Advice on smoking fresh ham

C

chachahut

Guest
I know I've seen a few threads on smoking fresh hams (I have them bookmarked somewhere around here) but as it tis the season for ham, I'd welcome any advice and/or tips on smoking my 1st fresh ham.

Definitely going the wet cure route (for time's sake) but wonder if pink salt is truly necessary or if a regular brine will do. Not really all that concerned about the ham being "pink" just in it tasting "hammy".

What temps do you usually smoke these at? I tend to run at around 240º when cooking butts. Is that in the pocket for ham?

Any & all advice/experiences greatly welcomed.
 
I've never done a fresh ham on the smoker, but I would agree with the above. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.
 
Maurice's Piggy Park BBQ in Columbia SC uses fresh hams for their pork bbq , good stuff .
They slow cook them and put a mustard base sauce on it....
 
Guys, read carefully, he wants to cure it.

Otherwise, if you want to end up with pulled pork, cook it like a butt. They are
FANTASTIC IMHO.
 
Thanks for the replies...

Thanks David - I ran into the Dizzy Pig page on initial research. What I am looking to determine is whether a nitrite cure is necessary for the brine or whether any Brethren have done a ham with a regular salt/sugar/spices brine. I do not much care about this being pink ham - just that it has a ham taste.

So - to recap - not looking to make pulled pork (I do plenty of that already) - looking for more of a smoked pork with a ham-esque taste but skipping the nitrite component. Planning on using a picnic shoulder for the cook.
 
It's the nitrite/curing salts/curing method that give meat what we think of as a "hammy" taste.
 
Nitrite is required for ham.

You could use tender quick but the concentration of nitrite is much lower and might make your end product much too salty.

Why don't you want to use the Nitrites?
 
I've used the Dizzy Pig recipe with very good results and as a matter of fact i just put a 9lb fresh ham into a brine for Xmas eve diner this morning. Injected it with 2 cups of the brine and in a big zip lock with the rest. The only thing i wasn't all that impressed with on that recipe was the glaze. I think using orange juice was kinda pointless so this year i'm going with pineapple juice. It was still a great ham.
 
Great minds think alike.
Last night I put my 14 pounder into the brine
 
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