Cured Smoked Pork

Let's talk about how easy it is to cure and smoke pork. There's tons of different ways that folks ago about this simple task but I just cured/smoked a little 7 pound ham from a hog I took with my bow 2 weeks ago. Here's how I did it:

• Removed the leg bone and cut the ham in half, lengthwise.

• Rubbed the 2 pieces throughly with cure (1 tablespoon of cure will do 5 pounds of meat. DON'T USE MORE!

• Then, I rubbed brown sugar into the meat, wrapped in plastic wrap and let it set in the Frig at 40 degrees for 24 hours.

• Then, Placed on the middle rack of my SMOKINTEX for about 12 hours at 190 degrees. I used Pecan wood but plum or hickory would have worked well also.

SO, IF YOU'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT CURING/SMOKING PORK OR EVEN VENISON, GIVE IT A TRY, YOU CAN'T GO WRONG UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU PUT TOO MUCH CURE ON THE MEAT. THIS IS A NO-NO! Now, I have a ton of pork chops and venison steaks curing with cure and brown sugar. I plan to smoke these about 4-5 hours tomorrow! Good luck! Luke Clayton, outdoors writer and radio show host!