Oregano hams are a great piece of meat to smoke. The meat is very tasty due to the large amount of collagen that is converted into gelatin during the low and slow preparation. This makes the original ham tender, juicy and very tasty. A nice side effect is that a ham is affordable. And that’s good to know now that meat prices are rising.

We smoke these primal hams in 3 and a half hours until the meat is butter tender and then smear it with a delicious mustard sauce so that they become nice and sticky.

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So this is a staple. It is part of the ankle of a pig and is also called pork shank, spit or spoke ham. In America they call them pigwings because they resemble a large chicken wing. We held a survey among our Instagram and Facebook followers which name they prefer to use and that turned out to be primal ham. So we will call them that from now on.

On one side of a ham is a membrane that must be removed before you start smoking it. That membrane is a barrier between the meat and the herbs and smoke. You can easily remove this membrane with a flexible filleting knife. You pierce this under the membrane and then lift the membrane. Now you can pull the knife parallel to the meat along the membrane. The straighter you can hold the knife, the more meat you leave on.