into a pot of beans or gumbo, but with this much, you’ll have plenty to store. Wrap it tightly or vacuum seal it and freeze it until needed.