Smoked Ham?

[MattOphotog]

OK so now that I've got my controller for my WSM I'm going to try and be more adventurous in what I do. I normally buy a pre-cooked ham and then toss it on the smoker and bring it up to temp and give it some smoke flavor.

My question is, can I cook a big ham myself with the WSM and smoke it, or should I just continue to buy a precooked and add some smoker time to it. Any suggestions on doing it either way or both based on your experience?

Thanks.


Matt

[BlueHowler]

This recipe I found from BBQ Brethren jminion. I've made it a few times and loved it.

Here is a recipe for Dr Chicken's Double smoked ham, very good.

Dr. Chicken’s Double Smoked Ham

Ham should be a fully cooked or partially cooked ½ shank variety or can be shoulder variety (water added can be used, as long as the water added does not exceed 23% water added product.) If it is pre-smoked with hickory, that seems to work out best. Patti/Jean or Cooks among the best, but other varieties can be used!

Update: Use a full shank ham if you want. They work wonderful and they leave less good eatin' areas exposed to the heat to dry out. I've cooked up to a 26 lbs full shank ham. Absolutely one of the best too! An uncooked ham works well too. That way you don't have to limit yourself when choosing a ham.

Glazing Sauce:

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup (use dark grade B real maple syrup if available)(dark grade B has more flavor than grade A)
¼ cup honey
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 – 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp instant coffee granules (use a good brand because it makes a difference)
1 Tbsp dry ground mustard
2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate (a good brand provides better flavor)

Blend all ingredients in a sauce pan with a wire whip and heat slightly until everything combines into a viscous or thick looking sauce.

Cooking instructions for the oven:

Score outer skin of ham to a depth of ½ inch in a crisscross diamond pattern. This will allow the glazing sauce to penetrate below the skin, into the actual ham. Place ham (un-glazed) into a shallow roasting pan or roasting rack. If pineapple and cherries are desired on the outside, add them when you start the glazing process. Cook in oven @ 275° - 300° with a loose tent of aluminum foil over the top for 25 to 30 minutes per lb. Baste with glazing sauce the last hour of cooking time and continue to cook until the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140°. Remove from oven and allow to sit covered for 20 to 30 minutes before carving!

Cooking instructions for ceramic cooker cooking:

This can be done on a grill over indirect heat or in a water smoker or other type of cooker, again over indirect heat or “low & slow” type cooking. Do not tent over ham if done on grill, water smoker or other cooker; this would prevent smoke from penetrating the ham.

Place water soaked chunks of mesquite, hickory or pecan (we prefer the smoke of pecan over all the others) on coals 5 minutes before putting ham on cooker. This will allow the ham to obtain maximum smoke flavor during the second cook cycle. ( the first cook cycle is the cycle the processor uses.) If even more smoke flavor is desired, place ham in freezer for 1 to 1 ½ hours prior to cooking to allow outer edges of ham to start to freeze. Go easy on this procedure; you don’t want the ham frozen hard!

If using a water smoker, fill water pan ¾ full with hot water and add 2 cups of orange, pineapple, or orange/pineapple mix, sweetened grapefruit or apple juice to the water. (all of them act as tenderizer as the steam penetrates the meat.) (I use a ¾ full drip pan when cooking on the Eggs, filled with a 50:50 mix of water and orange juice.)

Again, cook for 25 to 30 minutes per lb. until internal temp on the ham shows 140°. A couple of books suggest 145° and 160° respectively. Shirley O. Corriher in her book “CookWise” suggests 140°. We found this to be exactly right. After removing from the Egg, it will climb up to 145° internally. The ham will retain it moistness and the flavor will go thru out the ham this way.

Update: Pull the ham from the cooker at 135° internal. Even if it is an "uncooked" ham. Jim Minion and I have been playing around on this issue. Both of us feel 135° internal is enough to carry the ham up to 145° internal while you let it rest wrapped in foil for an hour or so. I wrap the ham in a double wrap of heavy duty foil. That seals the juices inside (relatively speaking!) and keeps the ham from starting to dry out during the resting period. The 135° internal tempperature suggestion is right in line with Shirley O. Corriher and her book "CookWise". This is one gal that has her act together! It is a great reference book for a lot of things. Start your cooking process at 225° on the dome thermometer of your ceramic cooker. Then let it gradually creep up to 250° to 260°. The 275° suggested temp. is a mit too high, in my opinion and after cooking 50 to 60 of these over the last 3 or 4 years.

