Homemade Wild Pig Tasso Ham



One of my favorite things to make with wild pork is tasso ham. If you aren’t familiar with tasso, it is a highly seasoned, smoked-cured pork. Tasso isn’t a traditional cured bone-in ham like you see at the grocery. It is more of a seasoning meat that is used to add depth to gumbos, jambalaya, soups, and grits. One of my favorite ways to use it is to cut it into small cubes, saute them in a skillet, and mix in some eggs for a tasso themed breakfast.

Ideal for seasoning or on a biscuit, tasso ham is easy to make from your wild hog. Images by author

Tasso isn’t hard to make, it just takes a few days to cure in the refrigerator. While most people use pork shoulder from the grocery, I often use a ham from a 90- to 100-pound wild hog. Just remove the bone and cut the pork into fist sized pieces. You can also use shoulder meat off larger hogs, whatever you have on hand is fine.

Bone out a ham or shoulder from your wild hog into slightly larger than fist-sized pieces.

First, a word about Instacure #1, or pink curing salt, which is the traditional ingredient for fast curing things like bacon, ham or jerky. Cure #1 is a blend of 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% salt. Any curing salt blend can be hazardous if used above the recommended rate. For most recipes, that rate is one teaspoon for 5 pounds of meat.

Mix Cure #1 with common spices you probably already have in your pantry.

The process is simple. Cut the pork into 3-5 inch pieces. Mix all remaining ingredients except the cajun seasoning in a shallow dish. Roll the pork in the cure and seasoning mixture to evenly coat the entire surface.

Roll the meat in the cure and spice blend.

Place the seasoned meat into a couple 1-gallon zip top bags. Split any cure that remains evenly between the two bags. Place the pork in the refrigerator for five to seven days, flipping the bags daily to evenly cure the meat. You will notice moisture building in the bags as the salt pulls it from the pork, allowing the cure to move into the meat in its place.

Once the meat has cured, remove it from the bag and rinse it well under cold water.

Rinse the cured ham under running water.

Pat dry with a paper towel.

After rinsing, pat the meat dry with a paper towel.

Allow the meat to rest on a wire rack in a cool spot on the counter or open in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours until the surface becomes tacky to the touch. Sprinkle on the cajun seasoning and place the tasso on your smoker at 225 degrees.

Sprinkle over a liberal dose of cajun seasoning.

If you are using a pellet grill, a smoke tube will add extra smoke flavor to the ham.

Use a smoke tube for extra flavor.

Smoke until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. This batch took about 5 hours.

Smoke until the ham reaches 160 degrees internal temperature.

Remove the tasso from the smoker and rest for 30-60 minutes before bagging or vacuum sealing. Cured tasso will keep a few weeks in the refrigerator, or up to a year frozen.

Tasso will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, or you can freeze for long term storage.

Eat it like regular ham or use it to season anything that will benefit from a smoky, spicy flavor.

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