Baste ham with glazing sauce every 10 to 15 minutes during the last hour of cooking time. Glazing compound will burn, so do not start glazing the ham until the internal temp of the ham reaches 120°.

NOTE: The secret to this process is plenty of smoke and the real maple syrup and granular coffee crystals in the glazing sauce. Use a cheaper cut of ham like mentioned before, and people will think you bought an expensive ham that you had to “hock” your kids for! Yuk! Yuk! (see my pun there?) The glazing sauce will give the ham a fantastic taste, smell and color!

Update: Use the "Dr. Chicken's Sweet Kiss of Death" injectable marinade recipe to take the ham up 3 or 4 notches. I can't emphasize enough how much the injectable marinade adds to the finished product. You and your family will be in 7th heaven woofing it down. I'm including it in this e-mail.

If you start glazing the ham at 120° internal, you'll only have to apply the glaze twice. Do this 30 minutes apart. That way you won't lose a lot of cooking time trying to apply it every 15 minutes. 2 applications of the glaze will do a wonderful job if you make sure you get it into the cut areas.

NOTE: Don't use a spiral cut ham the first time out. They tend to dry out too easily! If you are forced to use one, use 1 & 1/2 X the "Sweet Kiss of Death" injectable marinade I suggest. That will prevent it from drying out during the cooking process. Also, be sure you keep your cooker down to that 260° as a maximum on the dome.

Someone on another forum suggested removing all the skin before cooking. DON'T!!!!! That's the easiest way to ruin the ham by drying it out.

[Bigdog]

Why change something that is so easy and tastes so good? My .02

[MattOphotog]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Why change something that is so easy and tastes so good? My .02

Sometimes you learn doing it the hard way that the easy way was the best way, or sometimes you learn that it can be done better than the easy way. I just want opinions of those that might have BTDT if it's worth the extra effort to try to cook the ham too, or buy a precooked and add my own flavor.


Matt

[JS-TX]

Last Christmas I did a "Dr. Chicken" with the injection combo of http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=21757 with awesome results. I would love to cure and smoke a ham from A to Z and see how that works out. But I need more space in my fridge first..

[gtr]

I've been wanting to cure & smoke a ham from scratch. I think there's a recipe for it in this book but I'm not home right now & can't confirm.
Amazon.com: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (9780393058291): Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn, Thomas Keller: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Ou38lyp5L.@@AMEPARAM@@51Ou38lyp5L

Many Brethren have cured hams from scratch and based on what I've read about their experiences, it's very high on my list of things to do. I've double smoked many hams and love doing it, but it would be a great thing to try one from the ground up.

I'd say you could definitely cure a ham & smoke it on your WSM & you'll most likely be glad you did.

[Phrasty]

I've smoked pre-cured hams as well as cured my own, and I wanna say although Dr' Chickens double smoked hams are amazing nothing compared to curing my own. Here's a thread I did a while back on it... If you're really more interested lemmi know, I'll go more into the brine for it.

Here's the thread:

Originally Posted by Phrasty

Hey everyone, I hope all my US counterparts had a great Thanksgiving. Been seeing a lot of turkey pron and it all looks great , but I've been working on Christmas, cured hams specifically. I have been messing with my own brining recipe for freshly cured smoked hams and it's now getting to where I want it to be. This last one actually surprised me! A little background info: In the past, out here the majority of hams came from one very big local company (mild cured, smoked hams) they have always been high quality and tasted great but there is a downside... almost everyone's ham had the same basic flavor profile. So anyways, I was surprised at how great MY ham tasted & how different it was! But not only with the taste but the texture... the texture was so much better than the local store bought hams.

For this Ham I used a 8# boneless boston butt. I brined it for 4 days with salt, sugar, cure#1 & some secret spices When it came out of the brine I dried in the fridge for a day. I injected it with juice, water, honey and spices for a couple hours before onto the smoker with almond & lychee wood at 225 for about 6 hours. I started glazing at 140 with my pineapple-guava rum glaze & pulled it at 155 to coast it up to 160 while resting. I sliced up some for sammy's for the poker game & it was definitely a hit! Everyone commented on how great it tasted. I think the Christmas is looking a litter brighter

On to the pics:

The boneless butt after about 1 hour of brine (forgot to take one b4)




The dry cure mixture b4 adding to a gallon of water


Tied and hung in the smoker










Slicing for sammys




Oh yeah also had wings & the wife did up a lemon meringue pie.




Still planning on doing a couple more to perfect the recipe and I think I'll be ready for the Christmas.

Cheers

Either way... hams on the smoker are awesome!!!
Cheers